Cracking heavy oils in presence of oxygen

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR THE AUTOTHERMIC CRACKING OF A RELATIVELY HEAVY HYDROCARBON OIL STREAM TO PRODUCE LOWER BOILING AND LOWER MOLECULAR WEIGHT HYDROCARBONS, THE IMPROVED MWTHOD OF OPERATION WHICH COMPRISES, PRE-HEATING SAID HEAVY OIL STREAM AND DISPERSING IT CONTINUOUSLY IN ADMIXTURE WITH A FREE-OXYGEN CONTAINING STREAM INTO A RELATIVELY SMALL CONFINED REACTION ZONE, CONTROLLING THE PROPORTIONS OF OIL AND OXYGEN-CONTAINING STREAMS IN THE MIXTURE AND EFFECTING A SUBSTANTIALLY ADIABATIC AUTOTHERMIC CRACKING OF SAID OIL WITHIN SAID REACTION ZONE AT A TEMPERATURE OF FROM 1200 TO 1700* F. WHILE MAINTAINING A RELATIVELY LOW SUPERATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE THEREIN OF LESS THAN 3 ATMOSPHERES, SAID ADIABATIC AUTOTHERMIC CRACKING BEING OF A SUFFICIENT MAGNITUDE TO FORM A PRODUCT STREAM CONTAINING A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF TAR FOG AND LOWER MOLECULAR WEIGHT HYDROCARBON VAPORS, PASSING THE PRODUCTS OF OXIDATION AND CRACKING IN A CONTINUOUS STREAM TO A FLUIDIZED BED COMPOSED PREDOMINANTLY OF COKE-LIKE PARTICLES BEING MAINTAINED CONTIGUOUS WITH THE OUTLET OF SAID REACTION ZONE, PASSING THE PRODUCT STREAM UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID BED AND THEREIN TRAPPING TAR FOG RESULTING FROM SAID CRACKING, WHILE CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF THE CAPOROUS PRODUCTS TO PROVIDE FLUIDIZATION OF SAID COKE-LIKE PARTICLES WITHIN SAID BED, CONTINUOUSLY DISCHARGING A SUBSTANTIALLY CLEAR STREAM OF LOWER MOLECULAR WEIGHT HYDROCARBON PRODUCTS FROM SAID FLUIDIZED BED, EFFECTING THE CONTINUOUS ADDITION OF COKE-LIKE PARTICLES TO SAID BED BY THE CONTINUOUS HEATING AND PROGRESSIVE CRACKING OF SAID TAR FOG TRAPPED THEREIN, AND WITHDRAWING A CONTINUOUS STREAM OF SURPLUS PARTICLE SWHEREBY TO MAINTAIN A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT DEPTH FLUIDIZED BED OF PARTICLES.