Olefina arinen ekoizpenaegungo egoera eta aurreikuspenak

Resumen

Light olefins (especially, ethylene and propylene) are the key building blocks of the petrochemical industry and they are mainly used to produce polyolefins (polyethylene and polypropylene). Nowadays, light olefin demand is continuosly increasing, where ethylene demand shows an annual average rate of 3-5% and propylene of 5-7%. Ethylene demand is satisfied by ethane steam cracking (SC) process. However, in order to fulfill the propylene demand, the selectivity achieved by conventional technologies (SC and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC)) should be improved. Furthermore, these industrial technologies show a great dependence on fossil fuels and a high energy consumption. Thus, improving these conventional technologies, as well as developing alternative processes based on rewenable sources are the main challenges for the refineries and the petrochemical industries. In this work, the main applications of light olefins and their worldwide demand are firstly analyzed. Then, the conventional technologies (from fossil fuels) are described; and, finally, other sustainable techonologies are discussed, which are based on the valorization of biomass and wastes.