High temperature oxidation

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR OXIDIZING A METHYLENIC HYDROCARBON FEED HAVING 2 TO 30 CARBON ATOMS PER MOLECULE AND AT LEAST 25% OF THESE CARBON ATOMS IN THE FORM OF METHYLENIC GROUPS, WHICH COMPRISES MIXING SAID HYDROCARBON WITH AN OXYGEN-CONTAINING GAS SUCH THAT THE MOLE RATIOS OF TOTAL FREE OXYGEN TO TOTAL OXIDIZABLE FEED EXCEED ABOUT 0.3, PASSING THE MIXTURE THROUGH A REACTION ZONE AT AN AVERAGE ELEVATED TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 500* AND 750*C., ALSO PASSING THROUGH THE REACTION ZONE RELATIVELY COOL FINELY DIVIDED INERT SOLIDS EVENLY DISPERSED THROUGHOUT THE REACTION ZONE IN A CONCENTRATION OF ABOUT 0.05 TO 10.0 VOLUME PERCENT OF SOLIDS PER VOLUME OF REACTION SPACE AND SUFFICIENT TO MAINTAIN THE REACTION SPACE THROUGHOUT AT A TEMPERATURE BELOW 750*C., THE MIXTURE BEING PASSED THROUGH THE REACTION ZONE AT A RATE SUCH THAT THE RESIDENCE TIME OF THE MIXTURE AT THE ELEVATED TEMPERATURE IS BETWEEN 1 AND 20 SECONDS, AND SEPARATING OXYGENATED AND UNSATURATED COMPOUNDS FROM THE OXIDIXED MIXTURE.