Abstract: With the continuous development of the ethylene industry, the trend toward lighter feedstock has become prominent, making ethane cracking for ethylene production a focus of industrial manufacturing. As the core of cracking furnace simulation, the accuracy of cracking reaction kinetic models is crucial for ethylene production process simulation. The paper provides a comprehensive review of the methods, advantages and disadvantages, accuracy and application directions of different types of kinetic models for ethane cracking reactions. It particularly highlights the research progress and computational accuracy of both commercially available software utilizing mechanistic models and the recently developed quantum chemical calculation-based mechanistic models, thereby guiding the selection of kinetic models for different scenarios.

Key words: ethylene, ethane, pyrolysis reaction, kinetic model