Production of Ethylene from Natural Gas via Synthesis of Methyl Chloride followed by its Pyrolysis: Improvement of the Selectivity by Adding the Stage of Hydrodechlorination of Methane Polychlorides

Abstract

An effective catalyst for synthesis of ethylene at the stage of hydrodechlorination of methylene chloride and chloroform was chosen through comparative studies of alumina-supported palladium, nickel-molybdenum and nickel-lanthanum-magnesium catalysts. A flow reactor with the fixed catalyst bed was used for the studies at 300 ・・C, 3,8 s contact time, molar ratio of hydrogen to methylene chloride equal to 3 : 1. The nickel-molybdenum catalyst was shown the best. The process flow sheet was improved in order to favor preferable synthesis of ethylene to be used for production of vinyl chloride: Ethylene was proposed to synthesize during an additional stage of pyrolysis of methane homologues which were extracted from natural gas and from reaction gas of methyl chloride pyrolysis, as well as at the stage of hydrodechlorinaiton of methane polychlorides.