Review on production of benzene from petroleum associated gas by dehydroaromatization, partial oxidation of methane and methanol-to-aromatics processes

Benzene is the most basic aromatic compound, which possesses diverse applications in the chemical industry. Benzene is mainly used as an intermediate chemical for styrene in the manufacturing of plastic materials. The benzene derivatives such as styrene, cumene, cyclohexane and nitrobenzene are the four most significant products, which are highly dependent on the benzene demand. However, there is a huge gap between the supply and demand of benzene, and fluctuation of the market price of benzene is also noticeable in recent years. Primarily, benzene is produced as a by-product especially from steam crackers, production of p-xylene and also in oil refineries. This caused the demand of benzene to follow strictly on gasoline, ethylene and also p-xylene in particular. Hence, in this review, three important benzene process pathways are studied and compared based on its economic, safety and environmental aspects in order to allow researchers to understand and able to compare different route of benzene production in terms of sustainability aspects for an on-purpose build of a benzene production plant, which is more economically viable. Three identified process are benzene from ethane (ETB), methane dehydroaromatization: Non-oxidative process (NO-MDA) and natural gas via Methanol synthesis (MTB). NO-MDA process was found to be the most sustainable process among the above. The processes are based on the decision matrix method