Technology Profile

Ethylene Glycol Production

By Intratec Solutions

onoethylene glycol (MEG),

also known as ethylene
glycol (EG) or simply glycol, is a diol mostly used
for the production of polyester fibers
and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
resins. It is also used in antifreeze
applications and in pharmaceuticals
and cosmetics. MEG is conventionally produced through the hydrolysis
of ethylene oxide (EO), which itself is
obtained via ethylene oxidation.

The process
Figure 1 depicts MEG production
from ethylene via a process similar to
the OMEGA catalytic process from
Shell Global Solutions (The Hague,
the Netherlands; www.shell.com). In
the described process, MEG is produced via EO, which is manufactured
in an integrated plant utilizing Shell EO
technology. An important feature of
the process is the negligible production of diethylene glycol (DEG) and
triethylene glycol (TEG), which occur
as byproducts in other ethylene glycol
production processes.
Ethylene oxide production. Ethylene
and oxygen are fed to a multi-tubular
reactor, forming EO. This exothermic
reaction, conducted in fixed beds in the
reactor tubes, occurs in the gaseous
phase with the use of a silver catalyst
supported on alumina. Steam is generated by the heat of reaction.
Ethylene oxide recovery. The reactor product stream is fed to the EO
absorber for lights removal by water
quenching. Part of this gaseous overhead stream is recycled to the reactor,
while the other part is sent to a carbon-

FIGURE 2. PLANTS USING SHELL OMEGA TECHNOLOGY

Company

Location

Capacity (1,000 ton/yr)

Lotte Chemical

Daesan, South Korea

400

2008

Petro Rabigh

Rabigh, Saudi Arabia

600

2009

Shell

Jurong Island, Singapore

750

2009

dioxide-removal unit composed of an

absorber and a stripper. In this unit,
CO2 is separated to be used in ethylene carbonate production.
A diluted EO stream removed from
the absorber is fed to the EO stripper,
where it is concentrated and recovered in the overheads. The crude EO
stream is condensed. Residual light
gases are recovered from it and recycled to the reactor. The resulting EO
stream is directed to the next section.
Ethylene glycol production and purification. Ethylene oxide is reacted
with CO2, forming ethylene carbonate, which is then hydrolyzed to form
MEG and CO2. Both reactions are
carried out in the liquid phase using
homogeneous catalysts.
CO2 streams from the reaction steps
are recycled to the ethylene carbonate
reactor. MEG is purified in two distillation columns where water is removed,
leading to the final MEG product. The
catalyst is separated and recycled to
the ethylene carbonate reactors.

fixed investment, working capital and

initial expenses) to construct the plant
are about $630 million, while the operating expenses are estimated at about
$620/ton of MEG.

Global perspective
Shell OMEGA is the first process to
enable ethylene glycol production via
a fully catalytic process. According
to the licenser, the process is able to
achieve EO-to-EG converstion and
selectivity near 100%, leading to production of MEG only.
However, although 40% of worldwide ethylene glycol production is
derived from processes using Shell
technologies, only three plants in the
world use the new Shell OMEGA technology (Figure 2). As can be seen, two
of these plants are located in Asia,
which is the region of the world responsible by the major share of MEG
global consumption. China alone accounts for about 45% of global demand for MEG.
n
Edited by Scott Jenkins

Economic performance
An economic evaluation of the process was conducted based on data
from the first quarter of 2015, assuming a facility with a nominal capacity
of 750,000 ton/yr of MEG constructed
on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Estimated capital expenses (total

Editors Note: The content for this column is supplied by

Intratec Solutions LLC (Houston; www.intratec.us) and edited
by Chemical Engineering. The analyses and models presented
are prepared on the basis of publicly available and nonconfidential information. The content represents the opinions
of Intratec only. More information about the methodology for
preparing analysis can be found, along with terms of use, at
www.intratec.us/che.

CO2

Ethylene

1. Ethylene oxide reactor

2. Ethylene oxide absorber
3. Ethylene oxide stripper
4. Lights removal unit
5. CO2 absorber
6. CO2 stripper
7. Ethylene carbonate
reactors
8. Hydrolysis reactors
9. Water removal column
10. MEG purification column
11. Cooling tower
12. Steam boiler

O2
Steam
CO2 vent

1
7
CW

8
Water

CO2

10

MEG
ST
Waste stream

ST

Start-up year

ST
Ethylene oxide

9
ST
Catalyst recycle

CW

11

ST

12

CW Cooling water
ST Steam

FIGURE 1. Monoethylene glycol (MEG) production, according to a process similiar to the Shell OMEGA process
44

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OCTOBER 2015