Optimization of the ethane thermal cracking furnace based on the integration of reaction network

The cracking furnace is the core of an ethylene plant. An optimization method is built based on the integration of reaction network. Starting from atomic scope, an algebraic procedure is used to seek all possible reactions and establish the reaction network. Based on this, the reaction network is integrated and simplified to identify the variation rate of every component. The calculation procedure is developed to identify the variation of each component's concentration and the selectivity and identify the optimal furnace parameters. For the studied furnace, the residence time corresponding to the minimum by-product production is identified to be 0.4 s, and its by-product generation is 4.3% less than that at the initial residence time (0.3 s).

Automated summary

The study focused on the optimization of a cracking furnace by establishing a reaction network from the atomic level and developing a calculation procedure to determine the variation of each component and optimal furnace parameters. It was found that the optimal residence time for minimum by-product production in the studied furnace is 0.4 seconds, resulting in a 4.3% decrease in by-product generation compared to the initial residence time of 0.3 seconds.