Olefins by Catalytic Cracking - New Process

A new process for the manufacture of Ethylene and Propylene, the two main building blocks for petrochemicals, called Advanced Catalytic Olefins (ACO) Technology, is getting ready to go into commercial operation in the last quarter of this year.
The main advantages of this new catalytic route over the well established thermal route (steam cracking) are:
• 15-25 % increase in olefins yield
• Better Propylene to Ethylene ratio of 1:1 compared to 0.5:1 for steam cracking
• Lower operating temperature of 650 degs C compared to 850 degs C for steam cracking
Licensed by KBR, the plant is being built for SK Energy at Ulsan, South Korea.

Chemical industry will be anxiously watching the start-up of this breakthrough technology, as it will have far reaching consequences for the petrochemical sector.

More details of the process at
http://www.kbr.com/Newsroom/Publications/technical-papers/A-Catalytic-Cracking-Process-for-Ethylene-and-Propylene-from-Paraffin-Streams.pdf