Methods and systems for upgrading heavy oil using catalytic hydrocracking and thermal coking
First Claim
1. A method for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock to increase production of upgraded liquid hydrocarbon products and reduce coke formation, the method comprising:
- preparing a heavy oil feedstock comprised of a substantial quantity of hydrocarbons having a boiling point greater than about 343°
C. (650°
F.), including asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors, and a colloidal or molecular catalyst formed in situ within and dispersed throughout the heavy oil feedstock;
introducing the heavy oil feedstock and hydrogen into a pre-coking hydrocracking reactor;
hydrocracking the heavy oil feedstock at hydrocracking conditions to cause fragmentation of larger hydrocarbon molecules into smaller molecular fragments having a fewer number of carbon atoms and form hydrocarbon free radicals from the heavy oil feedstock, the colloidal or molecular catalyst catalyzing upgrading reactions between hydrogen and the hydrocarbon free radicals to yield an upgraded material, the upgrading reactions reducing the quantity of asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors by at least 20%, increasing the hydrogen to carbon ratio in the upgraded material, and decreasing the boiling points of hydrocarbons in the upgraded material compared to the heavy oil feedstock;
transferring the upgraded material, together with residual colloidal or molecular catalyst and hydrogen, to a separator to separate gaseous and volatile fractions from a liquid hydrocarbon fraction, the liquid hydrocarbon fraction comprising residual catalyst metal;
introducing at least a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon fraction and residual catalyst metal into one or more coking reactors and causing thermal-cracking of the liquid hydrocarbon fraction to form upgraded hydrocarbon products and coke;
separating the coke from the upgraded hydrocarbon products; and
further processing the upgraded hydrocarbon products to form further processed hydrocarbons and without recycling any further processed hydrocarbons to the hydrocracking reactor.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for hydroprocessing heavy oil feedstocks to form upgraded material use a colloidal or molecular catalyst dispersed within heavy oil feedstock, pre-coking hydrocracking reactor, separator, and coking reactor. The colloidal or molecular catalyst promotes upgrading reactions that reduce the quantity of asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors in the feedstock, increase hydrogen to carbon ratio in the upgraded material, and decrease boiling points of hydrocarbons in the upgraded material. The methods and systems can be used to upgrade vacuum tower bottoms and other low grade heavy oil feedstocks. The result is one or more of increased conversion level and yield, improved quality of upgraded hydrocarbons, reduced coke formation, reduced equipment fouling, processing of a wider range of lower quality feedstocks, and more efficient use of supported catalyst if used with the colloidal or molecular catalyst, as compared to a conventional hydrocracking process or a conventional thermal coking process.
252 Citations
36 Claims
-
1. A method for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock to increase production of upgraded liquid hydrocarbon products and reduce coke formation, the method comprising:
-
preparing a heavy oil feedstock comprised of a substantial quantity of hydrocarbons having a boiling point greater than about 343°
C. (650°
F.), including asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors, and a colloidal or molecular catalyst formed in situ within and dispersed throughout the heavy oil feedstock;introducing the heavy oil feedstock and hydrogen into a pre-coking hydrocracking reactor; hydrocracking the heavy oil feedstock at hydrocracking conditions to cause fragmentation of larger hydrocarbon molecules into smaller molecular fragments having a fewer number of carbon atoms and form hydrocarbon free radicals from the heavy oil feedstock, the colloidal or molecular catalyst catalyzing upgrading reactions between hydrogen and the hydrocarbon free radicals to yield an upgraded material, the upgrading reactions reducing the quantity of asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors by at least 20%, increasing the hydrogen to carbon ratio in the upgraded material, and decreasing the boiling points of hydrocarbons in the upgraded material compared to the heavy oil feedstock; transferring the upgraded material, together with residual colloidal or molecular catalyst and hydrogen, to a separator to separate gaseous and volatile fractions from a liquid hydrocarbon fraction, the liquid hydrocarbon fraction comprising residual catalyst metal; introducing at least a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon fraction and residual catalyst metal into one or more coking reactors and causing thermal-cracking of the liquid hydrocarbon fraction to form upgraded hydrocarbon products and coke; separating the coke from the upgraded hydrocarbon products; and further processing the upgraded hydrocarbon products to form further processed hydrocarbons and without recycling any further processed hydrocarbons to the hydrocracking reactor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35)
-
- 7. The method as in 1, wherein the pre-coking hydrocracking reactor is a slurry phase reactor including (i) an inlet port at a bottom of the slurry phase reactor into which the heavy oil feedstock and hydrogen are introduced and (ii) an outlet port at a top of the slurry phase reactor from which the upgraded material, colloidal or molecular catalyst, and hydrogen are withdrawn.
-
30. A method for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock to increase production of upgraded liquid hydrocarbon products and reduce coke formation, the method comprising:
-
preparing a heavy oil feedstock comprised of a substantial quantity of hydrocarbons having a boiling point greater than about 343°
C. (650°
F.) and including asphaltenes, and a colloidal or molecular catalyst formed in situ within and dispersed throughout the heavy oil feedstock, wherein the heavy oil feedstock is selected from the group consisting of heavy crude oil, oil sand bitumen, atmospheric tower bottoms, vacuum tower bottoms, resid, visbreaker bottoms, coal tar, heavy oil from oil shale, and liquefied coal, with the proviso that the heavy oil feedstock does not comprise coker gas oil;introducing the heavy oil feedstock and hydrogen into a pre-coking hydrocracking reactor; hydrocracking the heavy oil feedstock at hydrocracking conditions to cause fragmentation of at least some of the asphaltenes and to form hydrocarbon free radicals from the heavy oil feedstock, the colloidal or molecular catalyst catalyzing upgrading reactions between hydrogen and the hydrocarbon free radicals to yield an upgraded material, the upgrading reactions reducing the quantity of asphaltenes by at least 20%, increasing the hydrogen to carbon ratio in the upgraded material, and decreasing the boiling points of hydrocarbons in the upgraded material compared to the heavy oil feedstock; transferring the upgraded material, together with residual colloidal or molecular catalyst and hydrogen, to a separator to separate gaseous and volatile fractions from a liquid hydrocarbon fraction, the liquid hydrocarbon fraction comprising residual catalyst metal; introducing at least a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon fraction and residual catalyst metal into one or more coking reactors and causing thermal-cracking of the liquid hydrocarbon fraction to form upgraded hydrocarbon products and coke; separating the coke from the upgraded hydrocarbon products, the upgraded hydrocarbon products including coker gas oil; and further processing an entirety of the upgraded hydrocarbon products, including the coker gas oil, downstream from the pre-coking hydrocracking reactor to form one or more further processed hydrocarbons. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 36)
-
Specification