Process for heavy oil and bitumen upgrading
First Claim
1. A process for upgrading heavy oil or bitumen to formulate synthetic hydrocarbons, comprising:
- (a) providing a source of heavy oil or bitumen feedstock;
(b) treating said feedstock to form one or more distilled fractions and a non-distilled bottom fraction;
(c) feeding said bottom fraction to a syngas generating circuit to generate a hydrogen lean syngas stream via a non-catalytic partial oxidation reaction, wherein said hydrogen lean syngas stream has a hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio of less than one part hydrogen to one part carbon monoxide;
(d) adding an external source of hydrogen to said hydrogen lean syngas to generate a hydrogen rich syngas stream optimum for Fischer-Tropsch reaction; and
(e) reacting said hydrogen rich syngas stream in a Fischer-Tropsch reactor to formulate said synthetic hydrocarbons, at least one of which is synthetic crude oil.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A bitumen and heavy oil upgrading process and system is disclosed for the synthesis of hydrocarbons, an example of which is synthetic crude oil (SCO). The process advantageously avoids the waste attributed to residuum and/or petcoke formation which has a dramatic effect on the yield of hydrocarbon material generated. The process integrates Fischer-Tropsch technology with gasification and hydrogen rich gas stream generation. The hydrogen rich gas generation is conveniently effected using singly or in combination a hydrogen source, a hydrogen rich vapor from hydroprocessing and the Fischer-Tropsch process, a steam methane reformer (SMR) and autothermal reformer (ATR) or a combination of SMR/ATR. The feedstock for upgrading is distilled and the bottoms fraction is gasified and converted in a Fischer-Tropsch reactor. A resultant hydrogen lean syngas is then exposed to the hydrogen rich gas stream to optimize the formation of, for example, the synthetic crude oil. The hydrogen lean gas stream may also be effected by a water gas shift reaction, singly or in combination or in addition with the hydrogen rich gas stream generation. A system for effecting the process is also characterized in the specification.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A process for upgrading heavy oil or bitumen to formulate synthetic hydrocarbons, comprising:
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(a) providing a source of heavy oil or bitumen feedstock; (b) treating said feedstock to form one or more distilled fractions and a non-distilled bottom fraction; (c) feeding said bottom fraction to a syngas generating circuit to generate a hydrogen lean syngas stream via a non-catalytic partial oxidation reaction, wherein said hydrogen lean syngas stream has a hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio of less than one part hydrogen to one part carbon monoxide; (d) adding an external source of hydrogen to said hydrogen lean syngas to generate a hydrogen rich syngas stream optimum for Fischer-Tropsch reaction; and (e) reacting said hydrogen rich syngas stream in a Fischer-Tropsch reactor to formulate said synthetic hydrocarbons, at least one of which is synthetic crude 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, 32, 34)
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24. A process for upgrading bitumen to formulate hydrocarbon products, comprising:
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(a) providing a source of processed bitumen or heavy oil feedstock in the form of a non-distilled bottoms fraction; (b) forming said hydrocarbon products via Fischer-Tropsch reaction of hydrogen lean syngas generated from non-catalytic partial oxidation reaction of said non-distilled bottoms fraction, wherein said hydrogen lean syngas stream has a hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio of less than one part hydrogen to one part carbon monoxide; and (c) adding an external source of hydrogen to said hydrogen lean syngas to create an optimum syngas composition for the synthesis of said hydrocarbon products at least one of which is synthetic crude oil. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35)
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Specification