Process for the manufacture of 1,2-dichloroethane

A process for the manufacture of 1,2-dichloroethane starting with a hydrocarbon source, comprising:

• a) subjecting the hydrocarbon source to a first cracking step carried out in at least one cracking furnace, thus producing a mixture of cracking products;
• b) subjecting said mixture of cracking products to a series of treatment steps making it possible to obtain a mixture of products containing ethylene and other constituents;
• c) subjecting said mixture of products containing ethylene to a first separation step S1 which consists of separating said mixture of products inside a column C1, into a fraction enriched with the compounds that are lighter than ethylene containing some of the ethylene (fraction A) and into a fraction F1;
• d) subjecting said fraction F1 to a second separation step S2 which consists of separating fraction F1 inside a column C2 into a fraction F2 and into a heavy fraction (fraction C);
• e) subjecting said fraction F2 to a third separation step S3 which consists of separating fraction F2 inside a column C3 into a fraction enriched with ethylene (fraction B) and into a fraction F3 mainly composed of ethane;
• f) conveying said fraction A to a chlorination reactor and said fraction B to an oxychlorination reactor, wherein in said chlorination and oxychlorination reactors, most of the ethylene present in fractions A and B is converted to 1,2-dichloroethane;
• and
• g) separating the 1,2-dichloroethane obtained from step f) from the streams of products derived from the chlorination and oxychlorination reactors,
• wherein the separation steps S1, S2 and S3 are distillation steps.

A process for the manufacture of vinyl chloride, comprising:

• a) subjecting a hydrocarbon source to a first cracking step carried out in at least one cracking furnace, thus producing a mixture of cracking products;
• b) subjecting said mixture of cracking products to a series of treatment steps making it possible to obtain a mixture of products containing ethylene and other constituents;
• c) subjecting said mixture of products containing ethylene to a first separation step S1 which consists of separating said mixture of products inside a column C1, into a fraction enriched with the compounds that are lighter than ethylene containing some of the ethylene (fraction A) and into a fraction F1;
• d) subjecting said fraction F1 to a second separation step S2 which consists of separating fraction F1 inside a column C2 into a fraction F2 and into a heavy fraction (fraction C);
• e) subjecting said fraction F2 to a third separation step S3 which consists of separating fraction F2 inside a column C3 into a fraction enriched with ethylene (fraction B) and into a fraction F3 mainly composed of ethane;
• f) conveying said fraction A to a chlorination reactor and said fraction B to an oxychlorination reactor, wherein in said chlorination and oxychlorination reactors, most of the ethylene present in fractions A and B is converted to 1,2-dichloroethane;
• g) separating the 1,2-dichloroethane obtained from step f) from the streams of products derived from the chlorination and oxychlorination reactors;
• and
• h) subjecting the 1,2-dichloroethane obtained to a pyrolysis, thus producing vinyl chloride.

A process for the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride, comprising:

• a) subjecting a hydrocarbon source to a first cracking step carried out in at least one cracking furnace, thus producing a mixture of cracking products;
• b) subjecting said mixture of cracking products to a series of treatment steps making it possible to obtain a mixture of products containing ethylene and other constituents;
• c) subjecting said mixture of products containing ethylene to a first separation step S1 which consists of separating said mixture of products inside a column C1 , into a fraction enriched with the compounds that are lighter than ethylene containing some of the ethylene (fraction A) and into a fraction F1;
• d) subjecting said fraction F1 to a second separation step S2 which consists of separating fraction F1 inside a column C2 into a fraction F2 and into a heavy fraction (fraction C);
• e) subjecting said fraction F2 to a third separation step S3 which consists of separating fraction F2 inside a column C3 into a fraction enriched with ethylene (fraction B) and into a fraction F3 mainly composed of ethane;
• f) conveying said fraction A to a chlorination reactor and said fraction B to an oxychlorination reactor, wherein in said chlorination and oxychlorination reactors, most of the ethylene present in fractions A and B is converted to 1,2-dichloroethane;
• g) separating the 1,2-dichloroethane obtained from step f) from the streams of products derived from the chlorination and oxychlorination reactors;
• h) subjecting the 1,2-dichloroethane obtained to a pyrolysis, thus producing vinyl chloride;
• and
• i) polymerizing the vinyl chloride to produce polyvinyl chloride.