| abstract |
Liquid hydrocarbons are produced from methane by a process comprising the following steps: (I) feeding methane to a pyrolysis zone maintained under such conditions that methane is pyrolysed to form a pyrolysis product comprising hydrogen, unsaturated hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons, (II) reacting the pyrolysis product from step (I) in an oligomerisation/alkylation zone maintained under conditions whereby unsaturated hydrocarbons are oligomerised and/or are utilised to alkylate aromatic hydrocarbons, (III) reacting the oligomerisation/alkylation product with at least part of the hydrogen remaining in the product thereby to hydrogenate hydrogenatable unsaturated hydrocarbons in the oligomerisation/alkylation product, and (IV) recovering liquid hydrocarbons. |