US Patent 7763763 Olefins production process

The present invention provides a process for the production of olefins wherein a synthetic naphtha is passed to a steam cracker. The synthetic naphtha is derived from the fractionation of a Fischer-Tropsch product stream. The Fischer-Tropsch product stream may be separated into a lighter fraction and a heavy fraction and the heavy fraction may be hydrotreated prior to fractionation. Optionally the synthetic naphtha may be hydrogenated to produce a saturated synthetic naphtha which can then be subsequently passed to the steam cracker.