Vis-breaking heavy crude oils for pumpability
First Claim
1. A method of reducing the viscosity of untreated crude oil, comprising the steps of:
- (a) vis-breaking in a reactor a first portion of the untreated crude oil with a recycled stream to produce a partially cracked residuum of the untreated oil;
(b) mixing the partially cracked residuum of the untreated oil with a second portion of the untreated oil to quench cracking and producing a first mixture;
(c) separating gas, vapor, and liquid by flashing from said mixture;
(d) condensing the gas and vapor obtained in step (c) to produce liquid hydrocarbons and gas;
(e) splitting the liquid obtained in step (c) into first and second streams thereof;
(f) passing said first stream obtained in step (e) for use as said recycled stream in step (a);
(g) reacting coke produced in step (a) with superheated steam to produce a hydrogen-containing gas during regeneration cycle to the reactor; and
(h) mixing said hydrogen-containing gas with said first stream obtained in step (e) prior to vis-breaking in step (a).
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Crude oils are normally so viscous that they cannot be pumped through pipelines without periodic heating. The usual practice is to pump the oil from one heat station to another, with part of the crude oil being used to generate heat. This problem is solved by reducing the viscosity of the crude oil. The viscosity reduction is effected using reactors for partially cracking crude oil, mixing the partially cracked oil with incoming crude oil, separating gases from the liquid in the mixture in a flash vessel, condensing the gases to yield liquid hydrocarbons, and mixing the latter with untreated crude oil and liquid residue from the flash vessel to yield a flowable, relatively low viscosity mixture. Coke produced in the reactors is periodically reacted with superheated steam to yield hydrogen, which is used to improve the quality of some of the residue from the flash residue. The thus treated flash vessel residue is used to feed the reactors.
-
Citations
6 Claims
-
1. A method of reducing the viscosity of untreated crude oil, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) vis-breaking in a reactor a first portion of the untreated crude oil with a recycled stream to produce a partially cracked residuum of the untreated oil; (b) mixing the partially cracked residuum of the untreated oil with a second portion of the untreated oil to quench cracking and producing a first mixture; (c) separating gas, vapor, and liquid by flashing from said mixture; (d) condensing the gas and vapor obtained in step (c) to produce liquid hydrocarbons and gas; (e) splitting the liquid obtained in step (c) into first and second streams thereof; (f) passing said first stream obtained in step (e) for use as said recycled stream in step (a); (g) reacting coke produced in step (a) with superheated steam to produce a hydrogen-containing gas during regeneration cycle to the reactor; and (h) mixing said hydrogen-containing gas with said first stream obtained in step (e) prior to vis-breaking in step (a). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
Specification