Oxygen assisted cracking of hydrocarbons in molten salts

Abstract

A process for the cracking of a carbon-containing feedstock to produce olefins, aromatics and/or aliphatic 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, alkali metal hydroxides, alkali metal nitrates, alkali metal halides, alkaline earth metal carbonates, alkaline earth metal hydroxides, alkali earth nitrates, alkaline earth metal halides, rare earth metal carbonates, transition metal carbonates, transition metal hydroxides, transition metal nitrates, transition metal halides, 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; and the process is conducted in the absence of a catalyst

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.