Production of acetylene

Claim 1

THE PROCESS FOR PRODUCING ACETYLENE WHICH COMPRISES (1) PREHEATING A REACTANT GAS CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF OXYGEN AND A NON-AROMATIC HYDROCARBON HAVING A NORMAL BOILING POINT BELOW ABOUT 400* C. TO A TEMPERATURE BELOW THAT AT WHICH REACTION BETWEEN THE COMPONENTS THEREOF TAKES PLACE TO ANY SUBSTANTIAL EXTENT; (2) INITIATING AN ACETYLENE-PRODUCING REACTION BY INTRODUCING INTO THE PREHEATED REACTANT GAS A HYDROGEN-CONTAINING GAS AT A TEMPERATURE BELOW THAT AT WHICH ANY SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF ATOMIC HYDROGEN IS FORCED, SAID HYDROGENCONTAINING GAS BEING PROVIDED IN A AMOUNT SUFFICIENT TO PROVIDE BETWEEN ABOUT 0.5 AND ABOUT 5 MOLES OF HYDROGEN PER MOLE OF SAID HYDROCARBON; (3) CONTROLLING THE TEMPERATURES OF SAID PREHEATED REACTANT GAS AND SAID HYDROGEN-CONTAINING GAS SO THAT THE TEMPERATURE ATTAINED IN SAID ACETYLENE-PRODUCING REACTION IS BETWEEN ABOUT 1100* C. AND ABOUT 1500* C.; (4) WITHIN FROM ABOUT 0.001 TO ABOUT 0.05 SECOND AFTER INTRODUCTION OF THE SAID HYDROGEN-CONTAINING GAS INTO THE SAID PREHEATED RECTANT GAS, COOLING THE PRODUCT GAS TO A TEMPERATURE SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE THE BOILING POINT OF WATER BUT AT WHICH SUBSTANTIALLY NO FURTHER REACTION OCCURS; (5) PASSING THE COOLED PRODUCT GAS IN INDIRECT HEAT EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIP WITH WATER TO GENERATE STEAM AND FURTHER COOL THE PRODUCT GAS; (6) PASSING SAID STEAM IN CONTACT WITH A MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF METALS AND METAL OXIDES CAPABLE OF REDUCING STEAM AND MAINTAINED AT A STEAM-REDUCING TEMPERATURE TO FORM A HYDROGENCONTAINING GAS AND A HIGHER METAL OXIDE; (7) RETURNING THE HYDROGEN-CONTAINING GAS SO FORMED TO THE AFORESAID STEP 2; (8) SEPARATING ACETYLENE FROM THE COOLED PRODUCT GAS; AND (9) PASSING THE ACETYLENE-FREE PRODUCT GAS IN CONTACT WITH SAID HIGHER METAL OXIDE AT A REDUCING TEMPERATURE TO REDUCE SAID METAL OXIDE TO A LOWER STEAM-REDUCING STATE OF OXIDATION.