Steam cracking

Steam cracking is a further application of thermal cracking. It is a petrochemical process used to produce olefinic raw materials (e.g. propylene, ethylene) from various feedstocks for petrochemicals manufacture. The feedstocks range from ethane to vacuum gas oil, with heavier feeds giving higher yields of by-products such as naphtha. The most common feeds are ethane, butane, and naphtha.