Name: Pratiksha Bala Gore

College Name: MIT Academy of Engineering

ASSIGNMENT 1
1] Explain the difference between Polymerisation, Polycondensation &
Oligomerisation reactions. Provide 3 applications of each of these reactions in
Petrochemicals.

Ans: Polymerisation reaction: Any process in which relatively small molecules,

called monomers, combine chemically to produce a very large chain like or
network molecule, called a polymer. 

Polycondensation reaction: The process of forming polymers by the combination

of different monomers. The process is frequently accompanied by the release of
various subsidiary low-molecular products (water, alcohol, salt).

Oligomerisation Reaction: A chemical process that converts monomers to

macromolecular complexes through a finite degree of polymerization.

Applications:

Polymerisation Polycondensation Oligomerisation

The processing or Polypropylene is widely Oligomerisation reactions
conversion reactions are used in various are widely used on an
designed to crack large applications due to its industrial scale to upgrade
molecules into smaller good chemical resistance light olefin streams
ones, combine small and weldability. It has coming from different
molecules into larger ones lowest density among hydrocarbon forming
by alkylation and commodity plastics. It is processes (steam
polymerization reactions, commonly used in cracking, FCC, Fischer-
and rearrange the packaging applications, Tropsch) into heavier
structure of molecules by consumer goods, olefins that find
reforming reactions and automatic applications applications in the field of
isomerisation. The and medical applications. energy or petro chemistry.
mechanisms for these This reaction is
reactions involve both catalytically achieved by

1
free radical and ionic means of different
processes with the technologies such as
temperature and pressure heterogeneous acid-
conditions often catalysis which is
determining the essentially applied to the
mechanistic pathway. production of fuels or by
homogeneous catalytic
systems mainly applied to
provide high added value
chemicals.

2] Explain the process where Olefins building blocks react with Aromatics
building blocks to form Petrochemical Intermediate / derivatives. Provide 3
examples.

Ans: Petrochemicals are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by

refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from
other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as maize,
palm fruit or sugar cane.
The two most common petrochemical classes
are olefins (including ethylene and propylene)
and aromatics (including benzene, toluene and xylene isomers).
Oil refineries produce olefins and aromatics by fluid catalytic cracking of
petroleum fractions. Chemical plants produce olefins by steam cracking of natural
gas liquids like ethane and propane. Aromatics are produced by catalytic
reforming of naphtha. Olefins and aromatics are the building-blocks for a wide
range of materials such as solvents, detergents, and adhesives. Olefins are the basis
for polymers and oligomers used in plastics, resins, fibers, elastomers, lubricants,
and gels.
Fluid catalytic cracking:
Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is one of the most important conversion processes
used in petroleum refineries. It is widely used to convert the high-boiling, high-
molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum crude oils into more
valuable gasoline, olefinic gases, and other products. Cracking of petroleum

2
hydrocarbons was originally done by thermal cracking, which has been almost
completely replaced by catalytic cracking because it produces more gasoline with a
higher octane rating. It also produces byproduct gases that have more carbon-
carbon double bonds (i.e. more olefins), and hence more economic value, than
those produced by thermal cracking.
The feedstock to FCC is usually that portion of the crude oil that has an
initial boiling point of 340 °C (644 °F) or higher at atmospheric pressure and an
average molecular weight ranging from about 200 to 600 or higher. This portion of
crude oil is often referred to as heavy gas oil or vacuum gas oil (HVGO). In the
FCC process, the feedstock is heated to a high temperature and moderate pressure,
and brought into contact with a hot, powdered catalyst. The catalyst breaks the
long-chain molecules of the high-boiling hydrocarbon liquids into much shorter
molecules, which are collected as a vapor.

Steam cracking:
In steam cracking, a gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon feed like naphtha, LPG,
or ethane is diluted with steam and briefly heated in a furnace in the absence of
oxygen.[3] Typically, the reaction temperature is very high, at around 850 °C. The
reaction occurs rapidly: the residence time is on the order of milliseconds. Flow
rates approach the speed of sound. After the cracking temperature has been
reached, the gas is quickly quenched to stop the reaction in a transfer line heat
exchanger or inside a quenching header using quench oil.[2]

3
The products produced in the reaction depend on the composition of the feed, the
hydrocarbon-to-steam ratio, and on the cracking temperature and furnace residence
time. Light hydrocarbon feeds such as ethane, LPGs, or light naphtha give mainly
lighter alkenes, including ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. Heavier hydrocarbon
(full range and heavy naphthas as well as other refinery products) feeds give some
of these same products, but also those rich in aromatic hydrocarbons and
hydrocarbons suitable for inclusion in gasoline or fuel oil.[citation needed]
A higher cracking temperature (also referred to as severity) favors the production
of ethene and benzene, whereas lower severity produces higher amounts
of propene, C4-hydrocarbons and liquid products. The process also results in the
slow deposition of coke, a form of carbon, on the reactor walls. This degrades the
efficiency of the reactor, so reaction conditions are designed to minimize this.
Nonetheless, a steam cracking furnace can usually only run for a few months at a
time between de-cokings. Decokes require the furnace to be isolated from the
process and then a flow of steam or a steam/air mixture is passed through the
furnace coils. This converts the hard solid carbon layer to carbon monoxide and
carbon dioxide. Once this reaction is complete, the furnace can be returned to
service.

4
Catalytic Reforming:
Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert petroleum
refinery naphthas distilled from crude oil (typically having low octane ratings) into
high-octane liquid products called reformates, which are premium blending stocks
for high-octane gasoline. The process converts low-octane linear hydrocarbons
(paraffins) into branched alkanes (isoparaffins) and cyclic naphthenes, which are
then partially dehydrogenated to produce high-octane aromatic hydrocarbons. The
dehydrogenation also produces significant amounts of byproduct hydrogen gas,
which is fed into other refinery processes such as hydrocracking. A side reaction
is hydrogenolysis, which produces light hydrocarbons of lower value, such
as methane, ethane, propane and butanes.
In addition to a gasoline blending stock, reformate is the main source of aromatic
bulk chemicals such as benzene, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene which have
diverse uses, most importantly as raw materials for conversion into plastics.
However, the benzene content of reformate makes it carcinogenic, which has led to

5
governmental regulations effectively requiring further processing to reduce its
benzene content.
This process is quite different from and not to be confused with the catalytic steam
reforming process used industrially to produce products such
as hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol from natural gas, naphtha or other
petroleum-derived feedstocks. Nor is this process to be confused with various other
catalytic reforming processes that use methanol or biomass-derived feedstocks to
produce hydrogen for fuel cells or other uses.

3] Which Petrochemicals are recyclable & Biocompatible and why?

Ans: The petrochemical xylene is fundamental to some of the world’s most

recyclable plastics. Xylene is used in the production of polyethylene terephthalate
(PET), the most common polymer in the polyester family. PET can be found in
polyester clothing, almost all soda and water bottles, shampoo containers, plastic
peanut butter jars, spray bottles and so many other consumer products—meaning
all of those products have great potential for recycling.

Xylene contains both low boiling (alcohol/water) and high boiling (fat and wax)
contaminants.

6
To recycle xylene you should choose a solvent recycler that uses fractional
distillation by temperature.

Low boiling alcohol/water will distill over the fractional distillation column first.
When the vapor temperature climbs to the boiling point of xylene, all the
alcohol/water contamination will have been collected in the waste container.

The pure xylene will distill over next. Once all the useable xylene has been
distilled into the pure xylene container the recycler will automatically stop and
cool down.

Left behind in the boiler is a little xylene along with fat, paraffin, protein and some
biological materials.

Elimination of hazardous chemicals with effective, biocompatible substitutes is

very important to move forward in the path of green chemistry and to create an
eco-friendly safer working environment in histology laboratories. Xylene is a
known toxic chemical. To create a xylene-free safer working environment, the
onus lies on the pathologists and also on everyone related to histology and their
commitment to accept the change.