Systems and methods for processing hydrocarbons

1. A method for processing a hydrocarbon, comprising:

thermally converting a hydrocarbon comprising methane to produce a first product comprising acetylene;

hydrogenating the first product to produce a second product comprising ethylene; and

catalytically reacting the second product with a butene product comprising about 4 wt % to about 30 wt % isobutene, about 0.5 wt % to about 4.5 wt % n-butane, about 20 wt % to about 45 wt % butene-1, and about 12 wt % to about 38 wt % butene-2 in a metathesis reactor to produce a third product comprising propylene, wherein the third product, upon exiting the metathesis reactor and prior to any further treatment, comprises about 95 mol % or more propylene.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the butene product comprises about 18 wt % to about 30 wt % isobutene.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon comprises from about 75 mol % to about 100 mol % methane.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

removing non-acetylene from the first product to produce an acetylene-rich product; and

hydrogenating the acetylene-rich product to produce the second product.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the acetylene-rich product comprises from about 5 wt % to about 50 wt % acetylene.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metathesis reactor comprises a rhenium containing catalyst.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metathesis reactor comprises a magnesium oxide containing catalyst.

8. A method for processing a hydrocarbon, comprising:

introducing a hydrocarbon comprising methane to a reactor to thermally convert at least a portion of the hydrocarbon to produce a first product comprising acetylene;

introducing the first product to a non-acetylene removal unit to produce an acetylene-rich effluent and an acetylene-lean effluent;

introducing the acetylene-rich effluent and a hydrogen source to a hydrogenation reactor to hydrogenate at least a portion of the acetylene in the acetylene-rich effluent to produce a second product comprising ethylene; and

introducing the second product and a butene product comprising about 4 wt % to about 30 wt % isobutene, about 0.5 wt % to about 4.5 wt % n-butane about 20 wt % to about 45 wt % butene-1, and about 12 wt % to about 38 wt % butene-2 to a metathesis reactor to catalytically react at least a portion of the ethylene in the second product with at least a portion of the butene product to produce a third product comprising propylene, wherein the third product, upon exiting the metathesis reactor and prior to any further treatment, comprises about 95 mol % or more propylene.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the acetylene-rich effluent comprises from about 5 wt % to about 50 wt % acetylene.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first product comprises carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and acetylene.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first product comprises from about 5 mol % to about 15 mol % acetylene.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the third product comprises about 97 mol % or more propylene.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the hydrogenation reactor produces a recycle product, wherein the recycle product is recycled to the reactor.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising introducing the acetylene-lean effluent to an ethylene separator to produce an ethylene-rich product and an ethylene-lean product.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein hydrogenation of the first product further produces a recycle product, and wherein the recycle product is thermally converted.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second product comprises from about 95 mol % to about 99.99 mol % ethylene.

17. The method of claim 1 , the metathesis reactor comprises a tungsten oxide containing catalyst.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon is thermally converted in a reactor comprising a combustion section and a reaction section, the method further comprising:

removing non-acetylene from the first product to produce an acetylene-rich product and a recycle product;

introducing the recycle product to the reaction section; and

hydrogenating the acetylene-rich product to produce the second product comprising ethylene.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the recycle product comprises about 15 mol % to about 80 mol % methane and about 3 mol % to about 10 mol % acetylene, and wherein the acetylene-rich product comprises about 1 wt % to about 10 wt % methane and about 5 wt % to about 50 wt % acetylene.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the butene product comprises about 12 wt % to about 30 wt % isobutene.