Manufacture of Sustainable Ethylene from Captured CO2

One of the principal challenges facing the ethylene industry is improving sustainability, in particular reducing CO₂ emissions, working towards net zero. The capture of CO₂ from the flue gas of ethylene furnaces is feasible using existing carbon capture technologies, but not all plants have an outlet for captured CO₂, and tax credits for CO₂ sequestration may not make projects economically viable.

Conversion of CO₂ and hydrogen to a sustainable product provides a higher value product than captured CO₂ and is not dependent on access to an outlet for captured CO₂. LanzaTech and Technip Energies are combining their LanzaFlexâ„¢ syngas to ethanol and Hummingbird^® ethanol to ethylene technologies for the manufacture of sustainable ethylene.

This presentation describes the process, a typical mass balance and utility requirements, the CO₂ footprint, and the commercial readiness of the technology.

The product from the process is polymer grade ethylene, which can be supplied to a polyethylene plant or the purification section of an existing ethylene plant.