Process for the production of acetylene

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS WHEREIN (1) A REACTANT GAS MIXTURE ESSENTIALLY COMPRISING A NON-AROMATIC HYDROCARBON HAVING A NORMAL BOILING POINT BELOW ABOUT 400* F. AND OXYGEN IS PREHEATED TO A TEMPERATURE BELOW THAT AT WHICH REACTION SPONTANEOUSLY OCCURES BETWEEN SAID HYDROCARBON AND OXYGEN BUT SUCH THAT UPON SUBSEQUENT ADMIXTURE OF THE PREHEATED REACTANT GAS WITH A HYDROGENCONTAINING GAS COMPRISING FROM ABOUT 30 TO 100 PER CENT OF VOLUME OF MOLECULAR HYDROGEN AND FROM ABOUT 70 TO ZERO PER CENT BY VOLUME OF AN INERT GAS THERE OCCURES AN ACETYLENE-PRODUCING REACTION IN WHICH A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 1100* C. AND ABOUT 1500* C. IS ATTAINED, (2) THE PREHEATED REACTANT GAS AND A HYDROGEN-CONTAINING GAS OF THE AFORESAID COMPOSITION ARE SEPARATELY BUT SIMULTANEOUSLY INTRODUCED INTO A REACTION ZONE, AND (3) A PRODUCT GAS IS WITHDRAWN FROM SAID REACTION ZONE AND IS COOLED TO A TEMPERATURE AT WHICH SUBSTANTIALLY NO FURTHER REACTION OCCURS, SAID COOLING BEING EFFECTED WITHIN FROM ABOUT 0.001 TO ABOUT 0.05 SECOND AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF THE PREHEATED REACTANT GAS INTO SAID REACTION ZONE; THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH CONSISTS IN INTRODUCING THE PREHEATED REACTANT GAS INTO SAID REACTION ZONE IN A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE STREAMS, AND INTRODUCING SAID HYDROGEN-CONTAINING GAS INTO SAID REACTION ZONE ADJACENT THE BOUNDARIES THEREOF SO AS TO PROVIDE A GASEOUS FILM COMPRISACTANT GAS.