Hydrocarbon cracking process and apparatus using pebble heater with jet ejector

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR CRACKING HYDROCARBONS WHICH COMPRISES GRAVITATING A CONTIGUOUS STREAM OF HOT PEBBLES AT A TEMPERATURE ABOVE A PREDETERMINED CRACKING TEMPERATURE THROUGH A RELATIVELY NARROW INLET EXTENDING INTO AN ENCLOSED CYLINDRICAL CRACKING ZONE A SHORT DISTANCE SO AS TO FORM A COMPACE BED OF PEBBLES HAVING A SLANTING TOP SURFACE AND A VAPOR SPACE IN THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID ENCLOSED ZONE HAVING A MAXIMUM AVERAGE DEPTH OF 1/13 OF THE DIAMETER OF SAID CRACKING ZONE; CONTINUOUSLY WITHDRAWING PEBBLES FROM THE BOTTOM OF SAID CRACKING ZONE; CONTINUOUSLY PASSING A SUITABLE HYDROCARBON STREAM IN VAPOR FORM UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID CRACKING ZONE IN CONTACT WITH SAID HOT PEBBLES SO AS TO CRACK AT LEAST A PORTION OF SAID HYDROCARBON STREAM; CONTINUOUSLY COLLECTING THE CRACKED EFFLUENT IN SAID VAPOR SPACE; CONTINUOUSLY EJECTING AND QUENCHING THE CRACKED EFFLUENT IN A VENTURI TUBE-SHAPED ZONE COMMUNICATING WITH SAID VAPOR SPACE AND EXTERIOR THERETO BY INJECTING A HIGH VELOCITY OF CONCURRENT STREAM OF WATER-FOG INTO SAID CRACKED EFFLUENT SO AS TO REDUCE THE TEMPERATURE OF SAID EFFLUENT TO BELOW REACTION TEMPERATURE, THE DISPERSION IN SAID WATER-FOG BEING SUCH THAT AT LEAST 25 WEIGHT PER CENT OF THE WATER THEREIN IS IN DROPLETS OF LESS THAN 25 MICRONS DIAMETER; AND RECOVERING CRACKED HYDROCARBON FROM THE EFFLUENT.