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By Intratec Solutions
Monoethylene 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,...