Additives for supercritical water process to upgrade heavy oil

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11479729-B2
Application number	US-202117211223-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2021
Priority date	Feb 26, 2018
Publication date	Oct 25, 2022
Grant date	Oct 25, 2022

Abstract

A method of upgrading a petroleum feedstock, the method comprising the steps of introducing a disulfide oil, a water feed, and a petroleum feedstock to a supercritical water upgrading unit, and operating the supercritical water upgrading unit to produce a product gas stream, a product oil stream, and a used water stream.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A system for upgrading a petroleum feedstock, the system comprising:
a disulfide oil unit, the disulfide oil unit is operable to produce a disulfide oil from a disulfide oil unit feed, where the disulfide oil comprises disulfides, wherein the disulfides comprise sulfur-containing compounds of the form Ci-SS-Cj, where C refers to carbon, where S refers to sulfur, where i is selected from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, where j is selected from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, wherein the disulfide oil comprises a total sulfur content of greater than 30% by weight;
a supercritical water upgrading unit, the supercritical water upgrading unit operable to produce a product gas stream, a product oil stream, and a used water stream from a mixed petroleum stream comprising the disulfide oil and a petroleum feedstock, wherein a supercritical water reactor of the supercritical water upgrading unit is operated at a temperature between 380 deg C. and 600 deg C. and a pressure in the range between 3203 psig and 5150 psig.

2. The system of claim 1 , where the supercritical water upgrading unit comprises:
a petroleum mixer, the petroleum mixer operable to mix the disulfide oil and a petroleum feedstock to produce a mixed petroleum stream;
a petroleum pump, the petroleum pump operable to increase a pressure of the mixed petroleum stream to produce a pressurized petroleum stream;
a petroleum heater, the petroleum heater operable to increase a temperature of the pressurized petroleum stream to produce a hot petroleum stream;
a mixer, the mixer operable to mix the hot petroleum stream and a supercritical water stream to produce a mixed feed;
a supercritical water reactor, the supercritical water reactor operable to produce a modified stream, where conversion reactions occur in the supercritical water reactor;
a cooling device, the cooling device operable to reduce a temperature of the modified stream to produce a cooled stream;
a depressurizing device, the depressurizing device operable to reduce the pressure of the cooled stream to produce a discharged stream;
a gas-liquid separator, the gas-liquid separator operable to separate the discharged stream to produce the product gas stream and a liquid phase stream; and
an oil-water separator, the oil-water separator operable to separate the liquid phase stream to produce the product oil stream and the used water stream.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a fractionator, the fractionator operable to separate the product oil stream into a light fraction and a heavy fraction, where the light fraction is introduced to the disulfide oil unit as the disulfide oil unit feed.

4. The system of claim 1 , where the disulfide oil unit is a caustic extraction process.

5. The system of claim 1 , where the disulfide oil unit feed is selected from the group consisting of natural gas, LPG, naphtha, and kerosene.

6. The system of claim 1 , where the disulfide oil comprises greater than 50% by weight disulfides.

7. The system of claim 2 , where the petroleum feedstock is selected from the group consisting of an atmospheric residue, a vacuum residue, a vacuum gas oil, and a deasphalted oil.

8. The system of claim 2 , where the product oil stream comprises an increased amount of upgraded hydrocarbons relative to the petroleum feedstock.

9. The system of claim 2 , where a total sulfur content of the mixed petroleum stream is in the range from between 0.05% by weight to 3% by weight greater than the total sulfur content in the petroleum feedstock.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Choi Ki-Hyouk
• Shafei Emad N
• Albahar Mohammed Zuhair
• Ghabbani Abdulaziz A

Classifications

• C10G9/36

  with heated gases or vapours · CPC title

• C10G21/003

  Solvent de-asphalting · CPC title

• C10G2300/805

  Water · CPC title

• C10G67/06

  including a sorption process as the refining step in the absence of hydrogen · CPC title

• C10G21/22 Primary

  Compounds containing sulfur, selenium, or tellurium · CPC title