Crude C4 cut

Activity Ethylene and propylene by ethane steam cracking (1000 kt/a ethylene, concept), GLO: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedethylene-1:ethylene-and-propylene-by-ethane-steam-cracking-1000-kt-a-ethylene:product:CRUDEC4PreliminaryReport 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

Unallocated foreground LCI of Ethylene and propylene by ethane steam cracking (1000 kt/a ethylene), case design, derived from the flowsheet by cheme assess lca.

Reference product
1 kilogram of Crude C4 cut (5 bar(a), 45 degC, 80.8513 % C4H6 (mole))
Chemical
crude-c4
CAS
not available
Code
ethylene-1:ethylene-and-propylene-by-ethane-steam-cracking-1000-kt-a-ethylene:product:CRUDEC4
Dataset
ethylene-and-propylene-by-ethane-steam-cracking-1000-kt-a-ethylene version 0.1.0 · UUID f8abf375-d19c-5a5c-aec5-3ff84e9bed26
Activity UUID
not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348 (version preview-c3ab348)
Process
Ethylene and propylene by ethane steam cracking (1000 kt/a ethylene, concept)
Geography
GLO · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period
2026 · valid until 2031
Technology
ethane steam cracking, 1000 kt/a ethylene, front-end demethaniser, tail-end acetylene hydrogenation · level current
Boundary
gate-to-gate foreground of the plant
Production volume
1,000,000,000 kg/a (product:ETHYLENE per hour x operation.hours_per_year (8000 h/a))
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, 3.2 % of the dataset to this product (rule deviation, from study)
D-016: the WBCSD price-ratio test cannot be applied at concept stage because no co-product prices are set; mass allocation is kept as the physical relationship among co-products that are all hydrocarbon feedstocks, to be re-tested once prices exist.
Rights
CC-BY-4.0: the ChemE-as-Code process library's own concept design (LICENSE-DATA)

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Crude C4 cut

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 11 assumed, 3 calculated, 5 estimated. 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.
InputAmountUnitProvenancePedigreeLinked to
Purity ethane feed (pipeline)
feed:ETHANE
fresh ethane S101, scripts/balance.py (D-003)
From stream S101
1.161kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (chemical 'ethane'); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Natural gas make-up to the fuel header
feed:NATGAS
fuel make-up S801 closing the firebox heat balance (D-013)
From stream S801
0.07051kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: natural gas, per kg, as methane (Atlas unit proxy) (natural gas, by mass, GLO)
Boiler feed water make-up to the dilution steam system
feed:BFW
dilution steam make-up S203 (D-007)
From stream S203
0.01533kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3market for water, deionised (water, deionised, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Fresh caustic soda solution 10 wt%
feed:CAUSTIC
fresh caustic S304 (D-009); upper-bound assumption: 3 mol NaOH per mol CO2 (ASSUMED, unsourced excess) on an ASSUMED 0.2 mol% feed CO2
From stream S304
0.09175kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
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
Electric power (machine drives, D-015)
feed:POWER
machine drives Q301, Q303, Q402 as electric motors (D-015); the refrigeration part Q402 is a conservative upper estimate (D-014)
electricity
From streams Q301, Q303, Q402
0.871kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
MP steam 1800 kPa(a) to the dilution steam generator
feed:MPS
dilution steam generation Q210 (D-007)
steam, MP, 207.15 degC, 18 bar(a)
From stream Q210
0.3389kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
LP steam 450 kPa(a) to the column reboilers
feed:LPS
column reboilers Q502, Q601, Q603, Q605 (D-014)
steam, LP, 147.65 degC, 4.5 bar(a)
From streams Q502, Q601, Q603, Q605
0.3361kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
Process water blowdown to wastewater treatment
product:BLOWDOWN
process water blowdown S204 (D-007)
From stream S204
0.01533kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (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)
Spent caustic to treatment
product:SPENTCAUSTIC
spent caustic S305 (D-009); upper-bound assumption: follows the ASSUMED 3:1 NaOH:CO2 ratio and 0.2 mol% feed CO2
From stream S305
0.09511kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
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
SHP steam raised in the TLEs and convection sections (11500 kPa(a), 520 C)
product:HPS
TLE and convection-section steam Q102, Q103 (D-007)
steam, HP, 520 degC, 115 bar(a)
From streams Q102, Q103
2.47kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
Cooling water return
product:CW
coolers and condensers Q201, Q302, Q304, Q403, Q602, Q604, Q606 (D-014)
cold, 25 degC
From streams Q201, Q302, Q304, Q403, Q602, Q604, Q606
2.73kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (plant): cooling water service, per kWh heat rejected (Atlas screening proxy) (heat rejected to cooling water, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names cooling-water only; cooling-water (Heat rejected to cooling water, 25/35 degC) is taken; unit kilowatt hour; carrier cold, 25 degC from cold, 25 degC; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)

Elementary flows

FlowDirectionCompartmentAmountUnitProvenancePedigree
Ethylene
90f722bf-cb9b-571a-88fc-34286632bdc4
From stream S804
emissionair0kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3
Ethane
8e30c990-5ed4-4f94-9d0e-2f5e4ff1a1f9
From stream S804
emissionair0kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3
Methane, fossil
70ef743b-3ed5-4a6d-b192-fb6d62378555
From stream S804
emissionair / non-urban air or from high stacks1.611e-5kilogramestimated3 4 3 3 3
Carbon dioxide, fossil
aa7cac3a-3625-41d4-bc54-33e2cf11ec46
From stream S804
emissionair / non-urban air or from high stacks0.4326kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3
Nitrogen oxides
77357947-ccc5-438e-9996-95e65e1e1bce
emissionair / non-urban air or from high stacks3.855e-4kilogramestimated3 4 3 3 3
Carbon monoxide, fossil
099b36ab-4c03-4587-87f4-2f81e337afb8
emissionair / non-urban air or from high stacks1.927e-4kilogramestimated3 4 3 3 3
PM to the environment (estimated)
emission:PM
unlinked
unlinked, no biosphere mapping: emission of PM (fossil) has no biosphere3 flow identity and is not in lci/mappings.yaml biosphere
emissionnot linked2.739e-5kilogramestimated3 4 3 3 3
Dinitrogen monoxide
afd6d670-bbb0-4625-9730-04088a5b035e
emissionair / non-urban air or from high stacks1.611e-6kilogramestimated3 4 3 3 3

The streams are the plant's own flows: an amount here is allocated and per 1 kilogram of Crude C4 cut, so it differs from the stream's flow, and it can sum several streams.

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/ethylene-1/lca/dataset.yaml in library version c3ab348.

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
DQR 2.33 · PEF-style DQR 2.5
TeR 3 · GeR 3 · TiR 1.0042 · P 3 · C 4 · weakest TeR · primary data 0 %
Mass and carbon closure
Assessed (lca/manifest.json balance, tolerance 5 %: design maturity concept (sourced screening))
  • lci-carbon-origin: closed
  • lci-element-balance: closed
  • lci-mass-balance: closed
Change report
Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

Not available: no benchmarked KPI for this dataset.

How to use it

Downloads

  • cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348.xlsx · bw2io ExcelImporter workbook (bw2io 0.9 Excel layout) · the whole database
    code ethylene-1:ethylene-and-propylene-by-ethane-steam-cracking-1000-kt-a-ethylene:product:CRUDEC4
  • cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348-olca-jsonld.zip · openLCA JSON-LD (olca-schema) (2) · the whole database
    process f8abf375-d19c-5a5c-aec5-3ff84e9bed26 (processes/f8abf375-d19c-5a5c-aec5-3ff84e9bed26.json) · the dataset's unallocated multi-output process; this product's allocation factor is in it
  • cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348-multifunctional.json · Brightway 2.5 multifunctional database (JSON, for the multifunctional package) (cheme-as-code/lci-multifunctional/v1) · the whole database
    code ethylene-1:ethylene-and-propylene-by-ethane-steam-cracking-1000-kt-a-ethylene · the dataset unallocated, with all its products; this product is its desired_code
  • 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-c3ab348.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348", "ethylene-1:ethylene-and-propylene-by-ethane-steam-cracking-1000-kt-a-ethylene:product:CRUDEC4"))

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

Crude C4 cut, from Ethylene and propylene by ethane steam cracking (1000 kt/a ethylene, concept) (dataset ethylene-and-propylene-by-ethane-steam-cracking-1000-kt-a-ethylene 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-c3ab348, activity ethylene-1:ethylene-and-propylene-by-ethane-steam-cracking-1000-kt-a-ethylene:product:CRUDEC4. 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-c3ab348.

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, in preparation). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}