The invention relates to processes for converting a mixture of hydrocarbon and sulfur-containing molecules such as mercaptans into products comprising acetylene, ethylene, and hydrogen sulfide, to processes utilizing the acetylene and ethylene resulting from the conversion, and to equipment useful for such processes.

Apparatus and methods are provided for converting methane in a feed stream to acetylene. A hydrocarbon stream is introduced into a supersonic reactor and pyrolyzed to convert at least a portion of the methane to acetylene. The reactor effluent stream may be treated to convert acetylene to another hydrocarbon process.

A process includes hydrogenating, in a reaction zone, a highly unsaturated hydrocarbon received from a hydrocarbon stream to yield a product having an unsaturated hydrocarbon, the hydrogenating step occurring in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst which has a selectivity for conversion of the highly unsaturated hydrocarbon to the unsaturated hydrocarbon of about 90 mol % or greater based on the moles of the highly unsaturated hydrocarbon which are converted to the product, the hydrogenating step occurring in a reaction zone under conditions which include a flow index (I.sub.F) in a range of about 0.09 to about 35, wherein the I.sub.F is defined as:

[00001]$I_F=\frac{F\left[\mathrm{CO}\right]}{V},$

wherein F is the flow rate of the hydrocarbon stream into the reaction zone in units of kg/h, [CO] is the concentration of carbon monoxide in the hydrocarbon stream in units of mol %, and V is the volume of the reaction zone in units of ft.sup.3.