Hydrocarbon conversion process

Claim 1

A CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR THE CONVERSION OF GASEOUS REACTANTS IN THE PRESENCE OF A MOVING MASS OF GRANULAR CONTACT MATERIAL, WHICH COMPRISES: MAINTAINING A DOWNWARDLY GRAVITATING, SUBSTANTIALLY COMPACT BED OF CONTACT MATERIAL WITHIN A CONFINED CONVERSION ZONE, SUPPLYING THE UPPER SECTION OF SAID BED WITH CONTACT MATERIAL BY MEANS OF AT LEAST ONE DOWNWARDLY GRAVITATING, SUBSTANTIALLY COMPACT FEED COLUMN OF CONTACT MATERIAL HAVING A HORIZONTAL CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA ONLY A MINOR FRACTION OF THE HORIZONTAL CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF SAID BED, GRADUALLY EXPANDING THE LOWER SECTION OF SAID FED COLUMN TO A HORIZONTAL CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA APPROACHING THE HORIZONTAL CROSSSECTIONAL AREA OF SAID BED AND DELIVERING THE CONTACT MATERIAL THEREFROM TO SAID BED, LATERALLY CONFINING SAID EXPANDING COLUMN BY MEANS OF A SOLID SURFACES AT ANGLES WITH THE HORIZONTAL GREATER THAN THE ANGLE OF REPOSE OF THE CONTACT MATERIAL, SUPPLYING A GASEOUS REACTANT TO SAID FEED COLUMN AT A LEVEL SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE THE LEVEL OF WHICH EXPANSION OF SAID COLUMN BEINGS AND AT A TEMPERATURE DIFFERENT FROM THE TEMPERATURE OF CONTACT MATERIAL IN SAID FEED COLUMN, PASSING THE GASEOUS REACTANT DOWNWARDLY WITH SAID COLUMN TO EFFECT HEAT EXCHANGE BETWEEN SAID REACTANT AND SAID COLUMN, MAINTAINING SAID COLUMN OF SUFFICIENT HEIGHT BELOW THE LEVEL OF REACTANT SUPPLY THAT THE TEMPERATURE OF SAID CONTACT MATERIAL AND SAID REACTANT ARE SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME BEFORE THEY ISSUE FROM SAID COLUMN INTO SAID BED, PASSING GASEOUS REACTANT FROM SAID FEED COLUMN DOWNWARDLY THROUGH SAID BED TO EFFECT THE DESIRED CONVERSION, REMOVING THE PRODUCTS OF CONVERSION FROM SAID CONVERSION ZONE AND REMOVING CONTACT MATERIAL FROM THE LOWER SECTION OF SAID BED.