Hydrocarbon thermal cracking using atmospheric distillation
AssigneeEquistar Chemicals, LP
InventorDonald H. Powers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for thermally cracking a hydrocarbonaceous feed wherein the feed is first processed in an atmospheric thermal distillation step to form a light gasoline and atmospheric residuum mixture. The light gasoline/residuum combination is gasified at least in part in a vaporization step, and the gasified product of the vaporization step is thermally cracked.
Claims11
In a method for thermally cracking a hydrocarbonaceous feed in at least one stand alone cracking furnace wherein said feed is first subjected to a vaporization step in a stand alone vaporization unit in which unit a substantial portion of said feed is vaporized and the vapors thus formed are removed from said vaporization unit and passed to said at least one cracking furnace as the feed for said furnace, the improvement comprising subjecting at least one of whole crude oil and condensate to at least one atmospheric thermal distillation step in a stand alone atmospheric distillation tower to form at least a light gasoline overhead fraction and a separate residuum fraction containing gas oil, and passing at least part of said thus formed light gasoline and residuum fractions in combination as feed to said vaporization step.
A method for employing a stand alone atmospheric distillation tower, a separate stand alone vaporization unit, and at least one separate stand alone thermal cracking furnace in a hydrocarbonaceous thermal cracking process, said distillation tower, vaporization unit, and cracking furnace each being physically separate from one another, said method comprising first atmospherically distilling at least one of whole crude oil and condensate in said distillation tower to form there from at least a light gasoline fraction and a separate atmospheric residuum fraction containing gas oil, removing the thus formed light gasoline fraction and atmospheric residuum fraction from said distillation tower, deliberately combining at least part of said light gasoline and atmospheric residuum fractions that were just removed from said distillation tower to form a mixture thereof, passing said thus formed mixture of light gasoline and atmospheric residuum fractions into said vaporization unit, substantially vaporizing said mixture in said vaporization unit, passing at least part of said removed vapors into said at least one cracking furnace, and therein thermally cracking said vapors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.