Ethylene, polymer grade (99.95 vol%)

Activity Bio-ethylene by catalytic dehydration of ethanol (adiabatic fixed beds, steam dilution), GLO: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedbio-ethylene-1:bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration:product:ethylenePreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset

Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Per 1 t of polymer-grade ethylene, gate-to-gate, from bought hydrated bio-ethanol. Ethanol feed from a published simulation's ethanol and ethylene flows (its yield of 0.57 kg/kg), by-products from the stoichiometry of its conversion, selectivities and recovery; steam, fired heat, electricity and refrigeration from the same study (a stand-alone 200 kt/a plant).

Reference product: 1 kilogram of Ethylene, polymer grade (99.95 vol%) (gas, 99.95 % C2H4 (mole), grade polymer grade, 99.95 vol%)
Chemical: ethylene
CAS: 74-85-1
Code: bio-ethylene-1:bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration:product:ethylene
Dataset: bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration version 0.1.0 · UUID 2fe8888d-1a97-5434-8cdb-0b2c4ff49567
Activity UUID: not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database: cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4 (version preview-a3c52e4)
Process: Bio-ethylene by catalytic dehydration of ethanol (adiabatic fixed beds, steam dilution)
Geography: GLO · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period: 2010 · valid until 2016
Technology: ethanol dehydration over alumina (SynDol type) in four adiabatic fixed beds in series at 450 degC inlet and 11.4 bar with steam dilution (Chematur / Halcon SD type), cryogenic purification; isothermal multitubular reactors are not modelled · level current
Boundary: gate-to-gate: feed vaporisation, steam dilution, four adiabatic reactors with interheating, quench, compression, caustic wash, drying, C2 splitter and stripper; steam, fuel, power and refrigeration from outside
Classification: ISIC Rev.4 2011 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model: attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation: mass, 100 % of the dataset to this product (rule single-output, from default)
one product: nothing to allocate
Rights: CC-BY-4.0

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Ethylene, polymer grade (99.95 vol%)

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 4 given, 10 calculated. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary4 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.

Input	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree	Linked to
Ethanol, counted as ethanol (bought as hydrated ethanol; its water is not counted) feed:ethanol Arvidsson and Lundin (2011), Chalmers MSc thesis: the simulated ethanol and ethylene flows (m_feed, w_feed, m_rate), 1.743 t/t, the source's yield of 0.57 kg/kg. The stoichiometry of its conversion, selectivities and recovery (parameters X, s1 to s8, rec) needs only 1.686 t/t; the source does not say where the other 3.4 % goes, see output:ethanol-effluent. Compare benchmarks/bio-based-chemicals.yaml	1.743	kilogram	given	4 4 4 4 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (chemical 'ethanol'); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Steam, superheated, 11.4 bar, injected into the reactor feed (by mass) feed:steam Arvidsson and Lundin (2011), Chalmers MSc thesis, section 2.2.1, p. 17 (1:1 by weight with the feed); the source puts this steam at 25.1 MW (section 4.2, p. 48), outside its pinch analysis because it is mixed with the feed steam, MP, superheated, 11.4 bar(a)	1.874	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 3	Atlas: steam, saturated, 11 bar(a), per kg, as heat from steam (Atlas unit proxy) (steam, saturated, 11 bar(a), GLO)
Caustic soda, 50 wt% solution, for the caustic tower (counted per kg of solution) feed:caustic-50 stoichiometry 2 NaOH + CO2 -> Na2CO3 + H2O on the CO2 of reaction s8, no excess (ASSUMED), over the NaOH fraction of the solution (w_caustic). The caustic tower and its 50 wt% NaOH are in Arvidsson and Lundin (2011), Chalmers MSc thesis, sections 2.2.5 and 3.2.5, pp. 20 and 34. The water of the solution leaves with output:wastewater	0.006407	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4	Atlas (pinned): Chlor-alkali by membrane-cell electrolysis (100 kt/a Cl2, 50 wt-% caustic soda, hydrogen) (Sodium hydroxide, Caustic soda 50 wt-% to storage, GLO) compatible: grade the input names sodium-hydroxide only; sodium-hydroxide (Sodium hydroxide, Caustic soda 50 wt-% to storage) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation shares (deviation); boundary plant gate (pinned): no distribution or losses; the consumer's dataset counts its delivery
Electricity (simulated process units and cooling-water supply) feed:electricity Arvidsson and Lundin (2011), Chalmers MSc thesis, section 4.2, p. 48, and Table 4.4, p. 47 (4.4 MW at 23.4 t/h of ethylene) electricity	0.1879	kilowatt hour	given	4 4 4 4 3	market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Fired heat from natural gas, as heat absorbed by the reactor feed (external fuel x furnace efficiency) feed:fired-heat Arvidsson and Lundin (2011), Chalmers MSc thesis, section 4.2.2, p. 50, and Table 4.6, p. 51: 15.9 MW of external fuel at 80 % efficiency. The rest of the furnace duty comes from firing the C2-splitter bottoms, whose CO2 is emission:CO2 heat, 450 degC	0.5432	kilowatt hour	given	4 4 4 4 3	Atlas: heat from natural gas, industrial furnace, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from natural gas, by energy, GLO)
Refrigeration at -25 degC for the C2-splitter condenser (cold delivered) feed:refrigeration Arvidsson and Lundin (2011), Chalmers MSc thesis, section 4.2.2, p. 50 (8.5 MW); the electricity of the refrigeration machine is not in feed:electricity cold, -25 degC	0.363	kilowatt hour	given	4 4 4 4 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Effluent water to wastewater treatment (injected steam and reaction water) output:wastewater the injected steam and the water of the reactions leave in the quench tower, knock-out drums and dryer, and the water of the 50 wt% caustic with the spent caustic (Arvidsson and Lundin (2011), Chalmers MSc thesis, sections 2.2.3 to 2.2.6); all of it to treatment is ASSUMED (the source notes water may be recycled to the reactor, which would cut both the steam and this effluent)	2.531	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4	Atlas (plant): wastewater to treatment, per kg (Atlas unit proxy) (wastewater, by mass, GLO) compatible: grade the input names wastewater only; wastewater (Wastewater treated) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)
Ethanol not converted to the modelled products (unconverted, and the rest of the source's lower yield), to wastewater treatment output:ethanol-effluent feed:ethanol minus the ethanol the reactions s1 to s8 convert: the unconverted ethanol (1 - X, about 8 kg) and the difference between the source's simulated yield and its reconstructed stoichiometry (about 57 kg). The source sends the quench-tower bottoms to treatment (Arvidsson and Lundin (2011), Chalmers MSc thesis, section 2.2.3, p. 20) but does not say where the difference goes; that all of it leaves as ethanol with the effluent, none recycled, is ASSUMED (it may be partly ethylene in the stripper vent or ethanol in the fired bottoms, section 2.2.7, p. 21)	0.06546	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Sodium carbonate in the spent caustic, to wastewater treatment output:spent-caustic the CO2 of reaction s8 absorbed in the caustic tower (2 NaOH + CO2 -> Na2CO3 + H2O)	0.004244	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges

Elementary flows

Flow	Direction	Compartment	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree
Carbon dioxide, non-fossil eba59fd6-f37e-41dc-9ca3-c7ea22d602c7	emission	air	0.06317	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4
Water 075e433b-4be4-448e-9510-9a5029c1ce94	emission	air	2.78e-5	cubic meter	calculated	4 4 4 4 4
Methane, non-fossil da1157e2-7593-4dfd-80dd-a3449b37a4d8	emission	air	6.834e-4	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4
Carbon monoxide, non-fossil 2cb2333c-1599-46cf-8435-3dffce627524	emission	air	7.138e-5	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4
Hydrogen no biosphere3 UUID: linked by name and compartment	emission	air	1.152e-4	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/bio-ethylene-1/lca/datasets/bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration.yaml in library version a3c52e4.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review: Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality: not available
Mass and carbon closure: Not available: a hand-written dataset: no lca/manifest.json records its balance
Change report: Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

KPI	Value	Reference range	Position
External natural gas fired per t of bio-ethylene (fuel energy)	– kWh/t	706 to 728 kWh/t Haro, P., Ollero, P., Trippe, F. (2013) Technoeconomic assessment of potential processes for bio-ethylene production. Fuel Processing Technology 114:35-48, doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2013.03.024 (accepted manuscript) (peer-reviewed)	not evaluated
Electricity per t of bio-ethylene	– kWh/t	353 to 397 kWh/t Haro, P., Ollero, P., Trippe, F. (2013) Technoeconomic assessment of potential processes for bio-ethylene production. Fuel Processing Technology 114:35-48, doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2013.03.024 (accepted manuscript) (peer-reviewed)	not evaluated
Ethanol (counted as ethanol) per t of bio-ethylene	– t/t	1.706 to 1.715 t/t Haro, P., Ollero, P., Trippe, F. (2013) Technoeconomic assessment of potential processes for bio-ethylene production. Fuel Processing Technology 114:35-48, doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2013.03.024 (accepted manuscript) (peer-reviewed)	not evaluated

How to use it

Downloads

cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx · bw2io ExcelImporter workbook (bw2io 0.9 Excel layout) · the whole database
code bio-ethylene-1:bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration:product:ethylene
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4-olca-jsonld.zip · openLCA JSON-LD (olca-schema) (2) · the whole database
process 2fe8888d-1a97-5434-8cdb-0b2c4ff49567 (processes/2fe8888d-1a97-5434-8cdb-0b2c4ff49567.json)
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4-multifunctional.json · Brightway 2.5 multifunctional database (JSON, for the multifunctional package) (cheme-as-code/lci-multifunctional/v1) · the whole database
code bio-ethylene-1:bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration:product:ethylene
cheme_as_code_lci-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl · the installer

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4", "bio-ethylene-1:bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration:product:ethylene"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Ethylene, polymer grade (99.95 vol%), from Bio-ethylene by catalytic dehydration of ethanol (adiabatic fixed beds, steam dilution) (dataset bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-a3c52e4, activity bio-ethylene-1:bio-ethylene-ethanol-dehydration:product:ethylene. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-a3c52e4.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX

@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering. arXiv:2611.07947. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947

BibTeX

@misc{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering}},
  year = {2026},
  eprint = {2611.07947},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07947}
}