Method for treating heavy oil

Inactive Publication Date: 2013-10-24
PETROSONIC ENERGY
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method for better separating oil from asphaltenes using low-frequency, high-amplitude acoustic energy. This method allows for faster deasphalting at lower solvent to oil ratios, resulting in a more efficient and effective process. The method can produce a high-quality, pipeline-spec oil product.

Problems solved by technology

Nickel, a hydrogen scavenger, causes catalyst fouling via coke formation due to dehydrogenation of alkanes to olefins in refinery catalytic crackers.
Although the process achieves high quality SCO output, the deasphalting step is prohibitively expensive and therefore not commercially viable due to excessive solvent requirements e.g. 10:1 preferred solvent to oil volume ratio (see page 5 section ) and deasphalter processing times e.g.
Deasphalting was efficient based on the low solvent:bitumen ratio, however, deasphalting was extremely slow (i.e. 8 hours).
Prior art deasphalting of heavy crude oil and refinery residues suffers from the following problems alone or in combination:excessive solvent to heavy crude oil / residue ratiosexcessive processing times

Method used

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  • Method for treating heavy oil
  • Method for treating heavy oil

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

[0059]Upgrading Oil from a Texas Oil Source

[0060]The oil came from a heavy oil field located in Southwestern Texas. Fifty grams of the Southwestern Texas HCO was blended with 175 grams of iso-octane solvent (225 grams total) for sonic deasphalting in a baffled 1.7 litre stainless steel reaction chamber. The deasphalting occurred at 25 kW power applied continuously for 120 seconds in batch mode in a 1.7 lire sonic reaction chamber. Subsequently the deasphalted material was separated through direct vacuum filtration. Optionally, the subsequent deasphalted oil was oxidized via the prior art described by Boakye (Canadian patent #2,549,358) utilizing acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, peroxidase enzyme source (i.e. soyabean husk) and iron oxide. The oxidation reaction was quenched through absorption of generated polar compounds and sulfur compounds by passing the deasphalted HCO / solvent / reagent reaction product through a natural clay and activated carbon mixture that removes excess and / or u...

example 2

[0063]Upgrading Oil from a Canadian Oil Source

[0064]Oil from a heavy oil field located near Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada was tested.

[0065]Fifty grams of Lloydminster HCO was blended with 175 grams of iso-octane solvent (225 grams total) for sonic deasphalting in a baffled 1.7 litre stainless steel reaction chamber. The deasphalting occurred at 25 kW power applied continuously for 120 seconds in batch mode. After the deasphalted material was separated through direct vacuum filtration, the subsequent deasphalted oil was oxidized via the prior art described by Boakye (Canadian patent #2,549,358) utilizing acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, peroxidase enzyme source (i.e. soyabean husk) and iron oxide. The oxidation reaction was quenched through absorption of generated polar compounds and sulfur compounds by passing the deasphalted HCO / solvent / reagent reaction product through a natural clay and activated carbon mixture.

TABLE 4Sample Candidate Oil Balance (Run 081017E-1):InputsMass (kg)Outp...

example 3

[0067]Upgrading Oil from an Albanian Oil Source

[0068]The oil from a heavy oil field located in Albania was tested next.

[0069]Fifty grams of Albanian HCO was blended with 175 grams of iso-octane solvent (225 grams total) for sonic deasphalting in a baffled 1.7 litre stainless steel reaction chamber. The deasphalting occurred at 25 kW power applied continuously for 120 seconds in batch mode. After the deasphalted material was separated through direct vacuum filtration, the subsequent deasphalted oil was oxidized through the prior art described by Boakye (Canadian patent #2,549,358) utilizing acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, peroxidase enzyme source (i.e. soyabean husk) and iron oxide. The oxidation reaction was quenched through absorption of generated polar compounds and sulfur compounds by passing the deasphalted HCO / solvent / reagent reaction product through a natural clay and activated carbon mixture that remove all excess and / or unconsumed oxidation reagents.

TABLE 6Sample Candidate O...

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PUM

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Abstract

According to the invention, there is provided a method for treating heavy crude oil (HCO) which includes the steps of combining the HCO with an alkane containing solvent to form an HCO / solvent mixture, sonicating this mixture at audio frequency to precipitate asphaltenes from the HCO / solvent mixture, and separating the precipitated asphaltenes from the HCO / solvent mixture.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a method for deasphalting oils containing asphaltenes (such as heavy crude oil (HCO), bitumen, and oil refinery residues) using solvents and acoustic sound energy resulting in an upgraded higher value synthetic crude oil which may be further upgraded by chemical or biological / chemical processes.BACKGROUND OF INVENTION[0002]It is well known that solvent deasphalting can be used to upgrade heavy crude oil (HCO), including bitumen, to a synthetic crude oil (SCO) via enhancement of its chemical and physical properties such as:[0003]increased API gravity[0004]decreased viscosity[0005]decreased nickel content[0006]decreased vanadium content[0007]decreased sulphur content[0008]API gravities above 19 and viscosities below 350 centistokes are particularly desirable for purposes of product pipelining.[0009]Nickel contamination in oil refineries can come from two (2) sources: corrosion of stainless steel (e.g. via the presence of hydroge...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C10G21/00
CPCC10G21/003C10G32/02
Inventor HILL, JAMESARATO, CLAUDIO
Owner PETROSONIC ENERGY
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