Reactor and process for upgrading heavy hydrocarbon oils

a technology for hydrocarbon oil and reactors, applied in chemical/physical processes, bulk chemical production, supercritical conditions, etc., can solve the problems of difficult to bring remote, heavy oil resources closer, and the infrastructure required for the handling, recovery and recycling of diluent could be expensiv

Inactive Publication Date: 2008-05-01
CHEVROU USA INC
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0024]The present invention relates to an apparatus for upgrading a hydrocarbon by reaction with a fluid comprising water under supercritical water conditions comprising; means for dispersing and mixing the fluid comprising water and the hydrocarbon under conditions which disfavor thermal cracking and formation of coke; means for injecting a dispersed water-hydrocarbon ...

Problems solved by technology

Oil produced from a significant number of oil reserves around the world is simply too heavy to flow under ambient conditions.
This makes it challenging to bring remote, heavy oil resources closer to the markets.
1. The infrastructure required for the handling, recovery, and recycle of diluent could be expensive, especially over long distances. Diluent availability is another potential issue.
2. Hydrogen-addition processes such as hydrotreating or hydrocracking require significant investments in capital and infrastructure.
3. Hydrogen-addition processes also have high operating costs, since hydrogen production costs are highly sensitive to natural gas prices. Some remote heavy oil reserves may not even have access to sufficient quantities of low-cost: natural gas to support a hydrogen plant. These hydrogen-addition processes also generally require expensive catalysts and resource intensive catalyst handling techniques, including catalyst regeneration.
4. In some cases, the refineries and/or upgrading facilities that are located closest to the production site may have neither the capacity nor the facilities to accept the heavy oil.
5. Coking is often used at refiner...

Method used

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  • Reactor and process for upgrading heavy hydrocarbon oils
  • Reactor and process for upgrading heavy hydrocarbon oils
  • Reactor and process for upgrading heavy hydrocarbon oils

Examples

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example 1

Process Conditions

[0075]Oil and supercritical water are contacted in a mixer prior to entering the reactor. The reactor is equipped with air inner tube for collecting the products (syncrude, excess water, and gas), and a bottom section where any metals or solids comprising a “dreg stream” of indeterminate properties or composition may accumulate. The shell-side of the reactor is kept isothermal during the reaction with a clamshell furnace and temperature controller. Preferred reactor residence times are 20-40 minutes, with preferred oil / water volume ratios on the order of 1:3. Preferred temperatures are around 374°-400° C., with the pressure at 3200-4000 psig. The reactor product stream leaves as a single phase, and is cooled and separated into gas, syncrude, and effluent water. The effluent water is recycled back to the reactor. Sulfur from the original feedstock accumulates in the dreg stream for the most part, with lesser amounts primarily in the form of H2S found in the gas phas...

example 2

Properties of the Product Syncrude

[0077]A Hamaca crude oil was diluted with a diluent hydrocarbon at a ratio of 5:1 (20 vol % of diluent:). The diluted Hamaca crude oil properties were measured before reacting it with the supercritical water process as referred to in Example 1 and FIG. 2. The properties of the crude were as follows, 12.8 API gravity at 60 / 60; 1329 CST viscosity @40° C.; 7.66 wt % C / H ratio, 13.04 wt % MCRT; 3.54 wt % sulfur; 0.56 wt % nitrogen, 3.05 mg KOH / gm acid number; 1.41 wt % water; 371 ppm Vanadium; and 86 ppm Nickel. The diluted Hamaca crude oil after the super critical water treatment was converted into a syncrude with the following properties: 24.1 API gravity at 60 / 60: 5.75 CST viscosity @40° C., 7.40 wt % C / H ratio; 2.25 wt % MCRT; 2.83 wt % sulfur; 0.28 wt % nitrogen; 1.54 mg KOH / gm acid number; 0.96 wt % water; 24 ppm. Vanadium; and 3 ppm Nickel. Substantial reductions in metals and residues were observed, with simultaneous increase in the API gravity ...

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PUM

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Abstract

A reactor for conducting a process using supercritical water to upgrade a heavy hydrocarbon feedstock into an upgraded hydrocarbon product or syncrude with highly desirable properties (low sulfur content, low metals content, lower density (higher API), lower viscosity, lower residuum content, etc.) is described. The reactor is operable under continuous) semi-continuous or batch mode and is equipped with means to enable momentum, heat and mass transfer in and out of and within the reactor.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to upgrading of hydrocarbons, especially heavy hydrocarbons such as whole heavy oil, bitumen, and the like using supercritical water.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Oil produced from a significant number of oil reserves around the world is simply too heavy to flow under ambient conditions. This makes it challenging to bring remote, heavy oil resources closer to the markets. One typical example is the Hamaca field in Venezuela. In order to render such heavy oils flowable, one of the most common methods known in the art is to reduce the viscosity and density by mixing the heavy oil with a sufficient diluent. The diluent may be naphtha, or any other stream with a significantly higher API gravity (i.e., much lower density) than the heavy oil.[0003]For a case such as Hamaca, diluted crude oil is sent from the production wellhead via pipeline to an upgrading facility. Two key operations occur at the upgrading facility: (1) the dil...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C10G31/00
CPCB01J3/008C10G31/08B01J4/002Y02P20/54
Inventor HE, ZUNQINGLI, LINLI, LIXIONGZESTAR, LAWRENCE P.CHINN, DANIEL
Owner CHEVROU USA INC
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