ORG Seminar: Tracy Lohr - Shell

Shell’s Ethylene Oxide Story: History, Delplots, and Looking to the Future

Ethylene epoxidation is a commercially important reaction that takes ethylene and oxygen over a promoted silver catalyst and converts it under high temperature and pressures to ethylene oxide (EO). The product EO can then be used to form a variety of products including monoethylene glycol, which is used in detergents (ethoxylates), and polymers.

This presentation will offer an overview of some of the significant contributions by Shell scientists, engineers, and technical staff to the field of ethylene oxide (EO) production. It will discuss the process parameters of running ethylene oxide reactors under commercially relevant conditions and will introduce the concept of using a Delplot analysis determine the reaction ranking of the different products formed throughout a reaction network. It will also look towards technologies of the future for decarbonization.