Patent ID: 7494584

Claim:
A process for recovering the heat of reaction of a reaction component from a multi component petroleum stream to assist in fractional distillation of the multi component petroleum stream from which the reaction component is derived comprising: fractionating the multi component petroleum to recover an overhead fraction, a bottoms fraction, and at least two intermediate fractions including a first intermediate fraction containing the reaction component having a first boiling range, and a second intermediate fraction having a second boiling range which is lower than the first boiling range; removing the first intermediate fraction from the fractional distillation; reacting the reaction component under conditions to exothermically react the reaction component and produce a reaction stream having a temperature higher than the second boiling range; removing the second intermediate fraction from the fractional distillation; heating the second intermediate fraction by indirect heat exchange with the reaction stream; and returning the heated second intermediate fraction to the fractional distillation.