Steam Cracking a Hydrocarbon Feed Comprising Arsenic

A process for producing light olefins from a hydrocarbon feed comprising arsenic at an initial quantity, the process comprising:

• (I) introducing the hydrocarbon feed to a desalter to produce a desalted hydrocarbon feed having a first quantity of arsenic, where the first quantity is from 60% to 95% of the initial quantity;
• (II) heating the desalted hydrocarbon feed to form a preheated hydrocarbon feed;
• (III) introducing the preheated hydrocarbon feed to a flash separation vessel to produce an overhead fraction having a second quantity of arsenic, and a bottoms fraction having a third quantity of arsenic, wherein the second quantity is from 50% to 90% of the first quantity;
• (IV) introducing the overhead fraction and steam to a radiant section of the steam cracker operated under steam cracking conditions to produce a steam cracked effluent having the second quantity of arsenic, wherein the steam cracked effluent comprises arsenic at a concentration of no greater than about 500 wppb, based on the total weight of the steam cracked effluent;
• (V) separating the steam cracked effluent to obtain a steam cracker tar, a steam cracker gas oil, a naphtha cut, and a process gas stream;
• wherein steps (IV) and (V) are configured such that the steam cracker tar and the steam cracker gas oil, in total, comprise a fourth quantity of arsenic, the fourth quantity is from 70% to 80% of the second quantity;
• and
• (VI) recovering an ethylene product stream and a propylene product stream from the process gas stream, wherein the propylene product stream comprises arsenic at a concentration no greater than 0.05 wppb, based on the total weight of the propylene product stream.