Ethylene from natural gas via oxidative coupling of methane and cold energy/of LNG

摘要

LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) is often the primary natural gas (NG) source for countries with no direct access to NG. In this study, we analyze the economic feasibility of LNG as a chemical feedstock compared to NG. We propose an ethylene production framework via oxidative coupling of methane (OCM), and utilize the available cold energy of LNG to offset the energy demand of ethylene separation via cryogenic distillation. Our results show that the available cold energy from LNG is sufficient to meet the refrigeration needs for separation processes thereby eliminating the need for any external refrigeration. It is observed that the production cost of ethylene strongly depends on the market price of LNG and NG. Based on the proposed process, we have also shown how the variations in market price of LNG/NG as well as other co-products affect the production cost of ethylene.