Steam Crack |link|ed -

The mixture enters the radiant section of the furnace, where extremely high temperatures cause the hydrocarbon chains to snap into smaller pieces.

In chemical engineering, steam cracking is a high-temperature process used to break down heavy hydrocarbon molecules—such as naphtha, ethane, or gas oil—into lighter, more valuable ones like ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. These olefins are the raw materials for plastics, resins, synthetic rubbers, and countless other products. The process works by mixing the hydrocarbon feedstock with high-pressure steam and passing it through metal coils heated to roughly 750–950°C (1380–1740°F). The steam reduces the partial pressure of the hydrocarbons, suppressing unwanted side reactions and preventing excessive coke (carbon) buildup on the reactor walls. The result is a thermal scission of carbon-carbon bonds: large, complex molecules are “cracked” into smaller, reactive fragments. Within milliseconds, the product gases are quenched to stop further reactions, then separated into valuable monomers. steam cracked

: Use the same process as above in Desktop Mode . The mixture enters the radiant section of the

The resulting mixture is separated into its individual components through a series of distillation and purification steps. Future Frontiers: Sustainability and Recycling The process works by mixing the hydrocarbon feedstock