1.

Background
Ethylene oxide is a highly versatile commodity chemical, which is used as
an intermediate for the production of a variety of chemicals. It also kills
bacteria, mold, and fungi, and is therefore used as a sterilant. During
World War I, it gained importance in industry and was produced on a
small scale for its use in the production of ethylene glycol, an engine
coolant, and the chemical weapon mustard gas. Ethylene oxide was once
used for the production of acrylonitrile but that was discontinued in 1966.
2. Ethylene Oxide Production
Ethylene oxide was first prepared in 1859 by Charles Wutz using a
potassium hydroxide solution to eliminate the hydrochloric acid from
ethylene chlorohydrin. In 1914 the ethylene chlorohydrin process was the
first technology to produce ethylene oxide commercially. The process
involves the reaction of ethylene with hypochlorous acid followed by
dehydrochlorination of the resulting chlorohydrin with lime to produce
ethylene oxide and calcium chloride. Although the selectivity of this
process was approximately 80%, the process itself was very inefficient and
caused pollution problem by generating large quantity of unwanted
chlorinated hydrocarbon byproducts. In 1931, Theodore Lefort
discovered a way to prepare ethylene oxide directly from ethylene and
oxygen with a silver catalyst, the direct oxidation processes. This process
was more economically competitive and soon replaced the ethylene
chlorohydrin process.
The direct oxidation technology is the dominant process to produce
ethylene oxide commercially today. It utilizes the catalytic oxidation of
ethylene with pure oxygen over a silver based catalyst to yield ethylene
oxide.

For all plant capacities, the oxygen-based reactor yields a higher

selectivity and requires less catalyst (11). The average selectivity ranges
from 65-75% for the air-based process compared to 85-90% for the
oxygen-based process. Furthermore, the concentration of oxygen and
ethylene in the reactor feed can be higher in oxygen-based plant, which
improves the catalyst selectivity (11). Therefore, the overall yield of
ethylene oxide for the oxygen-based process is more than an air-based
process. The length of silver based catalyst life is an important parameter
to consider due to its high cost. For the oxygen based oxidation process,
the catalyst has a longer life and less catalyst is required per unit weight
of feed. Typically the air-based oxidation requires 1.5 times the catalyst in
oxygen oxidation process (12). The required amount of catalyst and length
of catalyst life makes the oxygen-based process a more economically
viable choice.

The oxygen-based process may have a higher operating cost, but the
initial capital costs are much lower compared to an air-based plant. The
air-based process requires more catalyst, more reactors, air purification
units, and a purge reactor system. This process introduces a large amount
of inert gas into the recycle stream, which must be vented to maintain
constant nitrogen concentration in the system. Consequently, the airbased process requires much higher initial construction cost for
compression, piping, and waste gas handling system than the oxygenbased plant. Alternatively, the pure oxygen- based process reduces the
quantities of inert gases introduced into the cycle. As a result, the majority
of the unconverted ethylene is recovered from the system. Due to these
reasons, the oxygen-based process is a more attractive choice.

We have chosen to use pure oxygen as opposed to air in the oxidation of

ethylene to reduce the amount of inerts in the system, which reduces the
total purge necessary and minimizes operating costs. This will also change
the selectivity to ethylene oxide from 65-75% for the air-based process to
85-90% for the oxygen-based process.

Production of Ethylene Glycol

Suroor Manzoor Chong McLaren Nick Mitchell Timre Segear

Technical Advisor: Dr. George Rowell Industrial Advisor: Mr. Stevon
Schon, P.E.
April 24, 2006
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA 19104