Production of fuel gas by cracking propane

Claim 1

A CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR CRACKING HYDROCARBON GASES COMPRISING PRINCIPALLY PROPANE TO PRODUCE A FUEL GAS HAVING A HEATING VALUE IN THE RANGE OF 500 TO 700 B. T. U. PER CUBIC FOOT WHEREIN HEAT FOR THE REACTION IS SUPPLIED BY A STREAM OF HOT PEBBLES, WHICH COMPRISES GRAVITATING HOT PEBBLES IN A VERTICALLY AND LATERALLY CONTINUOUS COMPACT BED THROUGH A CRACKING ZONE AT A TEMPERATURE AND RATE SUFFICIENT TO MAINTAIN A TEMPERATURE WITHIN SAID CRACKING ZONE WITHIN THE RANGE OF 1650 TO 2200* F.; SIMULTANEOUSLY FEEDING SAID HYDROCARBON GASES COMPRISING PRINCIPALLY PROPANE AND STEAM IN WHICH THE MOLAR RATIO OF STEAM TO PROPANE IS ABOUT 2, INTO SAID CRACKING ZONE AT A PRESSURE BETWEEN ATMOSPHERIC AND 18 P. S. I. G. AND MAINTAINING A REACTION TIME OF ABOUT 0.7 SECOND SO THAT A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF FREE CARBON RESULTING FROM THE CRACKING REACTION IS REMOVED IN COMBINED FORM WITH THE PRODUCT GASES SO AS TO PRODUCE A FUEL GAS HAVING A SPECIFIC GRAVITY IN THE RANGE OF 0.35 TO 0.5, CONTAINING MORE THAN 50 VOLUME PER CENT OF H2 ON A DRY BASIS, AND HAVING A HEATING VALUE IN SAID RANGE; REMOVING PEBBLES FROM THE CRACKING ZONE; FEEDING AT LEAST A PORTION OF SAID PEBBLES TO A PEBBLE HEATING ZONE; AND RECYCLING RESULTING HOT PEBBLES TO SAID CRACKING ZONE TO REPEAT THE CYCLE OF OPERATION.