Plant and method for producing ethylene

A method of producing ethylene comprising:

• introducing oxygen and methane into a reactor;
• effecting oxidative coupling of the methane in the reactor to form a first material stream;
• introducing a hydrocarbon-containing input to a steam cracker;
• steam cracking the hydrocarbon-containing input in the steam cracker to produce an olefin-containing and hydrogen-containing crude gas stream;
• introducing the first material stream and the olefin-containing and hydrogen-containing crude gas stream into a work-up unit;
• separating the first material stream and the olefin-containing and hydrogen-containing crude gas stream using the work-up unit into an ethylene product stream and a C1− material stream;
• introducing the C1− material stream into a separation unit;
• separating the C1− material stream using the separation unit into a hydrogen-rich product stream and a hydrogen-lean residual gas stream;
• recycling at least a substream of the hydrogen-lean residual gas stream into the reactor;
• recycling at least a substream of the hydrogen-rich product stream into the work-up unit;
• removing an ethane-rich and propane-rich material stream from said first material stream and the olefin-containing and hydrogen-containing crude gas stream in the work-up unit;
• and
• recycling the ethane-rich and propane-rich material stream to the steam cracker.