Process for the preparation of chemical products from waste plastic feedstocks

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for the production of butenes and butadienes from waste plastics feedstocks comprising the steps in this order of: (a) providing a hydrocarbon stream A obtained by treatment of a waste plastics feedstock; (b) providing a hydrocarbon stream B; (c) supplying a feed C comprising a fraction of the hydrocarbon stream A and a fraction of the hydrocarbon stream B to a thermal cracker furnace comprising cracking coil(s); (d) performing a thermal cracking operation in the presence of steam to obtain a cracked hydrocarbon stream D; (e) supplying the cracked hydrocarbon stream D to one or more separation units; (f) performing a separation operation to obtain different streams of chemical products comprising ethylene, propylene, isobutene, 1-butene, 2-butene, 1,2-butadiene, 1,3-butadiene, benzene, styrene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes; wherein in step (d): ⋅ the coil outlet temperature is ≥800 and ≤870° C., preferably ≥805 and ≤835° C.; and ⋅ the weight ratio of steam to feed C is >0.3 and <0.8, preferably >0.3 and <0.5. Such process allows for optimisation of the quantity of waste plastic material that finds its way back into products that are produced as outcome of the process. The higher that quantity is, i.e. the higher the quantity of chemical building blocks that are present in the waste plastic material that are converted to the produced products, the better the sustainability footprint of the process is. The process allows for circular utilisation of plastics.