Ethylene production process and chemical complex

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for the production of ethylene from ethane, comprising: subjecting a stream comprising ethane to steam cracking conditions in a steam cracker unit which is part of a steam cracker configuration, resulting in a stream comprising unconverted ethane, ethylene and hydrogen; feeding a stream comprising unconverted ethane, ethylene and hydrogen to a separation unit which is part of the steam cracker configuration, and separating said stream in said separation unit into a stream comprising hydrogen and a stream comprising unconverted ethane and ethylene; feeding a stream comprising unconverted ethane and ethylene to a C2 separation unit which is part of the steam cracker configuration, and separating said stream in the C2 separation unit into a stream comprising ethylene and a stream comprising unconverted ethane; optionally recycling unconverted ethane from the stream comprising unconverted ethane coming from the C2 separation unit to the steam cracker unit; subjecting a stream comprising ethane to oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) conditions in an ODH unit which is part of an ODH configuration, resulting in a stream comprising unconverted ethane, ethylene and water; feeding a stream comprising unconverted ethane, ethylene and water to a water condensation unit which is part of the ODH configuration, and removing water from said stream by condensation in the water condensation unit, resulting in a stream comprising unconverted ethane and ethylene; feeding an effluent coming from the ODH configuration, which effluent comprises unconverted ethane and ethylene, to the steam cracker configuration; optionally recycling unconverted ethane from the stream comprising unconverted ethane coming from the C2 separation unit to the ODH unit. Further, the invention relates to a chemical complex which is suitable for performing such ethylene production process.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.