Hydrocarbon Re-refining via Flash Vaporization and Hydroprocessing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The petroleum industry faces challenges in producing high-quality, reusable lubricants and fuels from contaminated hydrocarbons, such as used lubricating oils and carbonaceous waste materials, due to the presence of non-distillable components like metals and tars, which foul heat exchange surfaces and deactivate catalysts, reducing processing efficiency and increasing waste water production.
Innovation Solution
A process involving hydroprocessing of contaminated hydrocarbons using a hot hydrogen-rich gas stream to vaporize and separate hydrocarbon components, followed by stripping with superheated steam, and subsequent treatment in hydrodemetallization and hydroprocessing reactors to remove metals and impurities, resulting in a high-quality, reusable hydrocarbon product.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional hydroprocessing methods are used to treat contaminated hydrocarbons, then metals and impurities are removed, but heat exchange surfaces become fouled and catalysts are deactivated, reducing processing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by implementing a flash vaporization step before the main hydroprocessing operation. Contaminated hydrocarbons are heated to 300-700°C and flashed to vaporize and separate distillable hydrocarbon components from non-distillable contaminants (metals, tars, solids). This preliminary separation removes the fouling agents before they can contaminate heat exchange surfaces or deactivate catalysts in subsequent processing stages, thereby maintaining both catalyst activity and processing efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the hydroprocessing operation into distinct stages: (1) flash vaporization to separate distillable hydrocarbons from non-distillable contaminants, (2) condensation of vaporized hydrocarbons, (3) hydrodemetallization to remove residual metals, and (4) final hydroprocessing. This segmentation allows each stage to address specific contaminants appropriately, preventing fouling and catalyst deactivation while maintaining high processing efficiency
2Manufacturing precision
If high severity hydroprocessing is applied to produce highly saturated, hetero-atom free oils, then product quality improves, but the amount of undesirable byproducts requiring treatment increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts undesirable byproducts early in the process through flash vaporization, separating distillable hydrocarbon components from non-distillable contaminants before main hydroprocessing. The flash step removes metals, tars, and solids as residue, preventing them from becoming additional byproducts during severe hydroprocessing. This extraction approach maintains high product quality while minimizing the volume of treated byproducts
3Device complexity
If contaminated hydrocarbons are directly processed without preliminary treatment, then processing steps are reduced, but non-distillable components foul equipment and reduce recovery yields
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary flash vaporization treatment to separate distillable hydrocarbons from non-distillable contaminants before main processing. This single preliminary step prevents fouling of heat exchange surfaces and equipment, maintains catalyst activity, and maximizes hydrocarbon recovery yield by ensuring clean feed to subsequent processing stages, thereby justifying the added processing step through significant yield improvement
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 process significantly increases the yield of re-refined oil, reduces waste water, and improves energy efficiency by effectively removing non-distillable components and producing high-quality lubricants and fuels from previously unusable materials.
Implementation Method 1
contacting the hydrocarbons with a stream of hot hydrogen gas to vaporize at least a portion of the hydrocarbon components in the contaminated hydrocarbons in a flash separator
Implementation Method 2
the remaining hot liquid is passed to a stripping unit, where super-heated steam is used to strip out additional hydrocarbons from the liquid into a second vapor stream
Implementation Method 3
The second vapor stream is cooled to condense the hydrocarbon portion of the vapor for recovery as a liquid in a hot separator
Data Source
AI summary
A process for the recovery and purification of a contaminated hydrocarbons, wherein the contamination includes metals, finely divided solids and non-distillable components. The process further includes hydroprocessing the oil to remove deleterious compounds, to produce high quality reusable lubricants, solvents and fuels and to improve the quality of water byproduct.