Process for the production of olefins

A process for the production of olefins from a hydrocarbon said process comprising the steps of:

• a) passing a first feed stream comprising gaseous reactants to a first reaction zone wherein said gaseous reactants react exothermically to provide a product stream
• b) producing a mixed feed stream comprising oxygen by passing the product stream produced in step (a) and a second feed stream comprising a hydrocarbon feedstock to a mixing zone and wherein oxygen is passed to the mixing zone via one or more of (i) the second feed stream comprising a hydrocarbon feedstock and (ii) a third stream comprising an oxygen-containing gas
• c) passing the mixed feed stream directly to an essentially adiabatic second reaction zone wherein in the absence of a supported platinum group metal catalyst in a second reaction zone that does not contain any catalytic material that is capable of supporting combustion beyond the normal fuel rich limit of flammability, at least a part of the oxygen is consumed and a stream comprising olefins is produced
• d) cooling the stream comprising olefins exiting the second reaction zone to less than 650° C. within less than 150 milliseconds of formation
• and wherein the temperature of the mixed stream is at least 500° C., the mixing zone and the second reaction zone are maintained at a pressure of between 1.5-50 bar and the residence time within the mixing zone is less than the autoignition delay for the mixed stream.