Process for producing olefins

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR CONVERTING LOW BOILING HYDROCARBONS INTO PRIMARY CONVERSION PRODUCTS SUCH AS ETHYLENE AND PROPYLENE OLEFINS COMPRISING: VAPORIZING THE HYDROCARBON TO BE CONVERTED, RAPIDLY SUPERHEATING THE VAPORS BY INDIRECT HEAT EXCHANGE TO A CRACKING TEMPERATURE OF 1050* TO 1100*F, FOR A PERIOD WHERE THE CARBON TO CARBON LINKAGE OF THE HYDROCARBON VAPOR STARTS TO RUPTURE THOROUGHLY ADMIXING THE SUPERHEATED VAPORS WITH A HEAT CARRIER GAS MAINTAINED AT A TEMPERATURE ABOVE 1800*F., PASSING THE RESULTING MIXTURE INTO A REACTION CHAMBER OF SUCH VOLUME AS TO PERMIT THE TIME INTERVAL NECESSARY FOR COMPLETING THE DESIRED PRIMARY CONVERSION AND CONTROLLING THE VOLUME AND TEMPERATURES OF THE SUPERHEATED VAPORS AND HEAT CARRIER GAS TO MAINTAIN A MEAN CONVERSION TEMPERATURE IN THE REACTION CHAMBER SUCH THAT THE RATIO OF THE TEMPERATURE DIFFERENTIAL BETWEEN THE TEMPERATURE OF THE HEAT CARRIER GAS AND THE MEAN CONVERSION TEMPERATURE AND BETWEEN THE MEAN CONVERSION TEMPERATURE AND THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SUPERHEATED VAPORS BEFORE ADMIXTURE IS BETWEEN 1:1 AND 2:1 TO EFFECT CONVERSION BY HEAT ONLY, SHOCK CHILLING THE CONVERSION PRODUCTS BEFORE A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF SECONDARY REACTION TAKES PLACE TO A TEMPERATURE AT WHICH NO FURTHER CONVERSION CAN OCCUR AND SEPARATING AND COLLECTING THE REACTION PRODUCTS.