Process for the production of olefins

Olefins in the range of 6-20 carbon atoms are prepared by feeding lower olefin (e.g., ethylene), lower alkyl organometallic (e.g., triethyl aluminum) and product olefin into a reaction system in which chain build up occurs (e.g., chain growth or catalytic polymerization). The reaction effluent is flashed to remove product olefin and lower boiling olefin. The remainder of the effluent contains higher alkyl organometallic and is subjected to an alkyl displacement reaction using lower olefin (e.g., ethylene) to give a mixture of olefins (both in and outside of product range) along with lower alkyl organometallic. This mixture is converted to a mixed vapor-mist system where olefins having more than about 16 carbon atoms per molecule are in the mist phase and the volatile components are in the vapor phase and the vapor-mist system is separated into two respective streams in an inertia separator. The vapor phase component stream is then furnished as feed to the first-named reaction system. In a preferred improvement, organometallic material contained in the mist phase from the inertia separator is recovered and preferably is recycled to the chain build up reaction system.