Supercritical Water Processing of Extra Heavy Crude in a Slurry-Phase Up-Flow Reactor System

Abstract

A system and method for upgrading heavy crude oil. The system comprises: a system for blending a catalyst with the heavy crude to produce a crude/catalyst slurry, a source of supercritical water, a system for blending the supercritical water with the crude/catalyst slurry, infecting the feed slurry into the bottom of an tip-flow reactor, carrying out a reaction between the water and the crude to produce treated hydrocarbons, and separating the treated hydrocarbons into a heavy stream and a light stream. The first separator is in fluid communication with the tipper half of the reactor. A second separator receives the light stream and separates it into gases, liquid hydrocarbons, and water. A system and method of generating hydrogen for the process through in situ shift reaction, generating carbon monoxide either in situ through the injection of air inside the reactor or externally by gasification of unreacted resid or produced gases.

1 . A system for treating heavy crude oil, comprising:
 a system for blending a catalyst with the heavy crude to produce a crude/catalyst slurry;   a source of supercritical water;   a system for blending the supercritical water with the crude/catalyst slurry to produce a crude/catalyst/water slurry;   an up-flow reactor for carrying out a reaction between the water and the crude to produce treated hydrocarbons;   a reactor feed for injecting said crude/catalyst/water slurry into the bottom of the reactor; and   a reactor outflow line in fluid communication with the upper half of the reactor, said reactor outflow line receiving substantially all of said treated hydrocarbons.   
   
   
       2 . The system according to  claim 1 , further including a first separator receiving treated hydrocarbons from said reactor outflow line, said first separator separating said treated hydrocarbons into a heavy stream and a light stream. 
   
   
       3 . The system according to  claim 2 , further including a second separator receiving said light stream and separating said light stream into a gaseous stream, a liquid hydrocarbon stream, and a water stream. 
   
   
       4 . The system according to  claim 2 , further including a gasifier receiving and gasifying at least a portion of said heavy stream to produce a gas, wherein said gas is recycled to said reactor. 
   
   
       5 . The system according to  claim 4 , further including a second separator receiving said light stream and separating said light stream into a gaseous stream, a liquid hydrocarbon stream, and a water stream, and further including a line for recycling at least a portion of the produced gaseous stream from second separator to said gasifier. 
   
   
       6 . The system according to  claim 1 , further including an injector for injecting air or oxygen into said reactor. 
   
   
       7 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of said heavy stream is recycled to said reactor as a liquid. 
   
   
       8 . The system according to  claim 1 , further including means for recycling the water stream from the second separator to the supercritical water system. 
   
   
       9 . The system according to  claim 8 , further including means for cleaning the recycled water. 
   
   
       10 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the catalyst is selected from the group consisting of water gas shift catalysts, hydrogenation catalysts, and combinations thereof. 
   
   
       11 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the catalyst is provided as a fine powder less than 1000 mesh. 
   
   
       12 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the catalyst comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of: ZrO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 , K 2 O 3 , NaCO 3 , NiO, Ni 2 O 3 , oxides of cobalt, other metal oxides, metal carbonates, and combinations thereof. 
   
   
       13 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the catalyst comprises zirconia. 
   
   
       14 . A system for treating heavy crude oil, comprising:
 a system for blending a catalyst with the heavy crude to produce a crude/catalyst slurry;   a source of supercritical water;   a system for blending the supercritical water with the crude/catalyst slurry to produce a crude/catalyst/water slurry;   an up-flow reactor for carrying out a reaction between the water and the crude to produce treated hydrocarbons;   a reactor feed for injecting said crude/catalyst/water slurry into the bottom of the reactor;   a reactor outflow line in fluid communication with the upper half of the reactor, said reactor outflow line receiving substantially all of said treated hydrocarbons;   a first separator receiving treated hydrocarbons from said reactor outflow line, said first separator separating said treated hydrocarbons into a heavy stream and a light stream;   a second separator receiving said light stream and separating said light stream into a gaseous stream, a liquid hydrocarbon stream, and a water stream;   a gasifier receiving and gasifying at least a portion of said heavy stream-n to produce a gas, wherein said gas is recycled to said reactor; and   a line for recycling at least a portion of the produced gaseous stream from second separator to said gasifier;   wherein at least a portion of said heavy stream is recycled to said reactor as a liquid.   
   
   
       15 . A method for treating heavy crude oil, comprising:
 a) blending a catalyst with the heavy crude to produce a crude/catalyst slurry;   b) providing a source of supercritical water;   c) blending the supercritical water with the crude/catalyst slurry to produce a crude/catalyst/water slurry;   d) injecting said crude/catalyst/water slurry into the bottom of an up-flow reactor;   e) reacting the water and the crude in the reactor to produce treated hydrocarbons; and   f) removing the treated hydrocarbons from the upper half of the reactor.   
   
   
       16 . The method according to  claim 15 , further including the step of
 g) separating said treated hydrocarbons into a heavy stream and a light stream.   
   
   
       17 . The method according to  claim 16 , further including the step of
 h) separating said light stream into a gaseous stream, a liquid hydrocarbon stream, and a water stream.   
   
   
       18 . The method according to  claim 16 , further including gasifying at least a portion of said heavy stream to produce a gas and recycling the gas from the gasifier to the reactor. 
   
   
       19 . The method according to  claim 15 , further including injecting air or oxygen into said reactor so as to generate carbon monoxide in situ to produce additional hydrogen. 
   
   
       20 . The method according to  claim 15 , further including sending at least a portion of the produced gaseous stream to a gasifier to generate additional syngas. 
   
   
       21 . The method according to  claim 15 , further including recycling at least a portion of said heavy stream to said reactor as a liquid. 
   
   
       22 . The method according to  claim 15 , further including recycling at least a portion of the water stream to the supercritical water source. 
   
   
       23 . The method according to  claim 22 , further including cleaning the recycled water. 
   
   
       24 . The method according to  claim 15  wherein the catalyst is selected from the group consisting of water gas shift catalysts, hydrogenation catalysts, and combination thereof. 
   
   
       25 . The method according to  claim 15  wherein the catalyst is provided as a fine powder less than 1000 mesh. 
   
   
       26 . The method according to  claim 15  wherein the catalyst comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of: ZrO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 , K 2 O 3 , NaCO 3 , NiO, Ni 2 O 3 , oxides of cobalt, other metal oxides, metal carbonates, and combinations thereof. 
   
   
       27 . The method according to  claim 15 , further including producing hydrogen in the up-flow reactor. 
   
   
       28 . The method according to  claim 27  wherein the hydrogen is produced by reacting carbon monoxide with water, and wherein the carbon monoxide is produced by partial oxidation of hydrocarbons or by gasifying unconverted residue or product gas.