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Process and apparatus for converting oil shale or oil sand (tar sand) to oil

Inactive Publication Date: 2005-11-17
DOYLE JAMES A +1
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017] In one embodiment, the present invention provides an improved process for producing oil from oil sand (tar sand) or shale by reacting the oil sand (tar sand) or shale with a stream containing hydrogen in a concentration greater than 90 vol % (90 vol %-100 vol % H2) in a fluidized bed reactor, wherein the fluidizing medium is a feed stream including hydrogen gas.
[0025] In one embodiment, the invention provides flexibility in the processing of feedstocks. It comprises a process for upgrading oil bearing material e.g. bitumen or kerogen, and an apparatus for its practice.
[0034] In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method for recycling the excess unreacted hydrogen from the reactor in which bitumen or kerogen is upgraded to high grade low sulfur oil (about 0.1 to 0.5 wt. % sulfur, or less). In the processing of oil sands and bitumen, this can produce an SCO having an API gravity of 28° to 34° and a sulfur content of about 0.1 to 0.5 wt. %. In the case of processing oil shale a lighter product is produced ranging from 28° API to as high as 40° API or more.

Problems solved by technology

In these systems, tailing oil recovery is necessary to clear the sand for disposal, however the sand is not completely cleared of bitumen.

Method used

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  • Process and apparatus for converting oil shale or oil sand (tar sand) to oil
  • Process and apparatus for converting oil shale or oil sand (tar sand) to oil
  • Process and apparatus for converting oil shale or oil sand (tar sand) to oil

Examples

Experimental program
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example 1

[0149] The overall mass balance for the process according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 6, where 1000 tons / br of oil sand (tar sand) at 50° F. are reacted with hydrogen to produce 665 bbl / r of synthetic crude oil. The following Table provides the feed and product values for processing 1000 tons / hr. of oil sand (tar sand).

Raw Materials Products

[0150] 1000 TONS / HR. OIL SAND (TAR SAND) 665 BBL / HR SCO [0151] 1.6 MMSCF / HR HYDROGEN 5.2 MMSCF / HR STACK GAS [0152] 3.3 MMSCF / HR AIR 6600 LBS / HR SULFUR [0153] 0.5 MMSCF / HR NATURAL GAS 850 TONS / HR SPENT SAND

Reactor Dimensions and Mass and Energy Balances

Reactor 104[0154] Column Diameter 20.00 ft [0155] Cross Section Area 34.16 ft.sup.2 [0156] Void Fraction 0.85 (At Fluidization) [0157] Cross Section of Sand 47.12 ft.sup.2 [0158] Cross Section of Gas 267.04 ft.sup.2 [0159] Reactor Volume 27394.26 ft.sup.3 [0160] Bed Diameter 20.00 ft [0161] Bed Height 87.20 ft [0162] Time-Space Constant 0.25 hr [0163] Pressure Drop 35.00 psi [01...

example 2

[0422]FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a oil sand (tar sand) feed is converted into a synthetic crude oil. Run of mine oil sand (tar sand) from trucks is dumped into receiving, screening, and sizing equipment 702 via tar sand feed 701 for classifying oil sand (tar sand) at ambient temperature. The oil sand (tar sand) comprises bitumen and sand. The oil sand (tar sand) is crushed into relatively large fluidizable pieces that are capable of passing through a one inch mesh, or that are about one inch or less in size. In this embodiment, crushing the oil sand (tar sand) into fines or pieces less than sand size is preferably avoided to facilitate fines removal from the product stream. Limiting the amount of crushing can also reduce heat generation that can adversely affect oil sand (tar sand) processing. Oil sand (tar sand) pieces typically comprise an agglomeration of sand particles, each sand particle surrounded by a film of water and an out...

example 3

[0606] The process illustrated in FIG. 7-6 and FIG. 7-7 encompasses an embodiment of the present invention in which PSA tail gas is recovered (“PSA tail gas recovery embodiment”). Reference characters are provided in FIG. 7-6 and FIG. 7-7 in which like reference characters match like reference characters in FIG. 7-4 and 7-5 and in the written description for like equipment. PSA tail gas can be burned for its heat value and / or can be recovered as feed for an integrated hydrogen plant. Reference characters are provided in FIG. 7-6 and FIG. 7-7 illustrating the PSA tail gas recycle process.

[0607] This PSA tail gas recovery embodiment of the process includes the PSA tail gas being fed to an integrated hydrogen plant. Feeding the PSA tail gas to an integrated hydrogen plant allows for the production of hydrogen from one or more of the light hydrocarbons which respectively can be present in the PSA tail gas including C1, C2, C3, C4 light hydrocarbons (such as methane and / or ethane). The ...

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Abstract

Three new embodiments to the Chattanooga Process that convert or upgrade oil bitumen, a combination of oil sands and bitumen, a combination of sand and bitumen, and oil shale to high grade low sulfur (about 0.1 to 0.5 wt. % sulfur, or less) crude oil. The invention relates to a continuous process for producing synthetic crude oil (SCO) from oil sand bitumen which has been extracted from under ground via in situ processes, or strip mined and extracted via hot water extraction processes before upgrading. It can also apply to kerogen extracted in situ from shale underground. The process involves treating the hot bitumen with sand from an extraction process or the hot oil from kerogen with ground shale containing kerogen in a fluid bed reactor where the reactant and fluidizing medium is only hydrogen. The invention also relates to a continuous process for producing synthetic crude oil (SCO) from oil shale kerogen. The invention relates to a continuous process for producing synthetic crude oil from oil bearing material, e.g., oil shale or oil sand (tar sand), through continuous process for producing synthetic crude oil from bituminous oil sand (tar sand) or shale. The process includes treating the oil sand (tar sand) or shale to produce a fluidizable feed, feeding the fluidizable feed to a fluidized bed reactor, and fluidizing and reacting the fluidizable feed in the fluidized bed reactor with a feed of hydrogen provided by a feed stream having a stream containing hydrogen in a concentration greater than 90 vol % (90 vol %-100 vol % H2). In one embodiment, the invention relates to a continuous process which can recover methane and ethane from a recycle hydrogen stream. In one embodiment, the process can recover PSA tail gas as feed to a hydrogen plant. In one embodiment, the process can be operated to reduce or eliminate the requirement for externally provided methane feed to the hydrogen plant.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This is a continuation-in-part application of previously filed copending U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 126374 entitled “Process and apparatus for converting oil shale or oil sand (tar sand) to oil” filed May 11, 2005, which claims the benefit of earlier filed provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 570,815 entitled “Process and apparatus for converting oil shale or oil sand (tar sand) to oil” filed May 14, 2004. This application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 126374 and this application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 570,815. [0002] U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 126374 entitled “Process and apparatus for converting oil shale or oil sand (tar sand) to oil” filed May 11, 2005, is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 570,815 filed May 14, 2004, is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0003] The present inventio...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C10G1/00C10G1/04C10G1/08C10G45/00C10G47/22C10G47/30
CPCC10G1/00C10G1/047C10G47/30C10G45/00C10G47/22C10G1/08
Inventor DOYLE, JAMES A.HILDEBRANDT, FRED
Owner DOYLE JAMES A
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