Methods and systems for hydroprocessing heavy oil feedstocks to form upgraded material use a colloidal or molecular catalyst dispersed within heavy oil feedstock, pre-coking hydrocracking reactor, separator, and coking reactor. The colloidal or molecular catalyst promotes upgrading reactions that reduce the quantity of asphaltenes or other
coke forming precursors in the feedstock, increase
hydrogen to carbon ratio in the upgraded material, and decrease boiling points of hydrocarbons in the upgraded material. The methods and systems can be used to
upgrade vacuum
tower bottoms and other low grade heavy oil feedstocks. The result is one or more of increased conversion level and yield, improved quality of upgraded hydrocarbons, reduced
coke formation, reduced equipment
fouling,
processing of a wider range of lower quality feedstocks, and more efficient use of supported catalyst if used with the colloidal or molecular catalyst, as compared to a conventional hydrocracking process or a conventional thermal coking process.