Patent ID: 7858834

Claim:
A method comprising: (a) providing a feed comprising a condensate and a crude oil and containing up to 30 weight percent heavy hydrocarbons that boil at >900° F. at atmospheric pressure; (b) directing the feed to a first zone of a vaporization unit and separating a portion of the feed in the first zone into a first vapor stream and a first liquid stream while the first zone is at a temperature of from ambient to about 350° F. and at a pressure of from atmospheric to about 100 psig; (c) passing the first vapor stream to a cracking furnace having in its interior at least a convection section and a separate radiant section; (d) passing the first liquid stream to a second zone of the vaporization unit; (e) contacting the first liquid stream with a counter-current stream of steam having a temperature of from about 650 to about 850° F in an appropriate amount in the second zone of the vaporization unit so that the first liquid stream intimately mixes with the steam to cause vaporization and to produce a second vapor stream and a second liquid stream comprising a distillate fraction; (f) controlling the temperature of the second vapor stream to be from about 170 to about 450° F. and the boiling range of the distillate fraction to be from about 350 to about 650° F.; (g) passing the second vapor stream to the radiant section of the cracking furnace; and (h) recovering the second liquid stream from the second zone of the vaporization unit.