Producing improved upgraded heavy oil

Abstract

A method is provided to produce a clean resid from a heavy hydrocarbon, the method including the steps of: feeding a heavy hydrocarbon to a conversion unit to convert at least a portion of the heavy hydrocarbon to lighter products and producing a resid, the resid comprising at least ten percent by weight components having true boiling points greater than 380° C. and further comprising at least some asphaltenes; contacting the resid with a naphtha to produce a mixed naphtha and resid, the naphtha comprising paraffin having from four to twelve carbons, the ratio of naphtha to resid high enough to result in precipitation of at least a portion of the asphaltenes in the resid; and separating a reject stream comprising asphaltenes and at least some solids from the resid to form a clean resid.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method to produce a clean resid from a heavy hydrocarbon, the method comprising the steps of:
 feeding a heavy hydrocarbon to a conversion unit to convert at least a portion of the heavy hydrocarbon to lighter products and producing a resid, the resid comprising at least ten percent by weight components having true boiling points greater than 380° C., and the resid further comprising at least some asphaltenes;   contacting the resid with a naphtha to produce a mixed naphtha and resid, the naphtha comprising paraffin having from four to twelve carbons, the ratio of naphtha to resid high enough to result in precipitation of at least a portion of the asphaltenes in the resid; and   separating a reject stream comprising asphaltenes and at least some solids from the resid to form a clean resid.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the heavy hydrocarbon comprises bitumen and the conversion unit is a hydrocracker. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein subsequent to separation of the reject stream from the resid, at least a portion of the naphthais removed from the clean resid. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein at least a portion of the removed naphthais recycled as naphtha. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the naphtha comprises at least twenty percent by volume of pentane. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the hydrocracker is an ebulating bed hydrocracker. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the clean resid comprises less than about 0.2 percent by weight of ash as determined by ASTM D-473. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the volume ratio of naphtha to resid is between 0.1 and 6. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the volume ratio of naphtha to resid is between 0.5 and 3. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of combining the clean resid stream with bitumen that has not been subjected to hydrocracking to create a marketable product. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the ratio of clean resid to bitumen that has not been subjected to hydrocracking is between about 0.1 and about 10, 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the ratio of clean resid to bitumen that has not been subjected to hydrocracking is between 0.5 and 5. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the amount of ash in the clean resid is less than 50 percent of the total ash contained in the resid. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the amount of ash in the clean resid is less than 20 percent of the total ash contained in the resid. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the amount of asphaltenes separated from the resid is less than about twenty percent of the asphaltenes present in the resid stream. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the amount of asphaltenes separated from the resid is between one percent and ten percent of the asphaltenes present in the resid stream. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein separating the reject stream from the mixed naphtha and resid to form a clean resid is accomplished by a centrifuge. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the centrifuge applies at an acceleration of at least 100 times the acceleration of gravity. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein separating the reject stream from the mixed naphtha and resid to form a clean resid is accomplished by a by gravity settling in a settling vessel. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein separating the reject stream from the mixed naphtha and resid to form a clean resid is accomplished at a temperature between 20° C. and 300° C. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein separating the reject stream from the mixed naphtha and resid to form a clean resid is accomplished at a temperature between 30° C. and 200° C. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein separating the reject stream from the mixed naphtha and resid to form a clean resid is accomplished at a temperature between 50° C. and 150° C.