Abstract
For more than three decades Oxidative Coupling of Methane (OCM) process has been investigated as an attractive alternative for cracking technologies for ethylene production and exploiting the huge resources of natural gas. Developing a uitable catalyst and analyzing proper reactor feeding policy, reviewing and deploying the efficient methods in separation and purification of the undesired and desired products, possible energy saving and process intensification in each section, each has been the subject of many researches in the past. In this paper, these aspects will be addressed simultaneously in a general overview of the main research activities performed in the chair of process dynamics and operation at Berlin Institute of Technology under the context of Unifying Concepts in Catalysis (UniCat) project. Moreover, a cost estimation of the industrial scale OCM process guiding the analysis method to address the potentials and disadvantageous of each OCM scenario structure, highlighted the possible process intensifications potentials in case of energy and equipment.