Techno-Economic Analysis of Oxidative Dehydrogenation Options

The world-wide market for light olefins will approach one trillion pounds per year by the year 2020. Light olefins are conventionally produced by the steam cracking of hydrocarbons from ethane to gas oil. This technology is decades old and results in a wide range of by-products, some valuable, some with fuel value, and some requiring waste treatment before disposal. An economic analysis was performed using a cost of production procedure commonly called a required netback analysis. These results were compared with the expected performance of a novel catalytic route with very high selectivity, running at much lower temperatures and similar pressures. The new route uses a mixed metal oxide catalyst in packed tubes with a heat transfer fluid in the reactor shell for heat management. Results indicate that the new route has much lower variable cost, fixed costs and capital recovery reaching shutdown economic level.