CA1184523A - Upgrading method of heavy petroleum oil - Google Patents
Upgrading method of heavy petroleum oilInfo
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- CA1184523A CA1184523A CA000400939A CA400939A CA1184523A CA 1184523 A CA1184523 A CA 1184523A CA 000400939 A CA000400939 A CA 000400939A CA 400939 A CA400939 A CA 400939A CA 1184523 A CA1184523 A CA 1184523A
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- solvent
- upgrading method
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Abstract
SPECIFICATION
Title of the Invention:
UPGRADING METHOD OF HEAVY PETROLEUM OIL
Abstract of the Disclosure:
Disclosed herein is an improved upgrading method of heavy petroleum oil, which method combines thermal cracking and extraction steps systematically to obtain light oil, gas and residue. According to the above method, the byproduct, residue, is drawn out in a liquid form and extracted with a part of the thus-produced light oil or a fresh supply of heavy petroleum oil, which light oil or petroleum oil serves as a solvent, so as to extract soluble components in the residue and to obtain the extraction residue as solid particles. Since mild thermal cracking conditions are employed in the above method, it is possible to avoid unnecessary gasification of oil and concurrence of dehydrogenation. It has thus become feasible to obtain intermediate fractions of good quality with high yields and to achieve effective utilization of tar components, which have been deemed as residue, while saving energy.
Title of the Invention:
UPGRADING METHOD OF HEAVY PETROLEUM OIL
Abstract of the Disclosure:
Disclosed herein is an improved upgrading method of heavy petroleum oil, which method combines thermal cracking and extraction steps systematically to obtain light oil, gas and residue. According to the above method, the byproduct, residue, is drawn out in a liquid form and extracted with a part of the thus-produced light oil or a fresh supply of heavy petroleum oil, which light oil or petroleum oil serves as a solvent, so as to extract soluble components in the residue and to obtain the extraction residue as solid particles. Since mild thermal cracking conditions are employed in the above method, it is possible to avoid unnecessary gasification of oil and concurrence of dehydrogenation. It has thus become feasible to obtain intermediate fractions of good quality with high yields and to achieve effective utilization of tar components, which have been deemed as residue, while saving energy.
Description
Background of the Invention:
1) Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to an improved continuous upgrading method of heavy oil. Mor.e particularly, it relates to an improved upyrading method of heavy petro-leum oil to obtain light oil and gas, in which method the byproduct residue is drawn out in a liquid form and subjected to an extraction treatment with a part of the thus-produced light oil or a fresh supply of t.~e feed heavy oil so as to extract soluble components in the residue, thereby efectively using the residue.
1) Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to an improved continuous upgrading method of heavy oil. Mor.e particularly, it relates to an improved upyrading method of heavy petro-leum oil to obtain light oil and gas, in which method the byproduct residue is drawn out in a liquid form and subjected to an extraction treatment with a part of the thus-produced light oil or a fresh supply of t.~e feed heavy oil so as to extract soluble components in the residue, thereby efectively using the residue.
2) Descr.iption of the Prior Art:
In thermal cracking of heavy oil, cracking reactions and polycondensation reactions proceed concurrently and ~ventually produce cracked gas, cracked volatlle oil fractions and non-volatile thermal c.racking residue~ The cracking residue, which normally contains sulfur and heavy metals in h.igh concentration.s, is extremely limited in its application field and is, as well known,valued lower compared with the volatile oil fractions. Accordingly, the so-called coking method has been adopted to carry out thermal craking under severe conditions in order to make the yields of volatile oil fractions as high as possible.
Due to severe cracking conditions, the above coking method is accompanied by such drawbacks that its .. . . .
.
o~;~3
In thermal cracking of heavy oil, cracking reactions and polycondensation reactions proceed concurrently and ~ventually produce cracked gas, cracked volatlle oil fractions and non-volatile thermal c.racking residue~ The cracking residue, which normally contains sulfur and heavy metals in h.igh concentration.s, is extremely limited in its application field and is, as well known,valued lower compared with the volatile oil fractions. Accordingly, the so-called coking method has been adopted to carry out thermal craking under severe conditions in order to make the yields of volatile oil fractions as high as possible.
Due to severe cracking conditions, the above coking method is accompanied by such drawbacks that its .. . . .
.
o~;~3
3 --energy consumption is high and it induces the development of gas and notably a dehydrogenation reaction, whereby causing the yield of gas to increase as more volatile oll fractions occur and at the same time making the volatile oil fraction less stable. The instabilization of the volatile oil fractions is caused by an increase of double bonds due to the dehydrogenation reactionO To stabilize such volatile oil fractions, it is necessary to subject them to a hydrogenation treatment using expensive hydrogen.
~'hus, the coking method ls relatively uneconomical.
It is not always wise, depending on the suppl.y/demand balance of petroleum products, to make oil lighter by consuming lots of energy. .Mild thermal cracking conditions are certainly effective to suppress the conversion of cracked oil ractions into lighter oil fractions beyond the necessity and the progress of dehydrogenation reaction, whic~ conver-si~n an~ dehydrogenation take place in the course of thermal cracking. However, another problem arises here. Namely, heavy oil tends to remain in a,relativeYy high concentration in the thermal cracking residue and the yields of volatile oil fractions become lower.
Summary of the Invention:
An object of this invention is to provide an upgradi.ng method of heavy oil, which method is capable of i.ncreasing the yields of volatile oil fractions while impeding the conversion of cracked oil fractions i.nto lighter oil fractions beyond the necessity and the progress of dehydrogenation reaction due to the ~hermal cracking reaction as well as effectively utilizing tar components which have heretofore been valued only as residue.
The characteristic features of the upgrading method of heavy oil according to this invention resides in that, while the heavy oil is subjected to continuous thermal cracking to distill the resultant gas and volatile oil fractions and to draw out the resulting thermal cracking residue in a liquid form, the thermal cracking residue is brought into contact with a part of the volatile oil frac--tions or a fresh supply of heavy oil, which oil fracti.ons or oil serves as a solvent, to extract and recover solvent-soluble components present in the thermal cracking re.sidue;
and, at the same time, the extraction residue is separated a~ solid particles from the solvent.
Brief Description of the Drawing:
___ _ The accompanying sole drawing is a flow sheet illustrating one embodiment of the upgrading method of heavy petroleum oil according to this invention.
i Detailed Description of the Invention:
As a result of an intensive research carried out by thepresent inventors~ it was found that heavy volatile oil components account for a substantial part of the oil components remaining in thermal cracking residue but they , ~.,, , - 5 ~
cannot be separated and recovered by any conventional distillation treatment due to a high degree of affinity present between such heavy volatile oil components and the other non-volative components in the residue. An extensi~e research was conducted on the basis of the above flnding to find out other economical separation methods, leading to the present invention. More specifically, it was found by the present inventors that heavy volative oil components remaining in thermal cracking residue can be separated through their extraction; light solvents such as propane, butane and the like, which have conventionally been employed as solvents for extraction, are unsuitable because they are not only expensive but also insufficient in affinity with the target heavy oil components; volatile o:il fractiorls, which are produced by thermal cracking, can inxtead be used as a solvent still in a mixed form; and, where such volatile oil fractions are used, no separate opera-tion will be required to isolate solutes from the solvent by systematically combining the heating furnace and fractionating column of a therrnal cracking plant.
Furthermore, the present inventors also found that an extremely fast extraction is feasible when each thermal cracking operation is so controlled as to obtain the thermal cracking residue in the form of thermoplastic pitch and the extraction is effected at temperatures above the softening point of the pitch.
5:~
It was also revealed by the present inventors, as moxe important finding, that use of such an extraction method permits to extract not only volatile oil components present in thermal cracking residue but also tar components which per se are non-volatile but are readily dissolved in other volatile oil components and does not contain sulfur and heavy metals in large amounts; and such tar components may be used as a raw material for ~hydro-cracking) or catalytic cracking when they are fed in a form mixed with other cracked oil fractions.
The oil components thus extracted from the thermal cracking residue may be recycled together with the feed heavy^
oil to the thermal cracking step and subjected together with a fresh supply of the feed heavy oil to thermal cracking without s~parating them from the solvent. Alterna-tively, apart from treating the thus-extracted oil components as meti~ned above, they may be subjected to a hydro/de-sulfurization stabilizing treament or used as a raw material for fluidized catalytic cracking without need for separating them from the extracting solvent or even as fuel oil as they are where straight-run atmospheric distillation residue or reduced-pressure distillation residue is used as their solvent.
~ eavy petroleum oil usable in the present invention includes crude oil, atmospheric distillation residue and reduced-pressure distillation residue.
Feed heavy oil is continuously and rapidly heated in a tubular heating furnace, preferably, to an outlet temperature of 450-550C. It is then subjected to a thermal cracking reaction in a subsequent reaction tank under the following conditions: temperature: 350~500C; pressure: 1-20 ata; and residence time: 1-10 hours. Here, it is necessary to control the extent of thermal cracking in such a way that the resultant thermal cracking residue is not turned to solid coke but still remains in a pitch-like state and can be handled as fluid. On the other hand, the separation of solid components through extraction becomes difficult to carry out where the thermal cracking does not proceed to a su~ficient extent. Thus, it is desirous that quinoline-insoluble components amount in total to at least 5~ but not more than 50% of the pitch. Steam may be blown under atmospheric pressure into the thermal cracking reaction tank so a~ to subject volatile oil components in pitch to stripping.
Generally spea]cin~, pitch contains hexane-insoluble (or pentane-insoluble) components, benzene-insoluble components and quinoline-insoluble(or pyridine-insoluble) components as found by the solvent fractionation method prescribed in the Japan Industrial Standards or the like. Where the solute is used as an intermediate raw material for further thermal cracking or purification step, it is desirous to limit the extent of extraction to benzene-soluble components. If oil components heavier than the benzene-soluble components are also extracted, impurities such as heavy metals become too excessive and coke tends to occur readily. This is however 8 ~ 3 not the case when the solute is mixed with heavy oil or reduced-pressure distillation residue and used as fuel oil. Needless to say, where heavy oil is used as a solvent, it is not absolutely necessary that the heavy oil is the same as feed heavy oil. They may be different from each other.
The amount of the solvent may vary from one solvent to another. The solvent may generally be used in an amount of 1-10 parts by weight p~r part by weight of thermal cracking residue. The extraction temperature is preferably ~rom normal temperature to 350C.
The higher extraction temperature, the higher ,boiling'~ point of the-solvent and the higher the aromatic n~ture of the solvent tend to cause the deeper ex~ent of the extraction, It is necessary to choose suitable extraction conditions and solvent depending on the extent of the extraction desired.
~he present inventors, however, found that the speed of extraction becomes leapingly faster by using an extraction temperature higher than the softening point of pitch, which softening point is determined by the ring and ball method.
There is no specific limitation to the extracting apparatus to be employed so long as it is commonly used.
However, it is necessary to use an extracting apparatus for solid substances because the extraction residue is obtained as solid particles.
Where an oil fraction having a bolling point equivalent to or higher than that of light oil is used as ~L~8~3 a solvent, the oil fraction tends to stick and remain on particles of the extraction residue. Accordingly, it is desirous to wash the particles of the extractlon residue wit1n a lighter volatile fraction such asnaphtha or kerosine either before or after separating them from the solvent.
An embodiment of this invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Feed heavy oil is continuously introduced through a line 1 into a tubular heating furnace 2, where it is rapidly heated to 450-550C. The-thus heated feed heavy oil is then fed through a line 3 to a reaction tank 4p where it is subjected to thermal cracking under the following conditions:
temperature: 350-500C; residence time: 1-10 hours; pressure-1-20 ata. Resultant gas and volatile cracked oil vapor are drawn out of the reaction tank 4 from an upper part thereof and therl delivered through a line 5 into a fractionating " column 6. Here, they are fractionated into gas, naphtha fraction, kerosine fraction and light oil fraction as well as bottom residue. ~he gas, naphtha fraction, kerosine fraction and light oil fraction are discharged respectively through lines 8, 9, 10 and 12. Numerals 7 and 11 indicate condensers. -Liquid thermal cracking residue byproduced inthe reactiontank 4 is charged in a liquid form through a line 13, pump 14 and line 15 into a top part of an e~tracting column 16. On the other hand, the bottom residue from the . .. _ . , ' !
- lC -fractionating column 6 is delivered via a line ~7, pump 18 and line 19 into the extracting column 16 at a location close to its bottom part and caused to counter-currently contact at temperatures of from normal temperature to 350C
with the thermal cracking residue falling down from the column top, thereby extracting out solvent-soluble components in the thermal cracking residue. The extracting oil is drawn out o~ the extracting column 16 at a top part thereof and mixed through a line 20 in the feed heavy oil in the line 1.
It is then recycled to the reaction tank 4. Since the coke component contained ln the pitch precipitates as extraction residue in the form of solid particles in the solvent within the extracting column 16, the coke component is washed with a volat.ile light oil, for example, by the kerosine fra.ction which is charged through a line 21, pump 22 and line 23 to the lowermost part of the extracting column 16. A slurry o coke particles is drawn out of the extracting column 16 at a bottom part thereof and through a line 23. It then passes through a solvent recovery/drier apparatus 24 and finally drawn out of the system as coke powder through a line 25.
,; . Incidentally; it is possible to use as the solvent the naphtha fractlon, kerosine fraction, light oil fraction from the fractionating column 6 or a mixture thereof, as mentioned above. Besides, it is also feasible to use, as the solvent, a single fraction or a mixture of S~3 two or more fractions ranging from naphtha to reduced-pressure distillation residue among ordinary petroleum fractions obtained outside the system.
The extracting oil from the extracting column 16 may alternatively be used as a raw material for a hydro /desulfurization, hydro-cracking or catalytic craking plant either as is or after mixed with other fractions from the fractionating column 1~. I'he extracting oil may also be used as fuel oil as is, when either atmospheric or reduced-pressure distillation oil is used as the solvent.
The method o~ this invention enables to increase ~he yields of intermediate fractions of good quality while saving energy and to make an effective use of tar components, which have heretofore been considered as residue, without wastiny energy under severe thermal cracking conditions to improve the yield of cracked oil and causing unnecessary conversion o~ cracked oil in-to lighter oil fractions and d~hydrogenation to occur concomitantly as in the conventional thermal cracking methods. Thus, the present invention permits extremely effective use of petroleum resourcesO
This invention is further illustrated in the following i example, in which all designations of % refer to % by weight.
Example:
Reduced-pressure distillation bottom residue of crude Middle East oil of 4% sulfur content, 7 API
gravity and 20% Condradson carbon residue was, after preheating, caused to pass at a flow rate of 100 kg/hr continuousl~
... . .
S~3 through a tubular ~eating furnace to raise the temperature to 490C and then charged into an atmospheric reaction tank having a volurne of 300 liters and equipped with a stirrer to undergo a thermal cracking reaction. Resultant gas and volatile oil fractions were continuously drawn out of the reaction tank at an upper part thereof, while pitch was continuously drawn out of the same reaction tank at a lower part thereof so as to maintain the liquid level within the reaction tank constant. Here, the temperature in the reactio tank was 420C andthe average residence time was 2 hours.
The yields of gas, volatile oil fractions and pitch were 5~, 60~ and 35%, respectively. The pitch contained benzene-insoluble components in a total amount of 50%~
Thereafter, into an extracting colmn having an internal volume of 20 liters and equipped with a stirrer, were supplied and mixed the pitch drawn out from the bottom part of the reaction tank and the 250-350C-fractions of the cracked oil from the fractionating column. I'he pitch was charged at a rate of 35 kg/hr and a temperature of 300C
while the 250-350C fractions was supplied at a rate of 20 kg/hr.lhe extracted residue was discharged in a slurry form from a lower part of the extracting column and, subsequent to cooling down to 100C, subjected to centrifugal separation in a super decanter. The resulting solid portion was washed with kerosine oil and then dried by driving off oil components wi.th steam. Here, the interior of the extracting tank was at 250C. The thus-obtained extraction residue was made up of . .
particles in a range of 20-100~m and its yield was 55% of the pitch.
On the other hand, the extracting oil, from which -the extraction residue had been separated off, was mixed in its entirety with the feed distillation bottom residue to be introduced into the reaction tank, thereby recycling the extracted oil to the thermal cracking system. Ten hours after the initiation of the recycling, the entire system reached a steady state, in which the yields of gas, volatile oil fractions and extraction residue were, respec-tively, 6~, 66% and 28% of the feed distillation bottom residue~
,
~'hus, the coking method ls relatively uneconomical.
It is not always wise, depending on the suppl.y/demand balance of petroleum products, to make oil lighter by consuming lots of energy. .Mild thermal cracking conditions are certainly effective to suppress the conversion of cracked oil ractions into lighter oil fractions beyond the necessity and the progress of dehydrogenation reaction, whic~ conver-si~n an~ dehydrogenation take place in the course of thermal cracking. However, another problem arises here. Namely, heavy oil tends to remain in a,relativeYy high concentration in the thermal cracking residue and the yields of volatile oil fractions become lower.
Summary of the Invention:
An object of this invention is to provide an upgradi.ng method of heavy oil, which method is capable of i.ncreasing the yields of volatile oil fractions while impeding the conversion of cracked oil fractions i.nto lighter oil fractions beyond the necessity and the progress of dehydrogenation reaction due to the ~hermal cracking reaction as well as effectively utilizing tar components which have heretofore been valued only as residue.
The characteristic features of the upgrading method of heavy oil according to this invention resides in that, while the heavy oil is subjected to continuous thermal cracking to distill the resultant gas and volatile oil fractions and to draw out the resulting thermal cracking residue in a liquid form, the thermal cracking residue is brought into contact with a part of the volatile oil frac--tions or a fresh supply of heavy oil, which oil fracti.ons or oil serves as a solvent, to extract and recover solvent-soluble components present in the thermal cracking re.sidue;
and, at the same time, the extraction residue is separated a~ solid particles from the solvent.
Brief Description of the Drawing:
___ _ The accompanying sole drawing is a flow sheet illustrating one embodiment of the upgrading method of heavy petroleum oil according to this invention.
i Detailed Description of the Invention:
As a result of an intensive research carried out by thepresent inventors~ it was found that heavy volatile oil components account for a substantial part of the oil components remaining in thermal cracking residue but they , ~.,, , - 5 ~
cannot be separated and recovered by any conventional distillation treatment due to a high degree of affinity present between such heavy volatile oil components and the other non-volative components in the residue. An extensi~e research was conducted on the basis of the above flnding to find out other economical separation methods, leading to the present invention. More specifically, it was found by the present inventors that heavy volative oil components remaining in thermal cracking residue can be separated through their extraction; light solvents such as propane, butane and the like, which have conventionally been employed as solvents for extraction, are unsuitable because they are not only expensive but also insufficient in affinity with the target heavy oil components; volatile o:il fractiorls, which are produced by thermal cracking, can inxtead be used as a solvent still in a mixed form; and, where such volatile oil fractions are used, no separate opera-tion will be required to isolate solutes from the solvent by systematically combining the heating furnace and fractionating column of a therrnal cracking plant.
Furthermore, the present inventors also found that an extremely fast extraction is feasible when each thermal cracking operation is so controlled as to obtain the thermal cracking residue in the form of thermoplastic pitch and the extraction is effected at temperatures above the softening point of the pitch.
5:~
It was also revealed by the present inventors, as moxe important finding, that use of such an extraction method permits to extract not only volatile oil components present in thermal cracking residue but also tar components which per se are non-volatile but are readily dissolved in other volatile oil components and does not contain sulfur and heavy metals in large amounts; and such tar components may be used as a raw material for ~hydro-cracking) or catalytic cracking when they are fed in a form mixed with other cracked oil fractions.
The oil components thus extracted from the thermal cracking residue may be recycled together with the feed heavy^
oil to the thermal cracking step and subjected together with a fresh supply of the feed heavy oil to thermal cracking without s~parating them from the solvent. Alterna-tively, apart from treating the thus-extracted oil components as meti~ned above, they may be subjected to a hydro/de-sulfurization stabilizing treament or used as a raw material for fluidized catalytic cracking without need for separating them from the extracting solvent or even as fuel oil as they are where straight-run atmospheric distillation residue or reduced-pressure distillation residue is used as their solvent.
~ eavy petroleum oil usable in the present invention includes crude oil, atmospheric distillation residue and reduced-pressure distillation residue.
Feed heavy oil is continuously and rapidly heated in a tubular heating furnace, preferably, to an outlet temperature of 450-550C. It is then subjected to a thermal cracking reaction in a subsequent reaction tank under the following conditions: temperature: 350~500C; pressure: 1-20 ata; and residence time: 1-10 hours. Here, it is necessary to control the extent of thermal cracking in such a way that the resultant thermal cracking residue is not turned to solid coke but still remains in a pitch-like state and can be handled as fluid. On the other hand, the separation of solid components through extraction becomes difficult to carry out where the thermal cracking does not proceed to a su~ficient extent. Thus, it is desirous that quinoline-insoluble components amount in total to at least 5~ but not more than 50% of the pitch. Steam may be blown under atmospheric pressure into the thermal cracking reaction tank so a~ to subject volatile oil components in pitch to stripping.
Generally spea]cin~, pitch contains hexane-insoluble (or pentane-insoluble) components, benzene-insoluble components and quinoline-insoluble(or pyridine-insoluble) components as found by the solvent fractionation method prescribed in the Japan Industrial Standards or the like. Where the solute is used as an intermediate raw material for further thermal cracking or purification step, it is desirous to limit the extent of extraction to benzene-soluble components. If oil components heavier than the benzene-soluble components are also extracted, impurities such as heavy metals become too excessive and coke tends to occur readily. This is however 8 ~ 3 not the case when the solute is mixed with heavy oil or reduced-pressure distillation residue and used as fuel oil. Needless to say, where heavy oil is used as a solvent, it is not absolutely necessary that the heavy oil is the same as feed heavy oil. They may be different from each other.
The amount of the solvent may vary from one solvent to another. The solvent may generally be used in an amount of 1-10 parts by weight p~r part by weight of thermal cracking residue. The extraction temperature is preferably ~rom normal temperature to 350C.
The higher extraction temperature, the higher ,boiling'~ point of the-solvent and the higher the aromatic n~ture of the solvent tend to cause the deeper ex~ent of the extraction, It is necessary to choose suitable extraction conditions and solvent depending on the extent of the extraction desired.
~he present inventors, however, found that the speed of extraction becomes leapingly faster by using an extraction temperature higher than the softening point of pitch, which softening point is determined by the ring and ball method.
There is no specific limitation to the extracting apparatus to be employed so long as it is commonly used.
However, it is necessary to use an extracting apparatus for solid substances because the extraction residue is obtained as solid particles.
Where an oil fraction having a bolling point equivalent to or higher than that of light oil is used as ~L~8~3 a solvent, the oil fraction tends to stick and remain on particles of the extraction residue. Accordingly, it is desirous to wash the particles of the extractlon residue wit1n a lighter volatile fraction such asnaphtha or kerosine either before or after separating them from the solvent.
An embodiment of this invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Feed heavy oil is continuously introduced through a line 1 into a tubular heating furnace 2, where it is rapidly heated to 450-550C. The-thus heated feed heavy oil is then fed through a line 3 to a reaction tank 4p where it is subjected to thermal cracking under the following conditions:
temperature: 350-500C; residence time: 1-10 hours; pressure-1-20 ata. Resultant gas and volatile cracked oil vapor are drawn out of the reaction tank 4 from an upper part thereof and therl delivered through a line 5 into a fractionating " column 6. Here, they are fractionated into gas, naphtha fraction, kerosine fraction and light oil fraction as well as bottom residue. ~he gas, naphtha fraction, kerosine fraction and light oil fraction are discharged respectively through lines 8, 9, 10 and 12. Numerals 7 and 11 indicate condensers. -Liquid thermal cracking residue byproduced inthe reactiontank 4 is charged in a liquid form through a line 13, pump 14 and line 15 into a top part of an e~tracting column 16. On the other hand, the bottom residue from the . .. _ . , ' !
- lC -fractionating column 6 is delivered via a line ~7, pump 18 and line 19 into the extracting column 16 at a location close to its bottom part and caused to counter-currently contact at temperatures of from normal temperature to 350C
with the thermal cracking residue falling down from the column top, thereby extracting out solvent-soluble components in the thermal cracking residue. The extracting oil is drawn out o~ the extracting column 16 at a top part thereof and mixed through a line 20 in the feed heavy oil in the line 1.
It is then recycled to the reaction tank 4. Since the coke component contained ln the pitch precipitates as extraction residue in the form of solid particles in the solvent within the extracting column 16, the coke component is washed with a volat.ile light oil, for example, by the kerosine fra.ction which is charged through a line 21, pump 22 and line 23 to the lowermost part of the extracting column 16. A slurry o coke particles is drawn out of the extracting column 16 at a bottom part thereof and through a line 23. It then passes through a solvent recovery/drier apparatus 24 and finally drawn out of the system as coke powder through a line 25.
,; . Incidentally; it is possible to use as the solvent the naphtha fractlon, kerosine fraction, light oil fraction from the fractionating column 6 or a mixture thereof, as mentioned above. Besides, it is also feasible to use, as the solvent, a single fraction or a mixture of S~3 two or more fractions ranging from naphtha to reduced-pressure distillation residue among ordinary petroleum fractions obtained outside the system.
The extracting oil from the extracting column 16 may alternatively be used as a raw material for a hydro /desulfurization, hydro-cracking or catalytic craking plant either as is or after mixed with other fractions from the fractionating column 1~. I'he extracting oil may also be used as fuel oil as is, when either atmospheric or reduced-pressure distillation oil is used as the solvent.
The method o~ this invention enables to increase ~he yields of intermediate fractions of good quality while saving energy and to make an effective use of tar components, which have heretofore been considered as residue, without wastiny energy under severe thermal cracking conditions to improve the yield of cracked oil and causing unnecessary conversion o~ cracked oil in-to lighter oil fractions and d~hydrogenation to occur concomitantly as in the conventional thermal cracking methods. Thus, the present invention permits extremely effective use of petroleum resourcesO
This invention is further illustrated in the following i example, in which all designations of % refer to % by weight.
Example:
Reduced-pressure distillation bottom residue of crude Middle East oil of 4% sulfur content, 7 API
gravity and 20% Condradson carbon residue was, after preheating, caused to pass at a flow rate of 100 kg/hr continuousl~
... . .
S~3 through a tubular ~eating furnace to raise the temperature to 490C and then charged into an atmospheric reaction tank having a volurne of 300 liters and equipped with a stirrer to undergo a thermal cracking reaction. Resultant gas and volatile oil fractions were continuously drawn out of the reaction tank at an upper part thereof, while pitch was continuously drawn out of the same reaction tank at a lower part thereof so as to maintain the liquid level within the reaction tank constant. Here, the temperature in the reactio tank was 420C andthe average residence time was 2 hours.
The yields of gas, volatile oil fractions and pitch were 5~, 60~ and 35%, respectively. The pitch contained benzene-insoluble components in a total amount of 50%~
Thereafter, into an extracting colmn having an internal volume of 20 liters and equipped with a stirrer, were supplied and mixed the pitch drawn out from the bottom part of the reaction tank and the 250-350C-fractions of the cracked oil from the fractionating column. I'he pitch was charged at a rate of 35 kg/hr and a temperature of 300C
while the 250-350C fractions was supplied at a rate of 20 kg/hr.lhe extracted residue was discharged in a slurry form from a lower part of the extracting column and, subsequent to cooling down to 100C, subjected to centrifugal separation in a super decanter. The resulting solid portion was washed with kerosine oil and then dried by driving off oil components wi.th steam. Here, the interior of the extracting tank was at 250C. The thus-obtained extraction residue was made up of . .
particles in a range of 20-100~m and its yield was 55% of the pitch.
On the other hand, the extracting oil, from which -the extraction residue had been separated off, was mixed in its entirety with the feed distillation bottom residue to be introduced into the reaction tank, thereby recycling the extracted oil to the thermal cracking system. Ten hours after the initiation of the recycling, the entire system reached a steady state, in which the yields of gas, volatile oil fractions and extraction residue were, respec-tively, 6~, 66% and 28% of the feed distillation bottom residue~
,
Claims (6)
1. An upgrading method of heavy petroleum oil, which method comprises, while subjecting the heavy petroleum oil to continuous thermal cracking to distill the resultant gas and volatile oil fractions and to draw out the resulting thermal cracking residue in a liquid form, bringing the thermal cracking residue into contact with a part of the volatile oil fractions or a fresh supply of heavy petroleum oil, which oil fractions or petroleum oil serves as a solvent, to extract and recover solvent-soluble components present in the thermal cracking residue, and at the same time separating the extraction residue as solid particles from the solvent.
2. The upgrading method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the continuous thermal cracking is carried out within a temperature range of 350-500°C.
3. The upgrading method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the continuous thermal cracking is carried out within a pressure range of 1-20 ata.
4. The upgrading method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the continuous thermal cracking is carried out with a residence time of 1-10 hours.
5. The upgrading method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the solvent is used in an amount of 1-10 parts by weight per part of the thermal cracking residue.
6. The upgrading method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the extraction of the thermal cracking residue with the solvent is effected within a temperature range of from normal temperature to 350°C.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP209345/1981 | 1981-12-25 | ||
| JP20934581A JPS58111891A (en) | 1981-12-25 | 1981-12-25 | Thermal cracking of heavy oil |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1184523A true CA1184523A (en) | 1985-03-26 |
Family
ID=16571409
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000400939A Expired CA1184523A (en) | 1981-12-25 | 1982-04-14 | Upgrading method of heavy petroleum oil |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS58111891A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1184523A (en) |
| DD (1) | DD202446A5 (en) |
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4778586A (en) * | 1985-08-30 | 1988-10-18 | Resource Technology Associates | Viscosity reduction processing at elevated pressure |
| US4818371A (en) * | 1987-06-05 | 1989-04-04 | Resource Technology Associates | Viscosity reduction by direct oxidative heating |
Families Citing this family (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPS60106885A (en) * | 1983-11-14 | 1985-06-12 | Res Assoc Residual Oil Process<Rarop> | Thermal reforming of heavy oil |
| JPS60106884A (en) * | 1983-11-14 | 1985-06-12 | Res Assoc Residual Oil Process<Rarop> | Thermal reforming of heavy oil |
| JPS60106886A (en) * | 1983-11-15 | 1985-06-12 | Res Assoc Residual Oil Process<Rarop> | Thermal reforming of heavy oil |
| CN102041056B (en) * | 2010-12-31 | 2014-04-23 | 马俊杰 | Catalytic cracking method and device in favor of processing inferior heavy oil |
-
1981
- 1981-12-25 JP JP20934581A patent/JPS58111891A/en active Pending
-
1982
- 1982-04-14 CA CA000400939A patent/CA1184523A/en not_active Expired
- 1982-04-15 DD DD23902182A patent/DD202446A5/en unknown
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4778586A (en) * | 1985-08-30 | 1988-10-18 | Resource Technology Associates | Viscosity reduction processing at elevated pressure |
| US4818371A (en) * | 1987-06-05 | 1989-04-04 | Resource Technology Associates | Viscosity reduction by direct oxidative heating |
| US5008085A (en) * | 1987-06-05 | 1991-04-16 | Resource Technology Associates | Apparatus for thermal treatment of a hydrocarbon stream |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| JPS58111891A (en) | 1983-07-04 |
| DD202446A5 (en) | 1983-09-14 |
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