Production of petroleum base pitch and aromatic oils

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING AROMATIC OILS AND A STABILIZED PETROLEUM BASED PITCH FROM THE CRACKED OIL RESIDUE RESULTING FROM THE RELATIVELY SEVERE THERMAL CRACKING OF PETROLEUM WHICH COMPRISES PASSING SAID CRACKED OIL RESIDUE INTO A HEATING ZONE, SAID HEATING ZONE BEING MAINTAINED AT 750 TO 900*F. AND A PRESSURE OF 50 TO 250 P.S.I.G., SAID CRACKED OIL RESIDUE REMAINING IN SAID HEATING ZONE FOR 1 TO 60 MINUTES, PASSING THE HEATED CRACKED OIL RESIDUE AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURE INTO A FLASH DISTILLATION ZONE WHEREIN THE PRESSURE IS MAINTAINED AT 5 TO 60 P.S.I.G., THEREBY FLASHING OVERHEAD AN AROMATIC OIL, AND RECYCLING APPROXIMATELY 25 TO 100 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF SAID AROMATIC OIL INTO THE HOT CRACKED OIL RESIDUE AT A POINT BERECYLED AROMATIC OIL HAVING BEEN HEATED TO A TEMPERATURE WITHIN THE RANGE OF 100 TO 150*F. PRIOR TO BEING ADMIXED WITH SAID HOT CRACKED OIL RESIDUE AND RECOVERING AS A BOTTOMS FROM SAID FLASH DISTILLATION ZONE A STABILIZED RESIDUE PITCH.