Hydrocarbon Processing - January 2022 - 13

Executive Viewpoint
fully demonstrated 100% hydrogen firing,
with minimized NOx
(nitric oxide). This
opens the opportunity to move to commercial
application in an ethylene cracker.
HP: What are some future
technologies that you see being
developed to decarbonize the
hydrocarbon processing industries?
SK: The industry is developing many
alternative technologies
for the decarbonization
of the ethylene process. These
are principally focused on reducing CO2
emissions from the furnaces, which is
the main source of carbon emissions in
a steam cracker. For example, in addition
to the electric furnace, we are also developing-in
partnership with Siemens Energy-turbomachinery
that cracks feed
using shockwave technology. Innovation
will drive new technologies and new approaches
to lower carbon emissions.
We are also looking at another pathway
that involves reacting captured CO2
from plants with hydrogen to produce
green hydrogen to make Hummingbird®
ethanol. We then could utilize our
Hummingbird® ethanol-to-ethylene
technology to produce green ethylene.
HP: In the next 20 yr-30 yr,
will steam cracking play a role
in ethylene manufacturing?
SK: 2050 sounds like a long way away,
but it is only 30 yr, so we have a lot to do
to get where we need to go. The vast majority
of the world's olefins today are manufactured
by the steam cracking process
and there really are no current low-carbon
commercialized alternatives at a similar
scale that could replace steam cracking.
At Technip Energies, we see the main
challenge to the industry to be the production
of olefins by steam cracking but
with much lower CO2
emissions. When
we look at 2050, we expect that ethylene
production will be significantly decarbonized,
and circularity will play an integral
role in the process.
HP: Can you provide your thoughts
on the circular economy?
SK: Yes, circularity is on the minds of
many in the industry. It is a strategic intent
for the ethylene industry. We have been
busy developing solutions that can address
our clients' needs to, for example, introduce
a level of circularity into their crackers.
We can provide a complete pyrolysis
and purification solution that will allow recycled
plastic waste to be fed to the cracker,
replacing the fresh hydrocarbon feed.
From the cracker side, we have been
studying the effect of recycled feed as it is
being introduced to the cracker in terms
of performance and reliability. That is a
very important question that our ethylene
clients are asking us. We are also studying
the potential of feeding biomass to the
cracking furnace. We see many different
approaches that could become technical
and economic avenues to support the decarbonization
of the industry.
Want more? You can listen to the
full discussion with Stan Knez on
decarbonizing the ethylene industry by
listening to " Decarbonizing
ethylene
production and the HPI's energy
transition " on The Main Column podcast
page on HydrocarbonProcessing.com.
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