Enhancement of acetylene and ethylene yields in partially decoupled oxidation of ethane by changing the composition of heat carrier

Comparison of 0-D (ideal mixing) and 3-D (FIB reacbor) simulation results of (a) C2 yield and (b) CH4 and CO yields at different steam addition ratios. [Display omitted] In our previous work, a partially decoupled process (PDP) was proposed for efficient conversion of ethane to increase the ethylene yield and a new structural reactor called forward-impinging-back reactor (FIB) was proposed for scale-up. In this work, the influence of changing the composition and temperature of the heat carrier was investigated by simulations with detailed chemistry to further increase of the C2 (C2H2 + C2H4) yield in the PDP of ethane. At ideal mixing conditions, the C2 yield is 75.3% without steam addition and it is 82.9% at steam addition ratio of β = 1.4. In comparison, the C2 yield in an FIB reactor is 62.4% without steam addition and it increases to 78.5% with steam addition (β = 1.4). The requirement of high mixing efficiency is diminished by steam addition, which is favorable for reactor scale-up.