US EPA

8265063 

Journal Article 

OPTIMIZE ACETYLENE REMOVAL 

Huang, W 

1979 

No 

Hydrocarbon Processing
ISSN: 0887-0284
EISSN: 0018-8190 

59 

10 

131-132 

Improper operation of an acetylene removal reactor in an olefin plant results in ethylene losses of as much as 2-3 percent. For a billion pound per year olefin plant, this means a loss of 3 million/year. To cut the loss to a minimum of one percent or less requires sound understanding of the reaction systems, the catalyst characteristics, start up procedure, response surfaces of various variables and parameters. The selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene, to remove 99. 8 percent of acetylene in the presence of a 20-fold excess of ethylene is a tough job for the catalyst. The temperature of the process must be raised gradually and controlled at the proper temperature to avoid polymerization to green oil. This paper presents a study which provides systematic sensitivity analysis of various operating variables near the optimal operation, i. e. , minimum ethylene loss at the required product acetylene ppm level.