COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF OXY REACTOR CATALYSTS

Prepared By: Saad Arif

Reviewed By: SHS
Submitted To:
Copy To:
Date: 04 January 2015
Subject: Comparison of performance parameters for OXY reactor catalyst
between OXY MAX-A and OXY CHLOR 8C and determination of gains made
after switching to OXY Chlor 8C

BACKGROUND
VCM plant at this site is relocated plant from Formosa Plastics Corporation, Baton
Rouge, LA, USA. The plant was relocated to Pakistan in 2006-07 and was eventually
commissioned in 2009. At the time of commissioning, EPCL, being in an agreement with
INEOS Vinyl for the LTC reactors, procured the INEOS based OXY reactor catalyst. The
catalyst is commercially known as IVOC-FB2. EPCL continued to use the INEOS based
catalyst till Dec-2012
In 2012, EPCL decided to negotiate a technical services agreement with VINNOLIT.
While the technical services agreement could not materialize, during correspondence,
VINNOLIT offered its trademark OXY reactor catalyst, commercially known as OXY
MAX. EPCL decided to change the reactor catalyst. Approximately 15met of OXY MAXA was added to the OXY reactor in January-2013 and by July-2013, the reactor was
operating with a full set of OXY MAX-A.
In 2014, EPCL approached OXY Vinyl for a technical services/licensing agreement. The
licensing contract was finalized with Oxy Vinyl and the discussion concluded that the
use OXY Vinyl patented OXY reactor catalyst will result in improved performance of the
OXY reactor at EPCL. It was decided to switch from OXY MAX-A to BASF based
catalyst commercially known as OXY CHLOR 8C.
From September 2015 to November 2015, 5 tons of OXY CHLOR 8C was charged to the
reactor each month and by December 2015, the reactor is operating with mixed catalyst
of which approximately 40% is OXY Chlor 8C.

SCOPE
The scope of this position paper is to compare the performance of OXY MAX and OXY
Chlor 8C and assess whether the shift from CLARIANT based catalyst to BASF based
catalyst has resulted in improved reactor performance or not.

BASIS
OXY reactor performance is evaluated for the months of June-December 2015. From
June-August 2015, OXY reactor was charged with 100% OXY MAX. Efficiency and
performance of OXY Max can be evaluated by analyzing OXY reactor performance in
this interval.
As a remake, OXY Chlor 8C has been charged from September 2015 to November 2015.
During this period, OXY reactor is operated with mixed catalyst. The percentage of OXY
Chlor 8C increased from 12.5% to 40%.
Since OXY reactor is not charged yet with 100% OXY Chlor 8C, it is not possible to
assess the actual performance of OXY Chlor 8C, but the improvements occurred since
the charging of OXY Chlor 8C has been started can be gauged.
At this moment, we can compare the performance, and gauge the improvements caused
by switching to OXY Chlor 8C.

CATALYST OVERVIEW
The catalyst employed in the OXY reactor is Cupric Chloride (CuCl 2). This catalyst is
highly selective for EDC reaction. Catalyst activity is a measure factor which varies with
temperature. Reactor operation at the optimal temperature with correct feed ratios is
required to prevent the formation of impurities and enhanced efficiencies.
CLARIANTQUOTED

BASF-QUOTED*

Ethylene Efficiency (%)

95.8

95.8

HCl Conversion (%)

99.0

99.6

EDC Purity (%)

98.8

98.8

Catalyst Loss(kg/t-edc)

0.1

0.1

+ Data for OXY MAX-A

* Data for OXY CHLOR 8C

OPERATING CONDITIONS
OXY reactor operating parameters play a key role in the OXY reactor performance. The
three most important parameters are load, temperature and ethylene to HCl ratio. For
this analysis, low load operation is not considered since the performance indicators are

not the true indicators of OXY reactor performance when the OXY reactor is operated
under low load conditions.
Parameters
Temperature
Load
Ethylene/HCl

Uni

Only OXY

12.5% OXY

25% OXY

40% OXY

MAX

Chlor 8C

Chlor 8C

Chlor 8C

240

236

236

235

TPH

12.6

13.7

13.6

13.5

0.4

0.4

0.4

0.4

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CATALYSTS:

The main function of OXY reactor catalyst is to increase the specificity and efficiency of
the reaction, and provide good heat transfer between the reaction zone and the cooling
coils.
Performance of the OXY reactor catalyst can be gauged on the basis of following
parameters:
I.
II.
III.
IV.

Ethylene Efficiency
HCl Efficiency
Product quality
Catalyst Consumption

Following table provides a comparison between the afore-mentioned parameters.

Comparison has been drawn to compare the performance of OXY Max and OXY Chlor
8C.
Mixed
Catalyst

Only OXY

Mixed

Mixed

MAX

Catalyst

Catalyst

12.5

25

40

Ethylene Efficiency, %

95.8

95.6

95.5

95.3

HCl Efficiency, %

97.9

99.1

99.1

99.3

1,2-EDC, %

98.3

98.6

98.7

98.7

T/LBM, %

0.6

0.4

0.4

0.4

T/HBM, %

1.2

0.95

0.9

0.9

Catalyst consumption,
kg/t-EDC

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.2

Ethylene, %

0.27

0.48

0.46

0.51

CO2, %

1.59

1.61

1.63

1.7

CO, %

0.84

0.73

0.75

0.75

O2, %

3.65

3.61

3.46

3.86

% of Oxy Chlor 8C
Efficiencies

Product Quality

Vent Gas Composition

ETHYLENE EFFICIENCY:
Ethylene efficiency is the measure of ethylene conversion as well as ethylene selectivity
to produce 1,2-EDC. Inefficiency is due to ethylene consumption in oxidation reaction
and unreacted ethylene in vents.
It is evident from the afore-mentioned data that the ethylene efficiency has encountered
a decreasing trend. Since the charging of OXY Chlor 8C has been started, there is a
slight decrease observed in the ethylene efficiency. Percentage decrease in ethylene
efficiency is 0.52%.

HCL EFFICIENCY:
HCL efficiency is the measure of total HCl consumed in OXY reactor.
When the reactor was fully charged with OXY Max, HCl efficiency was consistently low
and has an average of 97.9%.
Since the charging of OXY Chlor 8C has been started, HCl efficiency has encountered a
significant increase and has increased up to 99.3%. Percentage increase in HCl efficiency
is 1.43%.

PRODUCT QUALITY
Main reaction mechanism of OXY reactor is the EDC reaction in which ethylene, HCl
and oxygen react in the presence of a catalyst (CuCl2) to produce 1,2-EDC and water.
In OXY reactor there are other reactions taking place as well. These reactions result in
the formation of low boiling materials and high boiling materials along with 1,2-EDC.
These LBM and HBM are produced by the reaction of ethylene/HCL/EDC via various
reaction paths and impact OXY reactor product quality.
Product quality of OXY reactor should be in the range of 99.1-99.5% provided that the
hydrogenator is employed to hydrogenate acetylene in the HCl feed to ethane and
ethylene. Since the plant commissioning, hydrogenator is not employed due to the
unavailability of catalyst and the lower bound of product quality has been set at 98.5%.
When the OXY reactor was fully charged with OXY Max, product quality had remained
low at an average value of 98.3%.
Since the charging of OXY Chlor 8C has been started, there is a gradual rise in the
product quality and it has increased to 98.7% on average.
Percentage increase in the product quality is 0.41%

CATALYST CONSUMPTION
Fines generation is the characteristic of fluidized bed reactor and fines removal is
essential for good fluidization. It is necessary to periodically charge fresh catalyst in the
OXY reactor to maintain the catalyst level inside the reactor.
Since the charging of OXY Chlor 8C started, there is no decrease in catalyst loss has
been observed.

CONCLUSION
It can be misleading to look at a single indicator and draw conclusions based on that
indicator alone. In order to draw conclusion regarding effectiveness of OXY Chlor 8C, all
the indicators need to be considered.
Performance highlights
Ethylene Efficiency: Percentage decrease of 0.52%
HCl Efficiency: Percentage increase of 1.43%
Product Quality: Percentage increase of 0.41%
Catalyst Consumption: No significant decrease observed
Since the OXY Chlor 8C charging has been started, there is a decrease observed in
ethylene efficiency. It should not be forgotten that at EPCL Ethylene/HCL (0.4) is quite
higher than stoichiometric (0.384).
This decrease is accompanied with increase in ethylene and oxides in vents but the
increase in unreacted ethylene is greater than increase in oxides. This relationship
indicates that the OXY reactor Ethylene to HCl ratio can be trimmed and ethylene
efficiency can be improved with lower excess ethylene consumption.
Improvement in EDC purity has benefitted our downstream purification and cracking
units as well with furnace feed purity risen up to 99% and AS-303 bottom EDC purity to
98%.
Improvement in HCl efficiency has resulted in monetary savings, ensured system
integrity and reduced caustic consumption.
With OXY Chlor 8C periodic charging, performance parameters are showing
improvement and it is believed once the entire catalyst will be replaced performance
parameters will acquire near to the BASF quoted parameters.
On comparing EDC purity and HCl efficiency, it can be concluded that BASF based
catalyst OXY Chlor 8C has brought improvement in the OXY reactor performance.

WAY-FORWARD
It is expected that the OXY Chlor 8C will replace the existing catalyst by May 2016 and
it will be possible to gauge OXY Chlor 8C actual performance against BASF quoted
performance parameters.

In order to improve ethylene efficiency, Ethylene to HCl ratio can be reduced and the
results can be assessed then.
With the improvements obtained in HCl efficiency and product quality, EPCL should
continue the use of OXY Chlor 8C.