OLEFINS

Ethylene is one of the major chemical building blocks and the largest of the olefins (by sales volume). Its main use is as the monomer for various forms of polyethylene. Ethylene is produced by steam cracking, predominantly of naphtha in Europe and Asia, and of ethane in North America and the Middle East. Co-products are propylene and a C4 stream containing butadiene. Ethylene is also used to produce vinyl acetate and as a co-monomer in other types of resin. Although propylene is growing in importance, the demands of the ethylene market still mainly drive the operation of steam crackers.

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Propylene is the second of the major olefins, after ethylene. It is co-produced together with ethylene in steam crackers and also by refinery cat-crackers and, increasingly, dehydrogenation of propane. Propylene has become much more than just a co-product. It is growing faster than ethylene and various processes for on-purpose propylene production have been developed to provide incremental capacity. Propylene's major derivative is polypropylene but it is also used to produce acrylonitrile, plasticiser alcohols and other chemicals.

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Butadiene is the third of the major olefins, after ethylene and propylene. It is extracted from C4 streams, mainly from steam crackers but also from refinery cat crackers. It has been called ‘the co-product of a co- product’ but is really an important chemical in its own right. Its major outlets include production of the engineering plastic ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) and the synthetic rubber SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber), a major constituent of vehicle tyres. The volumes of butadiene produced are largely influenced by the operating rates of ethylene crackers and the feedstock used.

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