Apparatus and systems for upgrading heavy oil using catalytic hydrocracking and thermal coking
First Claim
1. A hydroprocessing system for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock to form coke and upgraded hydrocarbon products, comprising:
- a heavy oil feedstock comprised of a substantial quantity of hydrocarbons having a boiling point greater than about 343°
C., asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors, and a colloidal or molecular catalyst dispersed throughout the feedstock;
a pre-coking hydrocracking reactor configured to heat or maintain the heavy oil feedstock at a hydrocracking temperature together with hydrogen and convert at least a portion of higher boiling hydrocarbons in the heavy oil feedstock in the presence of the colloidal or molecular catalyst to lower boiling hydrocarbons, reduce the quantity of asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors by at least 20%, and thereby form an upgraded material, the pre-coking hydrocracking reactor comprised of (i) an inlet port at a bottom of the reactor into which the heavy oil feedstock and hydrogen are introduced and (ii) an outlet port at a top of the reactor from which the upgraded material, colloidal or molecular catalyst, and hydrogen are withdrawn;
a first separator configured to separate gaseous and volatile fractions from a liquid hydrocarbon fraction in the upgraded material, the first separator being comprised of (i) an inlet through which the upgraded material is introduced, (ii) a first outlet through which the gaseous and volatile fractions are withdrawn, and (iii) a second outlet through which the liquid hydrocarbon fraction is withdrawn;
one or more coking reactors configured to receive and process the liquid hydrocarbon fraction; and
a second separator configured to receive and process upgraded products from the one or more coking reactors, the second separator having an inlet and an outlet, wherein the inlet of the second separator is in fluid communication with an outlet of the one or more coking reactors and the outlet of the second separator is in fluid communication with an inlet of the one or more coking reactors.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for hydroprocessing heavy oil feedstocks to form an upgraded material involve the use of a colloidal or molecular catalyst dispersed within a heavy oil feedstock, a pre-coking hydrocracking reactor, a separator, and a 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 in combination with the colloidal or molecular catalyst, as compared to a conventional hydrocracking process or a conventional thermal coking process.
261 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A hydroprocessing system for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock to form coke and upgraded hydrocarbon products, comprising:
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a heavy oil feedstock comprised of a substantial quantity of hydrocarbons having a boiling point greater than about 343°
C., asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors, and a colloidal or molecular catalyst dispersed throughout the feedstock;a pre-coking hydrocracking reactor configured to heat or maintain the heavy oil feedstock at a hydrocracking temperature together with hydrogen and convert at least a portion of higher boiling hydrocarbons in the heavy oil feedstock in the presence of the colloidal or molecular catalyst to lower boiling hydrocarbons, reduce the quantity of asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors by at least 20%, and thereby form an upgraded material, the pre-coking hydrocracking reactor comprised of (i) an inlet port at a bottom of the reactor into which the heavy oil feedstock and hydrogen are introduced and (ii) an outlet port at a top of the reactor from which the upgraded material, colloidal or molecular catalyst, and hydrogen are withdrawn; a first separator configured to separate gaseous and volatile fractions from a liquid hydrocarbon fraction in the upgraded material, the first separator being comprised of (i) an inlet through which the upgraded material is introduced, (ii) a first outlet through which the gaseous and volatile fractions are withdrawn, and (iii) a second outlet through which the liquid hydrocarbon fraction is withdrawn; one or more coking reactors configured to receive and process the liquid hydrocarbon fraction; and a second separator configured to receive and process upgraded products from the one or more coking reactors, the second separator having an inlet and an outlet, wherein the inlet of the second separator is in fluid communication with an outlet of the one or more coking reactors and the outlet of the second separator is in fluid communication with an inlet of the one or more coking reactors. - 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. A hydroprocessing system for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock to form coke and upgraded hydrocarbon products, comprising:
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a heavy oil feedstock comprised of a substantial quantity of hydrocarbons having a boiling point greater than about 343°
C., asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors, and a colloidal or molecular catalyst dispersed throughout the feedstock;a pre-coking slurry-phase hydrocracking reactor configured to heat or maintain the heavy oil feedstock at a hydrocracking temperature together with hydrogen and convert at least a portion of higher boiling hydrocarbons in the heavy oil feedstock in the presence of the colloidal or molecular catalyst to lower boiling hydrocarbons, reduce the quantity of asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors by at least 20%, and thereby form an upgraded material, the pre-coking hydrocracking reactor comprised of (i) an inlet port at a bottom of the reactor into which the heavy oil feedstock and hydrogen are introduced and (ii) an outlet port at a top of the reactor from which the upgraded material, colloidal or molecular catalyst, and hydrogen are withdrawn; a separator configured to separate gaseous and volatile fractions from a liquid hydrocarbon fraction in the upgraded material, the separator being comprised of (i) an inlet through which the upgraded material is introduced into the separator, (ii) a first outlet through which the gaseous and volatile fractions are withdrawn, and (iii) a second outlet through which the liquid hydrocarbon fraction is withdrawn; one or more coking reactors configured to receive and process at least a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon fraction and form upgraded products and coke; and a coking fractionator configured to fractionate the liquid hydrocarbon fraction received from the separator and the upgraded products received from the one or more coking reactors, the coking fractionator being comprised of (i) a first inlet through which the liquid hydrocarbon fraction is received from the separator, (ii) a first outlet through which at least a portion of a fractionated liquid hydrocarbon is withdrawn to the one or more coking reactors, (iii) a second inlet through which the upgraded products from the one or more coking reactors are received, and (iv) a second outlet through which fractioned products from the liquid hydrocarbon fraction and/or the one or more coking reactors are withdrawn.
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35. A hydroprocessing system for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock to form coke and upgraded hydrocarbon products, comprising:
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a heavy oil feedstock comprised of a substantial quantity of hydrocarbons having a boiling point greater than about 343°
C., asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors, and a colloidal or molecular catalyst dispersed throughout the feedstock;a pre-coking ebullated-bed hydrocracking reactor comprising a solid supported ebullated bed catalyst and the colloidal or molecular catalyst and that is configured to heat or maintain the heavy oil feedstock at a hydrocracking temperature together with hydrogen and convert at least a portion of higher boiling hydrocarbons in the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, reduce the quantity of asphaltenes or other coke forming precursors by at least 20%, and thereby form an upgraded material, the pre-coking hydrocracking reactor comprised of (i) an inlet port at a bottom of the reactor into which the heavy oil feedstock and hydrogen are introduced and (ii) an outlet port at a top of the reactor from which the upgraded material, colloidal or molecular catalyst, and hydrogen are withdrawn; a hot separator configured to separate gaseous and volatile fractions from a liquid hydrocarbon fraction in the upgraded material; a distillation tower configured to receive the liquid hydrocarbon fraction from the hot separator and separate distillates from a residual material; a coking fractionator configured to receive the residual material from the distillation tower and upgraded products from one or more coking reactors and fractionate them into fractionated products and a fractioned liquid hydrocarbon, the coking fractionator being comprised of (i) a first inlet through which the residual material is received from the distillation tower, (ii) a first outlet through which the fractionated products are withdrawn, and (iii) a second inlet through which upgraded products from the one or more coking reactors are received; and
(iv) a second outlet through which the fractionated liquid hydrocarbon is withdrawn; andthe one or more coking reactors configured to receive and process the fractionated liquid hydrocarbon from the coking fractionator and form the upgraded products and coke, the one or more coking reactors including an inlet in fluid communication with the second outlet of the coking fractionator and an outlet in fluid communication with the second inlet of the coking fractionator.
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Specification