Europe´s leading PVC manufacturer, EVC International NV (Strawinskylaan, 1535, NL-1077 XX Amsterdam), is planning to produce VCM from ethane on an industrial scale. The technology is supplied by the American engineering company Bechtel (50 Beale Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA). EVC is hoping for a significant improvement in the profitability of the VCM process and a reduction in the dependence on ethylene.

EVC´s new ethane-to-VCM process uses ethane and chlorine to go direct to VCM. This one-step route bypasses the ethylene cracker and avoids the intermediate product, ethylene dichloride (EDC). Using ethane as a feedstock effectively decouples the cost of producing VCM from the price of oil, ethylene and polyethylene. Ethane is around one third of the cost of ethylene, says EVC in a press report. The new process, the report says, solves the problems that formerly occurred when obtaining VCM from ethane due to catalyst instability and equipment corrosion, because it operates at a temperature below 500 °C. In addition, a novel catalyst system has been developed, which maximises raw material utilisation and results in minimal by-products. A semi-industrial plant with an annual capacity of 1,000 t has been in operation for over a year at the Wilhelmshaven site, and, according to EVC, has confirmed the process viability. Based on this, the planning for an industrial scale plant provides for a production start-up by 2003.