Patent ID: 7038098

Claim:
A process for the dehydrogenation of C 2 –C 30 -alkanes, in which (i) ethylbenzene is dehydrogenated to styrene in a first part process to give a hydrogen-containing offgas stream, and (ii) one or more C 2 –C 30 -alkanes are dehydrogenated in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst in one or more reaction zones in a second part process to give the corresponding olefins, with a hydrogen-containing gas stream being mixed into the reaction gas mixture of the alkane dehydrogenation in at least one reaction zone, and wherein oxygen is additionally mixed into the reaction gas mixture of the alkane dehydrogenation in at least one reaction zone and the hydrogen present in the reaction gas mixture is thereby burnt, as a result of which at least part of the necessary heat of dehydrogenation is generated directly in the reaction gas mixture in the reaction zone or zones, wherein at least part of the hydrogenation-containing offgas stream obtained in the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene is mixed into the reaction gas mixture of the alkane dehydrogenation.