ROCKMAN wrote:Sub - This article explains the process in detail. No direct answer but from what I read there is no "energy lost" in the process.
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/equ ... hanol.html
The energy used in the process comes from steam and what energy is used to make the catalyst. But essentially one molecule of ethane is converted to ethanol.
Of course you're now comparing apples to oranges: converting ethane to ethylene has nothing to do with energy storage. It's part of the industrial process to make plastic. Which essentially means 100% of the energy content of the ethane is lost. Unless you want to take into account burning the plastic as a fuel source.
A reminder:
"Ethylene is widely used in the chemical industry, and its worldwide production (over 150 million tonnes in 2016) exceeds that of any other organic compound. Much of this production goes toward polyethylene, a widely used plastic containing polymer chains of ethylene units in various chain lengths. Ethylene is also an important natural plant hormone, and is used in agriculture to force the ripening of fruits. Ethylene's hydrate is ethanol.
U.S. Shale Just Triggered A Chemical Industry RenaissanceThe shale revolution in the U.S. has led to a boom in domestic natural gas production, to the point that America is expected to become a net exporter of natural gas on an average annual basis by 2018. Abundant gas at home has also led to a renaissance in the petrochemical industry in the U.S. Chemical companies in the U.S. now use the affordable ethane—a natural gas liquid derived from shale gas—as a feedstock. The U.S. chemical industry is outpacing total industrial output growth rate, and accounts for more than half of construction spending by the manufacturing sector. It’s a US$797-billion enterprise that provides more than 15 percent of the world’s chemicals and accounted for 14 percent of U.S. exports in 2015—the largest exporter in the U.S.
Taking advantage of the shale revolution, chemical companies and integrated oil supermajors are now announcing billions of investments in new petrochemicals plants and manufacturing ventures over the next few years. Dow Chemical, which had cut 5,000 full-time jobs and closed 20 plants at the height of the 2008-2009 recession, announced in May this year additional projects and investments that extend its U.S. growth investments to more than US$12 billion over a 10-year period.
“We are using new, abundant domestic energy supplies to provide products to the world at a competitive advantage resulting from lower costs and abundant raw materials. In this way, an upstream technology breakthrough has led to a downstream manufacturing renaissance,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said.
Shell is also getting ready to begin main site construction of a petrochemicals complex in Pennsylvania in late 2017, with commercial production beginning early next decade. “The petrochemicals complex will use ethane from shale-gas producers in the Marcellus and Utica basins to produce 1.6 million tonnes of polyethylene per year,” Shell said in April. According to ACC, the Appalachian region could become a second center of U.S. petrochemical and plastic resin manufacturing, similar to the Gulf Coast. “Proximity to a world-class supply of raw materials from the Marcellus/Utica and Rogersville shale formations and to the manufacturing markets of the Midwest and East Coast has already led several companies to announce investment projects, and there is potential for a great deal more.” The chemicals industry, which directly touches more than 96 percent of all manufactured goods, is taking full advantage of the American shale revolution.
And right on cue ethane prices rise, ethylene prices fall, and ethane cracker profits tank:kublikhan wrote:May 25, 2017 - Looks like all those US crackers coming online between 2017-2019 are going to suck up much of the surplus ethane in the US and drive it's price up. Good news for upstream. Bad news for the crackers.
US ethylene spot prices fall to nine-year low20 March 2018 - US spot ethylene fell to its lowest point in nine years as production continues to be bolstered by new crackers and demand is hampered by downstream outages.
US ethane cracker margins hit record low as ethylene dips further06 Apr 2018 - US ethane cracker margins reached record lows Friday as spot ethylene pricing also slipped into uncharted territory. US ethane cracker margins were estimated at 7.06 cents/lb ($156/mt) Friday, the lowest since S&P Global Platts began publishing cracker margins in January 2011.
Fueled by the shale gas boom in North America, the US ethylene market stands to see a more than 35% increase in production capacity by 2019. North America's ethylene production during the next decade is expected to climb from approximately 33.7 million mt in 2017 to nearly 48.65 million mt in 2026.
US ethane cracker margin slides to record low09 Jul 2018 - The US ethane cracker margin fell to a record low Monday, a result of a continued surge in ethane pricing and a weak spot ethylene market. The US ethane cracker margin was calculated Monday at 2.65 cents/lb, down 0.10 cent from Friday, falling to the lowest level since S&P Global Platts began assessing them in 2011.
Ethane cash costs have climbed on limited supply from strong export numbers and production capacities, as well as strong demand from upcoming cracker startups. The US ethylene market has been weak on concerns of oversupply, awaiting news of on-spec production from ExxonMobil's new 1.5 million mt/yr Baytown, Texas, steam cracker -- expected by the end of the summer-- as well as the startup of Indorama's Lake Charles, Louisiana, 440,000 mt/yr cracker, by the end of the third quarter.
US ethylene for prompt-month delivery was assessed Monday at 14.25-14.75 cents/lb.
CHEMICALS RENAISSANCE IN US AND TRANSPORTATION BOTTLENECKSAs far-fetched as it might sound, the growth in the chemicals industry has highlighted the lacunas in the United States transport infrastructure. Industry experts predict the cost of delays due to transportation to come up to $22 billion. The loopholes in the primary modes of transport like rail, sea, and roadways, will also result in high operational costs which is sure to affect the manufacturers in the chemicals industry in a negative manner.
Roadways is the primary mode of transport adopted by the chemicals industry in the US, followed by the railways and then the seaways. The major bottleneck emerges in the form of regulatory requirements which the drivers for the chemicals industry must adhere to undergo. When it comes to the sea ways, the major problem is that the gulf ports are not regarded as ideal locations by players in the chemicals industry. The non-gulf ports on the other hand often face problems due to disputes between warehouse unions and maritime associations.
The need of the hour is to address the transportation issues by bringing all the stakeholders – chemical manufacturers, shippers, as well as policy makers – on the same platform. Only when the transportation related issues are addressed will the renaissance in the chemicals industry come in full bloom.
US trucking issues pressure petrochemical marketsRising transportation costs are pressuring US petrochemical markets. A logistics industry mandate that has reduced the number of hours truck drivers are on the road coupled with a driver shortage have been particularly problematic in the last several months, causing significant shipment delays and mounting logistics costs.
“Trucking is absolutely disgusting in the US right now,” one trader said. The issue is being driven by the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Electronic Logging Device (ELD) rule. Carriers were required to start complying in December 2017, with full compliance by December 2019. The system electronically records driving time and requires drivers and carriers to adhere to DOT Hours of Service regulations, which enforce the number of hours a driver can safely be on the road. This has resulted in limiting the number of hours drivers are working, thus causing bottlenecks along routes. Shipment times have grown from a few days to anywhere from two to four weeks, the trader source said. The mandate has spurred a driver shortage, with a trader source saying companies are losing drivers who cannot make as much money because they are working less. The issue is magnified with tanker trucks, which are much more specialised and require stricter regulations, so the driver pool is much smaller.
Last week, two producers separately issued increase announcements, each citing escalating freight costs. Dow Chemical plans to increase its freight adders and transactional service standards for tank truck shipments in the US and Canada and to implement fees for short-notice order changes. The issue is only going to get worse, the trader source said, with no solution in sight for the next six months. “We’ve been telling customers to have lots of inventory on hand.”
Asia-US ethylene price spread hovers around record-high levelsThe ethylene price spread between Asia and the US has been hoveringaround record-high levels this week, amid a strong Asian market and quickly falling US ethylene prices. The Asia-US price spread hit a record high of $943.68/mt[43 cents/lb] Tuesday. The price spread has been much higher than the US-Asia freight cost of $400/mt[18 cents/lb]. The FD USG ethylene price was assessed at $402.34/mt, while the CFR Northeast Asia ethylene price was assessed at $1,355/mt [61 cents/lb].
Market sources said the widening Asia-US price spread would attract US deep sea cargoes to Asia. US exports to Asia have been increasing in line with a series of startups of new steam crackers in the US. According to China's customs department, the country imported around 68,949 mt of ethylene from the US in 2017, up 51.2% from a year earlier. In January, China's ethylene imports from the US stood at 11,227 mt, compared to 6,553 mt in December last year and zero in January a year earlier.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Ethane from associated gas still the most economical
Requirements for ethane cracking
Two conditions must exist for ethane to be extracted from natural gas and used as cracker feedstock:
* The ethane must be available in sufficient quantity to provide enough feedstock for a world-scale cracker, which benefits from economies of scale.
* The extracted ethane must acquire greater value as a cracker feedstock than if left in the gas for sale as a fuel.
There must be an economic incentive for extraction.
Ethane is widely used as a cracker feedstock in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, Western Canada, and the Middle East. The widespread use of ethane in the U.S. Gulf Coast has resulted in a massive concentration of infrastructure for natural gas and petrochemical processing through the years.
In the Middle East, the availability of large reserves of low-cost natural gas with low alternative value has also encouraged ethane cracking. Most existing crackers in this region are supplied with ethane extracted from gas produced in association with oil, most notably in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.
The presence of large reserves, such as those in the Middle East, does not guarantee that sufficient ethane will be available for feedstock. Although there may be enough ethane in the ground, the availability is dependent on the gas being produced in sufficient quantities.
The quantity of ethane available in a natural-gas stream depends on the size of the gas flow and the concentration of ethane in the gas. The higher the ethane concentration, the smaller the gas flow required to provide a given quantity of ethane feedstock (Fig. 2 [32,402 bytes]).
Unless the source gas is very rich in ethane (i.e., has a concentration greater than 15 mole %), the source gas must be produced in large volumes to provide enough ethane feedstock for today's world-scale cracker. An 800,000 metric ton/year (mty) ethylene cracker requires about 1 million mty of ethane feedstock. There are few locations in the world where this much ethane is available in one location.
Impact of Shale Gas on the U. S. Petrochemical Industry* Shale gas is rich in ethane mainly with propane and butane.
* Historically, U. S. crackers were based on 70 percent ethane (NGLs) and 30 percent naphtha (liquids).
* As a result of shale gas and its impact on ethane prices, the ratio has now changed to 87 percent ethane (NGLs) and 13 percent naphtha (liquids).
The ethane content varies from a dry gas (<5%) to a wet gas (6 – 16%)
* The maximum content for heavies for transporting the natural gas is 12% (condensation). The ethane content is so high at some locations that it MUST be extracted prior to shipping
* Western Marcellus is an example of a very rich gas
Due to low natural gas prices, developers have been shutting down dry gas wells in favor of wet gas wells to capture the ethane and other NGLs. Shale gas will be the major source for ethane.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests