Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
  • C10G9/00—Thermal non-catalytic cracking, in the absence of hydrogen, of hydrocarbon oils
  • C10G9/14—Thermal non-catalytic cracking, in the absence of hydrogen, of hydrocarbon oils in pipes or coils with or without auxiliary means, e.g. digesters, soaking drums, expansion means
  • C10G9/18—Apparatus
  • C10G9/20—Tube furnaces
  • C10G9/206—Tube furnaces controlling or regulating the tube furnaces
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
  • C10G9/00—Thermal non-catalytic cracking, in the absence of hydrogen, of hydrocarbon oils
  • C10G9/34—Thermal non-catalytic cracking, in the absence of hydrogen, of hydrocarbon oils by direct contact with inert preheated fluids, e.g. with molten metals or salts
  • C10G9/36—Thermal non-catalytic cracking, in the absence of hydrogen, of hydrocarbon oils by direct contact with inert preheated fluids, e.g. with molten metals or salts with heated gases or vapours
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
  • C10G2300/00—Aspects relating to hydrocarbon processing covered by groups C10G1/00 - C10G99/00
  • C10G2300/40—Characteristics of the process deviating from typical ways of processing
  • C10G2300/4006—Temperature
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
  • C10G2300/00—Aspects relating to hydrocarbon processing covered by groups C10G1/00 - C10G99/00
  • C10G2300/40—Characteristics of the process deviating from typical ways of processing
  • C10G2300/4037—In-situ processes
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
  • C10G2300/00—Aspects relating to hydrocarbon processing covered by groups C10G1/00 - C10G99/00
  • C10G2300/70—Catalyst aspects
  • C10G2300/708—Coking aspect, coke content and composition of deposits

Definitions

• Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to processes and systems for steam cracking hydrocarbon feeds. More particularly, such embodiments relate to processes and systems for steam cracking a plurality of hydrocarbon feeds, where each feed is cracked within one or more radiant coils disposed within different segments of a firebox of a steam cracking furnace.
• the process for steam cracking hydrocarbons can include introducing a first hydrocarbon feed into one or more radiant coils disposed within a first segment of a firebox of a steam cracker to produce a first steam cracker effluent having a first coil outlet temperature.
• the first segment can include one or more burners providing heat thereto.
• a second hydrocarbon feed can be introduced into one or more radiant coils disposed within a second segment of the firebox of the steam cracker to produce a second steam cracker effluent having a second coil outlet temperature.
• the second segment can include one or more burners providing heat thereto.
• the one or more burners in the first and second segments can be operated at substantially the same firing rate such that an amount of heat produced by each of the one or more burners in the first and second segments is substantially the same.
• a feed rate of the first hydrocarbon feed introduced into the one or more radiant coils disposed within the first segment can be controlled based, at least in part, on a composition of the first hydrocarbon feed and the first coil outlet temperature.
• the system for steam cracking one or more hydrocarbon feeds can include a steam cracker that can include a firebox having one or more radiant coils and one or more burners disposed within a first segment of the firebox and one or more radiant coils and one or more burners disposed within a second segment of the firebox.
• the one or more radiant coils in the first segment can be configured to receive a first hydrocarbon feed via a first feed control valve and produce a first steam cracker effluent having a first coil outlet temperature.
• the one or more radiant coils in the second segment can be configured to receive a second hydrocarbon feed via a second feed control valve and produce a second steam cracker effluent having a second coil outlet temperature.
• the one or more burners in the first and second segments can be configured to operate at substantially the same firing rate such that an amount of heat produced by each of the one or more burners in the first and second segments is substantially the same.
• the first and second feed control valves can be configured to independently adjust a feed rate of the first and second hydrocarbon feeds introduced into the one or more radiant coils in the first and second segments, respectively, to independently adjust the first and second coil outlet temperatures of the first and second steam cracker effluents, respectively.
• FIG. 1 depicts a schematic of an illustrative steam cracking furnace in operation to convert first and second hydrocarbon feeds within first and second segments, respectively, of a firebox in the stream cracking furnace, according to one or more embodiments described.
• FIG. 2 depicts a plan view of an illustrative firebox of a steam cracking furnace having a footprint area divided into four segments, according to one or more embodiments described.
• FIG. 3 depicts a plan view of the firebox shown in FIG. 2 where each of the four segments include a plurality of burners and a plurality of tubes disposed therein, according to one or more embodiments.
• indefinite article “a” or “an”, as used herein, means “at least one” unless specified to the contrary or the context clearly indicates otherwise.
• embodiments using “a separator” include embodiments where one or two or more separators are used, unless specified to the contrary or the context clearly indicates that only one separator is used.
• embodiments using “a separation stage” include embodiments where one or two or more separation stages are used, unless specified to the contrary.
• hydrocarbon means a class of compounds containing hydrogen bound to carbon.
• C n hydrocarbon means hydrocarbon having n carbon atom(s) per molecule, where n is a positive integer.
• C n+ hydrocarbon means hydrocarbon having at least n carbon atom(s) per molecule, where n is a positive integer.
• C n hydrocarbon means hydrocarbon having no more than n number of carbon atom(s) per molecule, where n is a positive integer.
• Hydrocarbon encompasses (i) saturated hydrocarbon, (ii) unsaturated hydrocarbon, and (iii) mixtures of hydrocarbons, including mixtures of hydrocarbon compounds (saturated and/or unsaturated), including mixtures of hydrocarbon compounds having different values of n.
• two or more hydrocarbon feeds can each be steam cracked within one or more radiant coils disposed within separate segments of a firebox in a steam cracking furnace to produce two or more steam cracker effluents by operating one or more burners disposed within each segment at substantially the same firing rate by independently adjusting a feed rate of each hydrocarbon feed.
• two or more hydrocarbon feeds can each be steam cracked within one or more radiant coils disposed within separate segments of the firebox in the steam cracking furnace to produce the two or more steam cracker effluents by having one or more burners within one or more of the segments off while operating the other burners within the one or more segments at a substantially constant firing rate by independently adjusting the feed rate of each hydrocarbon feed.
• substantially the same firing rate means that an amount of heat produced by each burner disposed within each segment is within 20%, within 15%, within 10%, within 7%, within 5%, within 3%, or within 1% of one another.
• Such control scheme of the steam cracking furnace which can also be referred to as a “coil outlet temperature to feed rate scheme”, provides a much more precise and localized control as compared to independently adjusting the firing rate of the burners to adjust the coil outlet temperatures of the two or more hydrocarbon feeds, which can also be referred to as a “coil outlet temperature to firing scheme”.
• the control scheme of the steam cracking furnace disclosed herein can also be accomplished without the use of one or more dividing walls being disposed between two or more segments. It should be understood, however, that in some embodiments, one or more dividing walls can optionally be disposed between two or more segments.
• the feed rate of each hydrocarbon feed introduced into the radiant coil(s) disposed within each segment can be controlled based, at least in part, on the coil outlet temperature of each steam cracker effluent recovered from each segment.
• the coil outlet temperature of each steam cracker effluent can be monitored and the feed rate of a given hydrocarbon feed can be increased or decreased to reduce or increase the coil outlet temperature, respectively, for the given steam cracker effluent.
• One or more flow control devices e.g., valves, can be used to control the amount of each of the hydrocarbon feeds introduced into the radiant coil(s) disposed within each segment.
• each of the two or more hydrocarbon feeds can be mixed, blended, combined, or otherwise contacted with steam to produce mixtures that can be heated by indirect heat exchange within a convection section of the steam cracking furnace.
• the mixtures that include the hydrocarbon feeds can be heated to a temperature of 200°C, 300°C, 400°, or 450°C to 500°C, 600°C, 700°C, or 750°C within the convection section.
• the heated mixtures can then be steam cracked within the radiant coil(s) disposed within each segment to produce the steam cracker effluents.
• the steam contacted with the hydrocarbon feeds can also be adjusted independently from one another such that at least one of the one or more hydrocarbon feeds can be mixed with a different amount of steam as compared to at least one other of the one or more hydrocarbon feeds.
• One or more flow control devices e.g., valves, can be used to control the amount of steam contacted with each hydrocarbon feed.
• the steam cracking conditions can include, but are not limited to, one or more of: exposing the heated mixtures of the hydrocarbon feed and steam in line (or a vapor phase product separated therefrom) to a temperature (as measured at a radiant outlet of the steam cracking furnace) of > 400°C, e.g. , a temperature of about 700°C, about 800°C, or about 900°C to about 950°C, about 1,000°C, or about 1050°C, a pressure of about 10 kPa- absolute to about 500 kPa-absolute or more, and/or a steam cracking residence time of about 0.01 seconds to about 5 seconds.
• the hydrocarbon and steam mixtures can include steam in an amount in of about 10 wt% to about 95 wt%, based on the weight of the hydrocarbon and steam mixture.
• the heated mixtures or a vapor phase product separated therefrom can be steam cracked according to the processes disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 6,419,885; 7,993,435; 9,637,694; and 9,777,227; and International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2018/111574.
• the steam cracker effluents can be cooled by indirect heat exchange in one or more heat exchange stages, e.g., via one or more transfer line exchangers, with water or steam to produce steam, e.g., medium pressure steam or superheated steam, and cooled steam cracker effluents.
• the steam cracker effluents can be cooled by direct contact with a quench medium to produce the cooled steam cracker effluents.
• the steam cracker effluents can be cooled by indirect heat exchange and by direct contact with a quench medium to produce the cooled steam cracker effluent.
• the steam cracker effluents can be mixed and cooled together. In other embodiments, the steam cracker effluents can be cooled separately and the mixed with one another. In still other embodiments, the steam crack effluents can be cooled separately and can be further processed separately.
• the quench medium that can be contacted with the steam cracker effluents can be or can include a utility fluid.
• the utility fluid can be the same or similar to the utility fluids described in U.S. Patent Nos. 9,090,836; 9,637,694; and 9,777,227; and International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2018/111574.
• Suitable steam crackers, process gas recovery configurations, other equipment, and process conditions can include those disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos.: 6,419,885; 7,560,019; 7,993,435; 8,105,479; 8,197,668; 8,882,991; 9,637,694; 9,777,227; U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos.: 2014/0061096; 2014/0357923; 2016/0376511; 2018/0170832;
• Suitable dividing walls that can optionally be disposed between two or more segments can include those disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 7,718,052.
• an olefin plant recovery section can require at least some minimum amount of a given feed to function appropriately.
• recovery sections may need a minimum amount of a heavy feed for a suitable flow of the heaviest furnace yields.
• Such minimum heavy feed requirement can come at a significant economic debit if the heavy feed is a higher cost feed than lighter feeds but remains necessary to provide any production through the plant without significant costly modifications.
• the minimum feed requirement can be minimized further than if forced to process on an entire furnace or furnace segment with a divided wall.
• the minimum feed requirement can be minimized further than if forced to process on an entire furnace or furnace segment with a divided wall. Additionally, by running this small portion of the heavy feed in a furnace with manipulated operating conditions (reduced feed or increased steam) or optimized firebox heat distribution (online burner pattern) the actual rate can be turned down further than if the segment of the furnace were running full of the minimized heavy feed.
• a feed slate can potentially leave one section of the plant relatively unloaded. While this may not present a feasibility constraint as discussed above, an optimized solution can select operating conditions on some feeds that would fill this unloaded portion of the plant to make products.
• An example could arise from a propylene/propane fractionator in a plant designed for higher propylene production now running mostly ethane feed (with little propylene production).
• both the ethylene fractionator and propylene fractionator can be filled for increased profitability.
• a refinery gas integration stream taken into the olefins plant or pyrolysis furnaces where the refinery gas stream(s) require different operating conditions to manage unique content, even a small refinery gas integration stream can present a significant impact to plant operations through impacting operating conditions on larger feed streams.
• a refinery gas that requires different operating conditions due to contaminants or different composition can be cracked separately from the other fresh or recycle feed(s) to best tailor operating conditions to each stream almost regardless of size.
• control scheme disclosed herein can allow for a single furnace with a single stack and single set of post-combustion emissions reduction facilities to accommodate multiple feeds or operating conditions while also maximizing economy of scale.
• control scheme disclosed herein can provide several process advantages even when not utilized for multiple different hydrocarbon feeds.
• control scheme can mitigate process safety risks like furnace flooding, e.g., a fuel- rich firebox atmosphere, and/or furnace tube overheat.
• Furnace flooding refers to a condition where insufficient air is present in the firebox to provide an excess of oxygen after combustion. Instead, an excess of fuel exists after combustion in the firebox and presents a potential deflagration or explosion hazard if air were suddenly introduced. Where this occurs, the heat released from a fuel input that is not completely combusted declines, causing the coil outlet temperatures to decline for a given fuel flow input. Coil outlet temperature to firing schemes do not explicitly control firing heat input, but rather only a fuel rate selected to deliver desired firing when the fuel is fully combusted.
• the coil outlet temperature to feed scheme has been found to be significantly more useful in preventing or mitigating furnace tube overheat in a loss of feed or firing excursion scenario. While industry standard furnaces use coil outlet temperature to firing to control coil outlet temperature because of the widespread impacts of firing among multiple temperature outlets and the overall firebox (including air input), these firing controls tend to be tuned very slowly to prevent upsets with too much fuel (and not enough air) or too little fuel (and a large temperature swing on the furnace). An effect of the slow tuning is that a potential overheat scenario is addressed too slowly to prevent significant furnace damage due to overheating. Conversely, the coil outlet temperature to feed scheme has a much more localized impact on just the set of tubes with the controlled coil outlet temperature. Therefore, the coil outlet temperature to feed scheme can be tuned much more rapidly to provide a faster response to any overheat scenario.
• FIG. 1 depicts a schematic of an illustrative steam cracking furnace 100 in operation to convert a first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 and a second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003, within one or more first radiant coils 1025 and within one or more second radiant coils 1027, respectively, disposed within a radiant section 1029 of the steam cracking furnace 100, according to one or more embodiments.
• a feed rate of the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 can be controlled via a first flow control device 1002 and a feed rate of the second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003 can be controlled via a second flow control device 1004.
• the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 and the second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003 can be mixed, blended, combined, or otherwise contacted with steam in lines 1007 and 1009, respectively, to produce first and second hydrocarbon and steam mixtures in lines 1011 and 1013, respectively.
• the steam in lines 1007 and 1009 can be provided from a common source, e.g., steam in line 1005. In other embodiments, however, the steam in lines 1007 and 1009 can be provided from different sources.
• a feed rate of the steam contacted with the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 can be controlled by a third flow control device 1008 and a feed rate of the steam contacted with the second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003 can be controlled by a fourth flow control device 1010.
• the amount of steam contacted with the first and second hydrocarbon feeds in lines 1001 and 1003 can be the same or different with respect to one another.
• the first and second mixtures in lines 1011 and 1013 can each be heated within one or more convection coils 1015 and 1017, respectively, disposed within the convection section 1019 of the steam cracking furnace 100 to produce first and second heated mixtures via lines 1021 and 1023, respectively.
• the first and second mixtures in lines 1011 and 1013 can be heated to a temperature of 200°C, 300°C, 400°, or 450°C to 500°C, 600°C, 700°C, or 750°C within the convection section 1019.
• the first and second heated mixtures in lines 1021 and 1023 can be further heated and subjected to steam cracking conditions within the one or more first radiant coils 1025 and within the one or more second radiant coils 1027, respectively, disposed within the radiant section 1029 of the steam cracking furnace 100 to produce first and second steam cracker effluents via lines 1031 and 1033, respectively.
• the first radiant coil(s) 1025 and the second radiant coil(s) 1027 can be heated by a plurality of burners (four are shown - 1035, 1037, 1039, and 1041).
• the burners 1035 and 1037 can be considered as being disposed within a first segment of the radiant section 1029 and the burners 1039 and 1041 can be considered as being disposed within a second segment of the radiant section 1029.
• the first segment of the radiant section occupies the left half of the radiant section 1029 and the second segment of the radiant section 1029 occupies the right half of the radiant section 1029, as shown in FIG. 1.
• the burners 1035, 1037, 1039, and 1041 can be operated at substantially the same firing rate such that the amount of heat produced by each burner in the first sand second segments is substantially the same.
• the first steam cracker effluent in line 1031 can have a first coil outlet temperature upon exiting the first radiant coil(s) 1025 and the second steam cracker effluent in line 1033 can have a second coil outlet temperature upon exiting the second radiant coil(s) 1027.
• the first coil outlet temperature of the first steam cracker effluent in line 1031 can be measured with a first temperature measuring device, e.g., thermocouple, 1043 and the second coil outlet temperature of the second steam cracker effluent in line 1033 can be measured with a second temperature measuring device, e.g., thermocouple, 1045.
• the feed rate of the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 and the feed rate of the second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003 can be controlled based, at least in part, on the composition(s) of the first and second hydrocarbon feeds and/or the first and second coil outlet temperatures, respectively.
• the feed rate of the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 can be reduced to increase the first coil outlet temperature of the first steam cracker effluent in line 1031.
• the feed rate of the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 can be increased to reduce the first coil outlet temperature of the first steam cracker effluent in line 1031.
• the feed rate of the second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003 can be controlled in a similar manner as the feed rate of the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001.
• the feed rate of the steam in line 1007 and the steam in line 1009 that can be contacted with the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 and the second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003, respectively can be controlled based, at least in part, on the composition(s) of the first and second hydrocarbon feeds and the first and second coil outlet temperatures, respectively.
• the feed rate of the heated first and second hydrocarbon feeds introduced via lines 1021 and 1023, respectively can be increased or decreased as desired to control or otherwise adjust the first coil outlet temperature and the second coil outlet temperature as desired.
• the steam cracking conditions can include, but are not limited to, one or more of: exposing the heated mixtures of the hydrocarbon feed and steam in line (or a vapor phase product separated therefrom) to a temperature (as measured at a radiant outlet of the steam cracking furnace) of > 400°C, e.g. , a temperature of about 700°C, about 800°C, or about 900°C to about 950°C, about 1,000°C, or about 1050°C, a pressure of about 10 kPa- absolute to about 500 kPa-absolute or more, and/or a steam cracking residence time of about 0.01 seconds to about 5 seconds.
• the hydrocarbon and steam mixtures can include steam in an amount in of about 10 wt% to about 95 wt%, based on the weight of the hydrocarbon and steam mixture.
• FIG. 2 depicts a plan view of an illustrative firebox 200 of a steam cracking furnace having a footprint area divided into four segments, namely segments 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007, according to one or more embodiments.
• FIG. 3 depicts a plan view of the firebox 200 shown in FIG. 2 where each of the segments 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 include a plurality of burners A, B, C, and D and a plurality of tubes TA, TB, TC, and To, respectively, disposed therein, according to one or more embodiments.
• the firebox 200 can include any desired number of segments. In some embodiments, the firebox 200 can include 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more segments.
• the burners A, B, C, and D in segments 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007, respectively can be operated at substantially the same firing rate such that the amount of heat produced by each of the burners A, B, C, and D, in the segments 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 is substantially the same.
• one or more burners can be shut off during operation.
• radiant heat in a hotter pass i.e., the coil outlet temperature of the steam cracker effluent is greater than a colder pass, could be re -radiating the colder pass, which could have the effect of un-optimized cracking temperatures in the colder pass.
• one or more burners primarily radiating heat to the hotter pass can be shut off to reduce or eliminate the amount heat being re-radiated to the colder pass.
• segment 2001 includes the hotter pass and segment 2003 includes the colder pass
• one or more burners A and/or one or more burners B disposed along the boundary between segment 2001 and segment 2003 can be shut off.
• segment 2001 includes the hotter pass and segment 2005 includes the colder pass
• one or more burners A and/or one or more burners C can be shut off.
• first and/or second hydrocarbon feeds in line 1001 and 1003, respectively can be or can include, but are not limited to, relatively high molecular weight hydrocarbons (“heavy feedstocks”), such as those that produce a relatively large amount of steam cracker tar (“SCT”) during steam cracking.
• relatively high molecular weight hydrocarbons such as those that produce a relatively large amount of steam cracker tar (“SCT”) during steam cracking.
• heavy feedstocks can include one or more of steam cracked gas oil and residues, gas oils, heating oil, jet fuel, diesel, kerosene, coker naphtha, steam cracked naphtha, catalytically cracked naphtha, hydrocrackate, reformate, raffinate reformate, Fischer-Tropsch liquids, Fischer-Tropsch gases, distillate, crude oil, atmospheric pipestill bottoms, vacuum pipestill streams including bottoms, gas oil condensates, heavy non-virgin hydrocarbon streams from refineries, vacuum gas oils, heavy gas oil, naphtha contaminated with crude, atmospheric residue, heavy residue, C residue admixture, naphtha/residue admixture, gas oil/residue admixture, crude oil, or any mixture thereof.
• the first and/or second hydrocarbon feeds in lines 1001 and 1003, respectively can be or can include, but are not limited to, lighter hydrocarbons such as C1-C5 alkanes, naphtha distillate, aromatic hydrocarbons, or any mixture thereof.
• lighter hydrocarbons such as C1-C5 alkanes, naphtha distillate, aromatic hydrocarbons, or any mixture thereof.
• two or more hydrocarbon feeds can be introduced into the steam cracker and the two hydrocarbon feeds can be the same or different with respect to one another.
• the first hydrocarbon feed in line 1001 can include one or more lighter hydrocarbons and the second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003 can include one or more heavy feedstocks.
• the second hydrocarbon feed in line 1003 can have a nominal final boiling point > 315°C, > 399°C, > 454°C, or > 510°C.
• Nominal final boiling point means the temperature at which 99.5 wt. % of a particular sample has reached its boiling point.
• the first and second hydrocarbon feeds in line 1001 and 1003, respectively can include one or more relatively low molecular weight hydrocarbon (light feedstocks), particularly those aspects where relatively high yields of C 2 unsaturates (ethylene and acetylene) can be desired.
• Light feedstocks can include substantially saturated hydrocarbon molecules having fewer than five carbon atoms, e.g., ethane, propane, and mixtures thereof (e.g., ethane-propane mixtures or “E/P” mix).
• E/P ethane cracking
• a concentration of at least 75 wt. % of ethane is typical.
• E/P mix a concentration of at least 75 wt.
• the amount of ethane in the E/P mix can be > 20 wt. % based on the weight of the E/P mix, e.g., of about 25 wt. % to about 75 wt. %.
• the amount of propane in the E/P mix can be, e.g., > 20 wt. %, based on the weight of the E/P mix, such as of about 25 wt. % to about 75 wt. %.
• the first hydrocarbon and/or the second hydrocarbon feed can be or can include, but is not limited to, a refinery gas stream that can include one or more C 2 to C 5 , saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbons.
• the first hydrocarbon feed can include primarily ethane, propane, or a mixture thereof
• the second hydrocarbon feed can include a refinery gas stream.
• Suitable hydrocarbon feeds can be or can include those described in U.S. Patent Nos.: 7,138,047; 7,993,435; 8,696,888; 9,327,260; 9,637,694; 9,657,239; and 9,777,227; and International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2018/111574.
• the system 100 can include one or more vapor/liquid separators (sometimes referred to as flash pot or flash drum) integrated therewith.
• the vapor- liquid separator can be configured to upgrade the hydrocarbon feed, e.g., by upgrading the hydrocarbon and steam mixture, upstream of the radiant section 1029.
• a vapor-liquid separator with the furnace when the hydrocarbon feed includes > 1 wt% of non- volatiles, e.g., > 5 wt%, such as about 5 wt% to about 50 wt% of non-volatiles having a nominal boiling point of > 760°C.
• Conventional vapor/liquid separation devices can be utilized to do this, though the invention is not limited thereto.
• Examples of such conventional vapor/liquid separation devices can include those disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 7,138,047; 7,090,765; 7,097,758; 7,820,035; 7,311,746; 7,220,887; 7,244,871; 7,247,765; 7,351,872; 7,297,833; 7,488,459; 7,312,371; 6,632,351; 7,578,929; and 7,235,705.
• a vapor phase can be separated from the hydrocarbon feed in the vapor/liquid separation device.
• the separated vapor phase can be conducted away from the vapor/liquid separator to the radiant coil(s) for steam cracking.
• the liquid-phase separated from the hydrocarbon feed can be conducted away from the vapor/liquid separation device, e.g., for storage and/or further processing.

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