Systems and methods of producing a crude product

Abstract

Contact of a crude feed with one or more catalysts produces a total product that includes a crude product. The crude feed has a residue content of at least 0.2 grams of residue per gram of crude feed. At least a portion of the crude product may be produced as a vapor. The crude product is a liquid mixture at 25° C. and 0.101 MPa. One or more properties of the crude product may be changed by at least 10% relative to the respective properties of the crude feed.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM [0001] This application claims priority to Provisional patent application No. 60 / 531,506 entitled “METHODS OF PREPARING IMPROVED CRUDE FEED” filed on Dec. 19, 2003, and to Provisional patent application No. 60 / 618,814 entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF PRODUCING A CRUDE PRODUCT” filed on Oct. 14, 2004.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for treating crude feed, and to compositions that are produced, for example, using such systems and methods. More particularly, embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for conversion of a crude feed that has a residue content of at least 0.2 grams of residue per gram of crude feed to a crude product that is (a) a liquid mixture at 25° C. and 0.101 MPa, and (b) has one or more properties that are improved in comparison to the same properties of the crude feed. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART [0003] Crudes that have one or more unsuitable properties that do not allow th...

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Benefits of technology

[0013] Inventions described herein generally relate to systems and methods for contacting a crude feed with one or more catalysts to produce a total product comprising a crude product and, in some embodiments, non-co

Problems solved by technology

Disadvantaged crudes often contain relatively high levels of residue.

Such crudes tend to be difficult and expensive to transport and / or process using conventional facilities.

During processing, water removal from the less viscous crudes and / or crude mixtures may be difficult using conventional means.

When processing of hydrogen deficient hydrocarbons, consistent quantities of hydrogen generally need to be added, particularly if unsaturated fragments resulting from cracking processes are produced.

Hydrogen is costly to produce and / or costly to transport to treatment facilities.

It may be costly to regenerate the catalytic activity of a catalyst contaminated by coke.

High temperatures used during regeneration may also diminish the activity of the catalyst and / or cause the catalyst to deteriorate.

Disadvantaged crudes with a relatively high TAN may contribute to corrosion of metal components during transporting and / or processing of the disadvantaged crudes.

The use of corrosion-resistant metal often involves significant expense, and thus, the use of corrosion-resistant metal in existing equipment may not be desirable.

The use of corrosion inhibitors may negatively affect equipment used to process the crudes and / or the quality of products produced from the crudes.

Such deposits may cause a decline in the activity of the catalyst.

Organically bound heteroatoms may, in some situations, have an adverse effect on catalysts.

These processes tend to result in poor desulfurization efficiency, production of oil insoluble sludge, poor demetallization efficiency, formation of substantially inseparable salt-oil mixtures, utilization of large quantities of hydrogen gas, and / or relatively high hydrogen pressures.

Adding diluent, however, generally increases costs of treating disadvantaged crudes due to the costs of diluent and / or increased costs to handle the disadvantaged crudes.

Addition of diluent to a disadvantaged crude may, in some situations, decrease stability of such crude.

The process, systems, and catalysts described in these patents, however, have limited applicability because of many of the technical problems set forth above.

In sum, disadvantaged crudes generally have undesirable properties (for example, relatively high residue, a tendency to corrode equipment, and / or a tendency to consume relatively large amounts of hydrogen during treatment).

Other undesirable properties include relatively high amounts of undesirable components (for example, relatively high TAN, organically bound heteroatoms, and / or metal contaminants).

Such properties tend to cause problems in conventional transportation and / or treatment facilities, including increased corrosion, decreased catalyst life, process plugging, and / or increased usage of hydrogen during treatment.

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