Treatment of fluorocarbon feedstocks

US7166198B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation Limited · ZA
• 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY · US

Inventors

• Izak Jacobus Van Der Walt · Krugersdorp, ZA
• Klaus Hintzer · Woodbury, US
• Werner Schwertfeger · Altötting, DE
• Gerald L. Bauer · Wilton, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 9, 2001
• Grant date: Jan 23, 2007
• Expiry date: Feb 4, 2022

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B01J2219/0898
• WIPO field: Chemical engineering
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A method of treating a fluorocarbon feedstock includes generating, in a high temperature zone, an electrical arc between at least one cathode and at least one anode, generating in the high temperature zone and by means of the electrical arc and a plasma gas, a thermal plasma having a tail flame, allowing a fluorocarbon feedstock comprising at least one fluorocarbon compound to form a reactive thermal mixture with the thermal plasma tail flame, with the fluorocarbon compound dissociating into at least one fluorocarbon precursor or reactive species having fewer carbon atoms than the fluorocarbon compound, and cooling the reactive thermal mixture to form, from the fluorocarbon precursor or reactive species, a fluorocarbon product.