Net-zero carbon ethylene production via recovery of CO₂ from cracking furnace flue gas

Published July 2022

Steam cracking of hydrocarbons is one of the largest carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitting processes in the chemicals industry. Conventional cracking generates approximately 0.85–1.8 metric tons (mt) of CO₂ for every metric ton of ethylene produced. Globally, that amounts to more than 260 million metric tons (MMt) of CO₂ emissions per year.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26, Glasgow 2021), all the participating countries agreed to revisit and strengthen their emission targets. It appears inevitable that there will be an increased focus on the development of net-zero carbon emission ethylene production processes; either by using redesigned net-zero-emission technologies or by capturing and sequestering the CO₂ produced in conventional processes.

This review focuses on capture of CO₂ from flue gases in an ethane cracker facility.

The facility is a conventional steam cracker designed to produce 1.5 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of polymer-grade (PG) ethylene. A carbon-capture section is added, which recovers 90% of the CO₂ in the flue gas and compresses it for delivery to pipeline. Atmospheric emission of CO₂ is reduced by approximately 1.15 MMtpa (over the conventional process).

This review is the first in a series that S&P Global plans to publish on ethylene technologies with the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 90% or more. This set of reviews will be a valuable resource for planners, producers, and designers who are looking for an authentic comparison of capital and production costs for different strategies of deep carbon emission reduction for ethylene production.