PROCESS FOR CAVITATIONAL-WAVE CRACKING OF HYDROCARBONS IN A TURBULENT FLOW AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE PROCESS

摘要

For treating and processing a hydrocarbon medium, a comprehensive approach makes use of (A) high-speed turbulence, abrupt flow deceleration, and redirection of movement of the medium and (B) cavitation in the medium, effected by internal hydrodynamic phenomena and by the application of wave energy from an external source, respectively. The combination of (A) and (B) causes cracking in the medium without the application of external heat. This "non-thermal" cracking generates electrically charged species (ions) that then undergo a recombination stage, which provides internal energy needed for further breaking of intermolecular links, with the resultant formation of desired light fractions. Unsaturated hydrocarbon molecules contained in the light fractions can be readily transformed into saturated molecules and stabilized through the use of molecular hydrogen, produced when natural gas additives or other hydrogen sources are processed in accordance with the inventive methodology. The latter can be implemented in a unit that is a cavitation reactor, including, as main components, the external wave radiator source, a hydrodynamic radiator, a vortex tube, and a flow accelerator.