Importance

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Abstract

Disclosed herein is an improved method for continuous thermal cracking of heavy petroleum oil, which can achieve a high degree of cracking in a column-like reactor of relatively small size and provides residual pitch rich in .beta.-resin components and lean in gas mixed therein. The above method comprises charging preheated heavy oil into an upper reaction zone of an upright cylindrical continuous reactor, which is divided into upper and lower reaction zones by means of a partition plate, drawing the resultant cracked gas and oil vapor from the upper reaction zone, and discharging residual pitch through the bottom of the lower reaction zone. Also disclosed are a first improvement to the above thermal cracking method through the provision of a cooling chamber and a defoaming chamber adjacent to the lowermost portion of the reactor so as to respectively terminate the reaction and subject the resultant pitch to defoaming, and another improvement through the provision of a rotary scraper in the reactor, which scraper has blades contiguous to their corresponding reactor walls or partition plates.

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First Claim