Patent ID: 7482502

Claim:
A process for selectively cracking a hydrocarbon feedstock into olefinic hydrocarbon products in a radiant fired cracking furnace having reactor furnace tubes and concomitantly reducing coke production on said reactor furnace tubes, said process comprising: cracking said hydrocarbons in a furnace at a reactor outlet temperature of above about 1300° F. at residence times ranging from about 0.02 s to about 0.08 s in a pyrolysis cracking furnace comprising a plurality of reactor furnace tubes; wherein said reactor furnace tubes consist of a non-nickel-containing material that can withstand temperatures of at least about 2100° F.; wherein said reactor furnace tubes have a length of less than 35 feet and an internal diameter ranging from about 1.0 to 2.0 inches; and wherein the amount of coke laid down on said tubes is reduced and the primary products of said selective cracking of said hydrocarbons is olefins and the furnace throughput is increased.