Synthesis of acidic silica to upgrade heavy feeds

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9453168-B2
Application number	US-201414558156-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2014
Priority date	Jun 11, 2009
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

A method and a product made by treating a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon heavy feed, e.g., heavy crude asphaltene reduction is disposed herein. The method comprises the steps of: mixing the sulfur-containing hydrocarbon heavy feed with a hydrogen donor solvent and an addled silica to form a mixture and oxidizing the sulfur in the mixture at a temperature between 50° C. and 210° C. wherein the oxidation lowers the amount sulfur in the sulfur-containing hydrocarbon heavy feed by at least 90%.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of extracting sulfur from an oxidized hydrocarbon feed, said method comprising the steps of:
mixing a solution comprising a sulfur containing oxidized hydrocarbon feed, an acidified silica, a hydrogen donor solvent, any unreacted materials and reaction by-products with one or more polar organic solvents;
allowing the sulfur containing oxidized hydrocarbon feed to migrate to the polar organic solvent phase; and
removing the one or more polar organic solvents by evaporation to recover the sulfur.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the oxidized hydrocarbon feed comprises asphaltenes, tar sands, bitumens, heavy petroleum or mixtures thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrogen donor solvent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, natural petroleum, bases, alcohols, decahydronaphthalene, and tetrahydronaphthalene.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein acidified silica has a pH range from 0 to 2.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidified silica comprises an amorphous silica or a silica gel.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polar organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of ethanol, methanol, n-propanol, isopropanol, n-butanol, formic acid, acetic acid, 1,4-dioxane, THF, dichloromethane, acetone, acetonitrile, DMF, DMSO, and any combinations thereof.

7. A sulfur extracted from a hydrocarbon feed by the method of claim 1 .

8. A treated crude oil with reduced asphaltene content made by the method of claim 1 .

9. A method for mid-distillate upgradatlon and sulfur removal in a fuel, said method comprising the steps of:
mixing the fuel with a hydrogen donor solvent and an acidified silica to form a mixture; and
oxidizing the sulfur in the mixture in air or a mixture of air and O 2 at a temperature between 50° C. and 210° C.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the fuel comprises diesel, heavy petroleum, asphaltene, tar sands, bitumens, or mixtures thereof.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the hydrogen donor solvent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, natural petroleum, bases, alcohols, decahydronaphthalene, and tetrahydronaphthalene.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein acidified silica has a pH range from 0 to 2.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the acidified silica comprises an amorphous silica or a silica gel.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the temperature for oxidizing the mixture is 120° C. to 160° C.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising the step of adding a reduced noble metal catalyst or a mixture of a noble metal and one or more acidic catalysts, wherein the acidic catalysts comprise zeolites, silica, alumina or combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising adding reduced gold, platinum, silver, and palladium metal nanoparticles or mixtures thereof.

17. The method of claim 9 , wherein the silica comprises reduced gold, platinum, silver, and palladium particles or mixtures thereof.

18. The method of claim 9 , wherein the solvents comprise at least one of decalin, tetralin, toluene, heptane, and dodecane.

19. The method of claim 9 , wherein the method lowers the amount sulfur in the fuel by at least 90%.

20. The method of claim 9 , wherein the fuel has less than 1,000, 500, 250, 200, 100, 50 or 10 ppm sulfur after treatment.

21. A fuel made by the method of claim 9 .

Assignees

• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Castillo Karina
• Parsons Jason
• Chianelli Russell R

Classifications

• C07D333/76

  Dibenzothiophenes · CPC title

• C10G45/28

  Organic compounds; Autofining · CPC title

• C10L2290/24

  Mixing, stirring of fuel components · CPC title

• C10G45/30

  characterised by the catalyst used · CPC title

• C10G1/002

  in combination with oil conversion- or refining processes · CPC title