Process for the production of liquid hydrocarbons

Claim 1

Process for the production of liquid hydrocarbons from pulverized wastes in the form of pulverized old tires, cable wastes, polyethylene wastes, polypropylene wastes, and mixtures thereof, consisting essentially of treating the pulverized old tires, cable wastes, polyethylene wastes, polypropylene wastes, and mixtures thereof, in a reactor at a temperature of 150° to 500° C. and a pressure of 20 to 300 bar with a solvent which is liquid at 1 bar and 20° C. to form a solvent phase charged with liquid hydrocarbons and a residue phase, the solvent being selected from benzene, naptha, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, water, and mixtures thereof, and the weight ratio of the wastes to the solvent being between 1:3 and 1:30; separating the solvent phase charged with the liquid hydrocarbons from the residue phase by gravity, resolving the separated solvent phase into components, by lowering the pressure or by lowering the pressure and temperature of the solvent phase to separate a gas fraction and several low boiling liquid hydrocarbons from the solvent phase, and by subjecting the solvent phase, from which the gas fraction and said several low boiling liquid hydrocarbons have been separated, to distillation to separate other hydrocarbons from the solvent phase; recovering solvent during the resolving of the separated solvent phase; and recycling the recovered solvent to the reactor.