Process and reactor for the thermal cracking of liquid hydrocarbons

摘要

Liquid hydrocarbons are cracked to acetylene and ethylene by atomizing the hydrocarbon with oxygen insufficient for complete combustion, burning the mixture and quenching the reaction gases with the excess liquid hydrocarbon, the hydrocarbon being atomized by a plurality of spray nozzles whose mouthpieces are screened from each other by partitions, the mean distance between the mouthpiece of a spray nozzle and its partition, expressed in millimetres, being 0.7 to 2.5 times the amount of oxygen issuing from the orifice expressed in cubic metres (S.T.P.) per hour and the extent to which each partition extends beyond the nozzle orifice being 0.5 to 5.0 times the said mean distance. As shown in Fig. 3a crude oil supplied through pipes 3 and oxygen supplied through pipe 4 are injected into reactor 1, ignited, and the products are taken off through pipe 6, the excess hydrocarbon oil being drained off through pipe 5. Preferably, the spray nozzles are arranged in one plane. The partitions or screen 7 may be hollow and provided with water coolant through inlet 8. Fig. 3b illustrates the top of the reactor and Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment wherein the partitions between the nozzle mouthpieces are in the form of a honeycomb. The examples describe the production of acetylene and ethylene from crude oil having a boiling point of 50 DEG to 450 DEG C. Example 1 uses a reactor having only one spray nozzle and Example 2 uses a reactor having a plurality of spray nozzles but no partitions, and are of a comparative nature only.