Enriching Propane/Propylene Mixture by Selective Propylene Hydroformylation: Economic and Environmental Impact Analyses

Abstract

Industrial propylene hydroformylation (PHF) processes use polymer-grade propylene (99.99 wt% propylene) obtained from the energy-intensive distillation of propylene/ propane mixtures produced in propane dehydrogenation (PDH) reactors. The typical effluent from a PDH reactor consists of 55% propylene and 45% propane, referred to as refinery-grade propylene. Recently, it was shown that refinery-grade propylene (60−70% purity, the rest is propane) can be directly used for propylene hydroformylation over Rh-based complexes as catalysts without the need for C 3 distillation. The enriched propane is recycled back to the PDH reactor. At typical industrial conditions (2.5 MPa, 90 °C), hydroformylation with refinery-grade propylene occurs in a propane-expanded liquid (PXL) phase. In the PXL phase, the syngas solubility can be easily tuned with pressure to enhance activity and product selectivity. Comparative economic analyses show >20% savings in capital investment for the PXL process compared to the conventional process. Elimination of the energy-intensive C 3 distillation step also reduces the PXL process utility cost by approximately 20% compared to that of the conventional process. The overall savings in total production cost for the PXL process is approximately 9% or 9 cents/lb product, which translates into an annual savings of nearly $12 M for a 300 kt/y plant. Comparative gate-to-gate environmental impact analyses by the economic input−output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) method shows that the lower material and energy consumption in the PXL process results in reduced environmental impacts (approximately 20% reduction in each of the following categories: greenhouse gas emission, air pollutants and toxics release) than the conventional process. These results indicate that the PXL process is a greener and more sustainable process for butyraldehyde production.

Techno-Economic Analysis of a Hybrid Process for Propylene and Ammonia Production

“…The technoeconomic simulation and analysis are carried using Aspen Plus which can provide the mass and energy balance of the overall system. The platform has been employed in various publications related to the technoeconomic analysis. − In this paper, the analysis mainly compares the proposed three cases from utility consumption and economic analysis. All reactions are calculated according to the actual industrial production standards. , For other equipment such as compressors, turbines, and pumps, their mechanical and isentropic efficiencies are set as 0.72 and 0.98, respectively, which are the typical values in the literature. , Generally, the heat transfer temperature difference between streams is 10–30 °C, which is consistent with the rule-of-thumb values for petrochemical processes .…”

Chemical Synthesis of Adipic Acid from Glucose and Derivatives: Challenges for Nanocatalyst Design

“…Later, Smith and co-workers reported another Rh-catalyzed protocol and furthered the selectivity to 74% for adipaldehyde, which can be oxidized to adipic acid using oxone . Liu and co-workers reported cost-effective hydroformylation processes, which show significant environmental and economic promises for industrial implementation. − Overall, the protocol of the butadiene route offers a nitric-acid free route to access adipic acid, but its yield and efficiency requires significant improvement compared to the convention cyclohexane route. Obviously, there is a strong need to develop alternative oxidants for this process.…”