Oxygen assisted cracking of hydrocarbons in molten salts

Abstract

A process for the cracking of a carbon-containing feedstock to produce olefins includes contacting, in a reactor system, the carbon-containing feedstock with oxygen gas in the presence of a molten salt matrix consisting of a eutectic mixture of alkali metal carbonates, alkaline earth metal carbonates, or a mixture of any two or more thereof, to generate an olefin-containing product stream; and collecting an olefin from the olefin-containing product stream; wherein: the oxygen is fed with the carbon-containing feedstock in a gas stream comprising from greater than 0 wt % to about 21 wt % oxygen in an inert gas; the process is conducted in the absence of a catalyst comprising a transition metal, a transition metal oxide, a rare-earth metal, a rare earth metal oxide, or a combination of any two or more thereof; and the process is conducted in the absence of a glass-forming oxide.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.