Patent ID: 7972498

Claim:
A process for producing olefins comprising: (i) hydroprocessing a feed comprising crude comprising resid or a crude fraction comprising resid in a hydroprocessing unit at a temperature sufficient to promote incipient thermal cracking of the resid, wherein the resid includes 1050° F.+(565° C.+) resid; (ii) obtaining hydrogenated C2+ effluent from a resid hydroprocessing unit, wherein the effluent comprises resid; (iii) separating the effluent in a separator that comprises at least one of a visbreaker, a flash drum, a high pressure separator, and a vapor liquid separator wherein the effluent in the separator is heated at visbreaking conditions to a temperature of at least about 850° F. (454° C.), into an overhead stream and a bottoms stream, the bottoms stream comprising hydroprocessed resid including 1050° F.+ (565° C.+) resid; (iv) feeding the overhead stream as vapor to a steam cracker; (v) steam cracking the overhead stream and obtaining a steam cracker effluent from the steam cracker comprising olefins; (vi) feeding the bottoms stream to a catalytic cracking unit; and (vii) cracking the bottoms stream in the catalytic cracking unit to obtain a catalytically cracked stream comprising at least one of gas oil and olefins; and further comprising flashing the effluent through at least one pressure drop to reduce the pressure of the effluent, prior to or during the step of separating the effluent.