Process for gasifying liquid hydrocarbon fuels

A process for gasifying, at an overall fuel/air equivalence ratio .phi..sub.o of greater than 3.0 and without significant soot formation, a liquid heavy hydrocarbon fuel having an end boiling point of 650.degree. F. or greater, comprising the steps of:

• introducing the liquid fuel and heated air at .phi..sub.o greater than 3 into a prevaporization and mixing zone and vaporizing in said zone less than 50% of the liquid fuel using only sensible heat in said air forming a mixture of air, vaporized fuel, and unvaporized fuel;
• passing the entire mixture from said prevaporization and mixing zone through a catalyst zone disposed immediately downstream of said prevaporization and mixing zone said catalyst zone including a catalyst monolith consisting essentially of a ceramic or metal substrate having catalytic wall surfaces, said catalytic wall surfaces extending in a downstream direction defining a plurality of parallel cells with a cell dimension of between 0.05 and 0.50 inch said catalyst having been initially preheated sufficiently to initiate catalytic combustion of the vaporized fuel and air upon start-up of the process;
• the catalyst, the length of the catalyst zone, the catalyst cell dimension, and the fuel flow rate having been preselected such that continuous vaporization and gasification of unvaporized liquid fuel is sustained within the catalyst zone after start-up using only the heat generated by the reactions within the catalyst zone and no significant soot is formed.