Hydrocarbon Upgrading via Adsorbent Membrane Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for removing sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds from hydrocarbon oil feedstocks either rely on membrane separation or adsorption technologies but do not combine both effectively to achieve efficient upgrading under mild conditions.
Innovation Solution
A process that employs a solid adsorption step using adsorbents like silica, alumina, and zeolites followed by membrane separation to remove sulfur and nitrogen compounds from hydrocarbon streams, with the use of solvents to regenerate and recycle the adsorbents, allowing for the recovery of upgraded hydrocarbon products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional membrane separation or adsorption technologies are used alone, then sulfur and nitrogen compounds can be removed from hydrocarbon feedstocks, but the process requires severe operating conditions and high energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The process segments the treatment into two distinct stages: first, membrane separation physically divides the feedstream into sulfur-enriched permeate and sulfur-lean retentate; second, adsorption selectively removes remaining sulfur compounds using solid adsorbents. This segmentation allows each stage to operate under milder conditions than conventional single-stage severe treatment, reducing overall energy consumption while achieving high removal efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The membrane acts as an intermediary that pre-concentrates sulfur compounds into a smaller permeate stream before adsorption. This intermediary step reduces the volume of hydrocarbon that requires severe adsorption treatment, thereby lowering the energy demand of the adsorption stage while maintaining high overall sulfur removal efficiency
2Manufacturing precision
If severe treatment conditions are applied to all hydrocarbon streams, then sulfur and nitrogen content is reduced, but the volume of hydrocarbon requiring treatment is excessive and economically inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The membrane separation unit extracts and concentrates sulfur compounds into a small permeate stream, separating them from the bulk retentate stream. This allows the majority of the hydrocarbon (retentate) to bypass severe treatment and proceed directly to blending or light processing, while only the small permeate fraction requires intensive adsorption treatment. This dramatically improves refining throughput efficiency while achieving the required sulfur and nitrogen content reduction in the final product
Solution Approach 2:
The process applies severe treatment (adsorption) locally only to the sulfur-enriched permeate fraction, while the sulfur-lean retentate fraction receives minimal or no severe treatment. This localized application of treatment intensity matches the actual sulfur distribution in the feedstream, maximizing productivity by avoiding unnecessary severe treatment of already-clean hydrocarbon portions
3Device complexity
If single-stage membrane separation or adsorption is used, then the process is simpler, but sulfur removal efficiency is insufficient for high-quality fuel specifications
Solution Approach 1:
The treatment process is segmented into two sequential stages: membrane separation followed by adsorption. The membrane stage provides bulk sulfur removal and concentration, while the adsorption stage delivers precision removal of remaining sulfur compounds. This segmentation achieves high sulfur removal efficiency (meeting stringent fuel specifications) while keeping each individual stage relatively simple and well-understood
Solution Approach 2:
The process merges two complementary separation mechanisms—membrane physical separation and adsorption chemical separation—into a hybrid system. The membrane provides size-based separation and sulfur concentration, while the adsorbent provides selective chemical binding of sulfur compounds. This merging of mechanisms achieves superior sulfur removal efficiency that neither method could achieve alone, while maintaining operational simplicity through the use of established, commercially-available technologies
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This combined approach effectively reduces sulfur and nitrogen content in hydrocarbon streams at lower operating severities, enabling more efficient refining processes and reducing the volume of hydrocarbon streams that require severe treatment, thus providing economic benefits.
Implementation Method 1
contacting a hydrocarbon feedstream with a solid adsorbent to produce an adsorbent-rich stream and an upgraded hydrocarbon product stream
Implementation Method 2
passing the resulting slurry to a membrane separation zone to separate a permeate from the slurry
Data Source
AI summary
A process for upgrading hydrocarbon oil feedstreams employs a solid adsorption material to lower sulfur and nitrogen content by contacting the hydrocarbon oil, with a solid adsorbents in a mixing vessel; passing the slurry to a membrane separation zone to separate the solid adsorption material with the adsorbed sulfur and nitrogen compounds from the treated oil; recovering the upgraded hydrocarbon product having a significantly reduced nitrogen and sulfur content as the membrane permeate; mixing the solid adsorbent material with aromatic solvent to remove and stabilize the sulfur and nitrogen compounds; transferring the solvent mixture to a fractionation tower to recover the solvent, which can be recycled for use in the process; and recovering the hydrocarbons that are rich in sulfur and nitrogen for processing in a relatively small high-pressure hydrotreating unit or transferring them to a fuel oil pool for blending.