Acetylene process

Claim 1

A CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ACETYLENE WHICH COMPRISES PREHEATING A STREAM OF GASEOUS HYDROCARBON TO BETWEEN ABOUT 700* F. AND 1400* F., ADMIXING THEREWITH AN INERT PARTICLE-FORM HEAT-TRANSFER MATERIAL OF BETWEEN ABOUT 10 AND 40 MESH PREHEATED TO ABOVE ABOUT 2000* F. THEREBY FORMING A SOLIDS-GAS FLUID SUSPENSION CONTAINING NOT MORE THAN ABOUT 10 POUNDS OF SOLIDS PERS. C. F. OF GAS, PASSING SAID FLUID SUSPENSION DOWNWARDLY FROM HORIZONTAL THROUGH A NON-EXTERNALLY HEATED REACTION ZONE AT A VELOCITY BETWEEN ABOUT 25 AND 400 FEET PER SECOND, THEREBY MAINTAINING THE RELATIVE LINEAR VELOCITY OF SAID SOLIDS AND SAID GAS AT LESS THAN ABOUT 20 FEET PER SECOND UNTIL SAID GASEOUS HYDROCARBON HAS BEEN HEATED TO BETWEEN 1800-3000* F. FOR BETWEEN ABOUT 0.005-0.1 SECOND, SEPARATING REACTION GASES FROM SAID HEAT-TRANSFER MATERIAL, THEN RAPIDLY QUENCHING SAID REACTION GASES TO BELOW ABOUT 1400* F. RECOVERING ACETYLENE FROM SAID REACTION GASES, REHEATING SAID HEAT-TRANSFER MATERIAL TO ABOVE ABOUT 2000* F., AND RECYCLING SAID REHEATED HEATTRANSFER MATERIAL WITH A FRESH CHARGE OF SAID PREHEATED GASEOUS HYDROCARBON.