Hydrocarbon Viscosity Reduction Method

Abstract

In accordance with particular descriptions provided herein, certain embodiments of the inventive technology may be described as a hydrocarbon viscosity reduction method that comprises the steps of: treating a hydrocarbon having asphaltenes therein to generate a treated hydrocarbon, wherein said hydrocarbon has a first viscosity; contacting said treated hydrocarbon with a sorbent (whether as a result of pouring or other means); and adsorbing at least a portion of said asphaltenes onto said sorbent, thereby removing said at least a portion of said asphaltenes from said hydrocarbon so as to generate a viscosity reduced hydrocarbon having a second viscosity that is lower than said first viscosity.

Description

[0001]This is an international, PCT application and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 450,515, filed Mar. 8, 2011, the provisional application incorporated herein in its entirety.STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT RIGHTS[0002]This invention was made with government support under DOE Contract DE-FC26-08NT43293 awarded by the Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in the invention.TECHNICAL FIELD[0003]This invention relates generally to the field of processing hydrocarbons for pipeline transportation, and more particularly to treating hydrocarbons to reduce viscosity to meet pipeline requirements.BACKGROUND[0004]By 2015 the amount of Alberta oil sands bitumen shipped to U.S. refineries will be near 1.44 million barrels per day (Edmonton Journal 2008). This is an energy security issue since U.S. relations with Canada are cordial. Additional heavy oils will come from U.S. enhanced oil recovery production and other imports. The petroleum industry is currently u...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method for reducing viscosity in bitumen by removing the pericondensed aromatic component molecules that act as viscosity builders. By heating the oil and contacting it with a sorbent, the asphaltene components are adsorbed onto the sorbent and removed from the oil. This process lowers viscosity and reduces the amount of diluent required for pipeline shipment, resulting in significant energy savings. The invention provides a cost-effective alternative to solvent dilution and can be used in combination with other treatments to further reduce viscosity.

Problems solved by technology

This is an energy security issue since U.S. relations with Canada are cordial.

The solvent is removed by distillation at the refinery, which is energy intensive.

In some cases, diluent is pipelined back to Canada for re-use since there is a limited supply.

This results in associated complexes which act as particles in the oil, resulting in significant viscosity increases above the viscosity of the base solvent oil.

Another possible treatment is to add an amount of chemical additive or low polarity or other solvent to destabilize the ordered structure but not sufficient to completely precipitate asphaltenes from solution.

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