Question

For the production of ethylene glycol, how much is the gross profit per pound of ethylene glycol reduced when chlorine and caustic are used to avoid the production of ethylene oxide?
Use the following price information to solve the problem)
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Price, $/lb MW, lb/lbmol
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Ethylene 0.215 28.05
Ethylene glycol 0.26 62.07
NaOH 1.70 40.08
Cl2 0.128 70.91

Design Alternatives Eliminate storage tanks: problem shutdown - Use chlorine and caustic in a single reaction step costly Expensive compared with O HO OH OH Less active intermediate (Ethylene carbonate) CH2 -CH CO CH, CH Carry out reaction consecutively CH、-CH, + CO, → O CH2 CH2 CHBE426(00) 6.3 Distribution of Chemicals Heuristic 2 Use an excess of on chemical reactant in a reaction operation to consume completely a valuable, toxic, or hazardous chemical reactants. The MSDSs will indicate which chemical are toxic or hazard. Example : Use excess ethylene in VCM production .

Answer 1

one mole ethylene gives one mole ethylene oxide which treated with water gives ethylene glycol.

where only expense is for ethylene is 0.215 $/lb

sell price of ethylene glycol =0.26$/lb

profit= 0.26-0.215 =0.045$/lb

for another way of production of ethylene glycol

expense:

Price(ethylene + chlorine + 2 * NaOH) = 0.215+0.128 + 2*1.70 =3.743$/lb

profit = 0.26- 3.743 = -3.483$/lb

reduction in profit = 0.26 - (-3.483) =3.743$/lb