Abstract: By taking statistics of butadiene plant operation problems and analyzing the rules that cause the problems, it is found that the main problem of butadiene plant operation is butadiene polymerization. Polymerization causes are further analyzed and are discovered to be mainly the effects of oxygen, temperature, butadiene concentration, and impurities and the effect of initiators such as rust and water. By adopting anti-polymerization measures for equipment and process, optimization of anti-polymerization agent, reducing dead space of equipment and other production anti-polymerization measures, the butadiene plant has been running steadily for 4 years without being cleaned instead of the previous annual clean-up. This has helped the company to achieve better economic benefits, which is worth summarizing and promoting.

Key words: butadiene, polymerization, preventive measures, operation problem, analysis