(88f) Bio-Refinery for the Production of Ethylene Derivatives

Downstream products of petroleum have been the main source for feedstocks for most of the petrochemicals produced over the last 90 years. However, due to the rising price of crude oil and concerns about the environment, there has been a renewed interest in alternative feedstocks, and in particular bio-renewable feedstock. Among the many bio-derived feed stocks, ethanol has received the most interest in that the technology is based on the fermentation of such readily available agricultural products as sugar cane and corn. Fermentation technology is relatively uncomplicated and already present in, or easily transferred to, undeveloped areas of the world. Integrated chemical complexes for petroleum derived processes are common throughout the chemical industry. However the same types of complexes are not typical for processes derived from bio-renewable feedstocks. This paper will demonstrate how such complexes can be used to produce ethanol-derived ethylene technologies. A sugar cane mill producing sugar and ethanol will be integrated with an SD ethanol to EO plant. The dehydration plant will be designed to produce excess ethylene which will be used to produce downstream ethylene derivatives such as VCM or HDPE. The EO produced from the ethanol will be used to produce ethanolamines.