Integrated thermal process for heavy oil and gas to liquids conversion

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to upgrading difficult to process heavy-oil. In particular, the disclosure relates to upgrading heavy oil and other high carbon content materials by using an integrated thermal-process (ITP) that utilizes anti-coking management and toluene insoluble organic residues (TIOR) management to directly incorporate lighter hydrocarbons into high molecular weight, low hydrogen content hydrocarbons such as thermally processed heavy oil products. This process can be integrated with other thermal processing schemes, such as cokers and visbreakers, to improve the conversion and yields from these integrated processes.

1 . A system for upgrading a heavy oil feedstock, the system comprising:
 (a) a thermal processor configured to generate a high hydrogen-content, light hydrocarbon feedstock;   (b) a reactor unit comprising:
 (i) a first end; 
 (ii) a second end; 
 (iii) a sidewall that defines a plenum between the first end and the second end; 
 (iv) a feedstock inlet that is configured to introduce a heavy oil feedstock and an anti-coking additive into the plenum proximal the first end; 
 (v) a first gas-inlet that is configured to introduce the high hydrogen-content, light hydrocarbon feedstock received from the thermal processor into the plenum at an inlet temperature of at least 800° F.; and 
 (vi) a first outlet that is configured to remove a mixed effluent from the plenum proximal the second end. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the high hydrogen-content, light hydrocarbon feedstock is received indirectly from the thermal processor. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heavy oil feedstock is received from the thermal processor. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heavy oil feedstock comprises a polar aromatic solvent that is separable from the heavy oil feedstock upstream of the reactor unit. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the aromatic oil is received in the plenum by the feedstock inlet or proximal the first gas-inlet. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the polar aromatic solvent is mixed with the anti-coking additive. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the polar aromatic solvent or a mixture of the polar aromatic solvent and anti-coking additive is received by the thermal processor from the reactor unit for enhancing an operating efficiency of the thermal processor. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heavy oil feedstock is received by the reactor unit from the thermal processor or a further thermal processor. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the thermal processor and the further thermal processor are each one of a coker-fractionator unit, a visbreaker unit and a hydro-visbreaker unit. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heavy oil feedstock has a resin to asphaltene ratio of at least 1:2.5. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heavy oil feedstock comprises high boiling point polar aromatics with a boiling point of at least 700° F. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heavy oil feedstock comprises at least 30% high boiling point polar aromatics. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the high hydrogen-content, light hydrocarbon feedstock received in the reactor unit at the first gas-inlet has a molecular weight of at least 5 grams per mole. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plenum is at a temperature of between about 890° F. and about 1000° F. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plenum is at a temperature of at least 1000° F. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the high hydrogen-content, light hydrocarbon feedstock is introduced into the plenum at a velocity of at least 200 ft/second. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heavy oil feedstock comprises at least one of: a mid to high nC7 asphaltene, bitumen, a low hydrogen-content hydrocarbon, an aromatic hydrocarbon, a mid to high polar hydrocarbon, a coker fractionator tower bottom, a visbreaker bottom, a hydro-visbreaker bottom, a mixture of a diluent and a heavy oil, a mixture of a solvent and a steam-assisted gravity drainage derived bitumen, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the high hydrogen-content, light hydrocarbon feedstock comprises at least one of: a coker fractionator tower fuel gas, coker naptha, visbreaker naptha, another hydrocarbon that has a hydrogen content greater than 13 wt %, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reactor unit further comprises a drag outlet for removing at least a part of a toluene insoluble organic residue (TIOR) content and/or at least some of an ash content from the plenum from between the first gas-inlet and the second end. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the drag-outlet conduit is in fluid communication with one or more satellite processing units. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the reactor unit further comprises a metal-reclamation conduit for conducting at least a part of the TIOR content and/or at least some of the ash content from the drag outlet to communicate with a metal-reclamation processing unit. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the reactor unit further comprises a reclaimed-ash content conduit for conducting at least a part of a reclaimed ash content within the metal-reclamation processing unit to communicate with at least a part of the low hydrogen-content hydrogen feedstock upstream of the reactor unit. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reactor unit further comprises at least one quench inlet that is configured to introduce a quench fluid into the plenum. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the quench fluid is one or more of a first hydrocarbon-liquid with an intermediate hydrogen content, a second hydrocarbon-liquid with a high hydrogen content that is greater than the hydrogen content of the first hydrocarbon-liquid, a hydrocarbon gas or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reactor unit further comprises a densitometer positioned between the first gas-inlet and the second end, wherein the densitometer is configured to measure a density of contents of the plenum. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reactor unit further comprises a plurality of densitometers that are each positioned along a length of the reactor unit, wherein the length is defined between the first end and the second end, wherein the plurality of densitometers are each configured to measure a density of the contents of the plenum along the length. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reactor unit further comprising at least one second inlet that is configured to introduce an intermediate hydrogen-content hydrocarbon feedstock into the plenum. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reactor unit further comprises at least one third inlet that is in fluid communication with a source of a further high hydrogen-content hydrocarbon feedstock, the third inlet is configured to introduce the further high hydrogen-content hydrocarbon feedstock into the plenum. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reactor unit further comprises an anti-foam inlet that is configured to introduce an anti-foam agent into the plenum. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 (a) a first separator that is configured to receive and to separate the mixed effluent into a first liquid-stream and a first vapor-stream;   (b) a first hydrotreater that is configured to receive the first vapor-stream and/or a vacuum unit light product stream for increasing a hydrogen content thereof as a first hydrotreater product;   (c) a second separator that is configured to receive and to separate the first hydrotreater product into a second liquid-stream and a second vapor-stream;   (d) a third separator that is configured to receive and separate the second vapor-stream from the second separator into a third liquid-stream and a third vapor-stream; and   (e) a product fractionator that is configured to receive at least a portion of the third-liquid stream and to produce products.   
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 30 , further comprising a conduit for communicating the first liquid-stream with a source of the anti-coking additive. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 30 , further comprising a second conduit for communicating at least a portion of the third vapour stream to a heater that is positioned between the feedstock inlet and a source of the heavy oil feedstock. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 32 , further comprising a fourth conduit for providing communication between a source of the high hydrogen-content, light hydrocarbons and the second conduit. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 30 , further comprising a second hydrotreater that is configured to receive the second liquid-stream and to increase a hydrogen content thereof as a second hydrotreater product. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34 , further comprising a hydrocracker that is configured to receive the second hydrotreater product for thermal processing thereof. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , further comprising a fourth separator that is configured to receive and separate the first hydrotreater product into a fourth liquid-stream and a fourth vapor-stream, wherein the fourth liquid-stream is communicated to the product fractionator and the fourth vapour-stream is communicated to a first heater or a second heater, wherein the first heater is configured to introduce a first hot vapor stream between the feedstock inlet and the source of the first hydrocarbon-feedstock and wherein the second heater is configured to introduce a second hot vapor stream into the plenum. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 30 , further comprising a source of a high hydrogen-content gas that is in fluid communication with the first hydrotreater. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 34 , further comprising a source of high hydrogen-content gas that is in fluid communication with the second hydrotreater.