Method of Upgrading Heavy Crude Oil
First Claim
1. A method of upgrading a heavy crude oil, comprising:
- (a) thermally cracking the heavy crude oil in a cracking vessel to convert a portion of the heavy crude oil to volatile components while simultaneously venting the volatile components from the cracking vessel;
(b) separating the vented volatile components into condensable volatile components and non-condensable volatile components; and
(c) collecting the condensable volatile components, said components comprising cracked-distilled oil.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of upgrading a heavy crude oil (10) by thermally cracking (12) the heavy crude oil in a cracking vessel to convert a portion to volatile components (14) while simultaneously venting the volatile components from the cracking vessel. Tetrathydrofurfuryl alcohol is optionally added to the heavy crude oil feedstock before or during cracking. The vented volatile components are separated (16) into condensable volatile components (18) and non-condensable volatile components (20). The condensable components are collected and comprise cracked-distilled oil. The cracking residue (48) is removed from the cracking vessel and a cracking residue extract is prepared and mixed with the cracked-distilled oil to produce synthetic crude oil.
7 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method of upgrading a heavy crude oil, comprising:
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(a) thermally cracking the heavy crude oil in a cracking vessel to convert a portion of the heavy crude oil to volatile components while simultaneously venting the volatile components from the cracking vessel; (b) separating the vented volatile components into condensable volatile components and non-condensable volatile components; and (c) collecting the condensable volatile components, said components comprising cracked-distilled oil. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. An apparatus for upgrading heavy crude oil comprising:
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(a) a thermal cracking vessel for performing thermal cracking of the heavy crude oil; (b) means for venting volatile components from the thermal cracking vessel simultaneously with the thermal cracking; and (c) means for separating the vented volatile components into condensable volatile components and non-condensable volatile components. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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Specification