Thermal visbreaking of heavy oil from the Nigerian tar sand

Omole, O.; Olieh, M.N; Osinowo, T

doi:10.1016/s0016-2361(99)00023-x

Cited by 36 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…12,59,60 As a consequence of molecular bond cleavage and the rupture of ring structures of heavy oil, gas, coke, and large numbers of smaller and less viscous products form. 55,56 The experiment on thermal upgrading of heavy oil has demonstrated that the viscosity falls drastically to 54 cP and API gravity increases to 24°relative to 1482 cP and 12.8°, respectively, for the feed oil. In contrast, it has been noticed that after upgrading with Mo-based dispersed catalysts (MoS 2 and MoO 3 ) the produced oil did not have the same level of improvements in both API gravity and viscosity as those observed with thermal upgrading.…”

Section: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of Different Transition Metal Dispersed Catalysts for In Situ Heavy Oil Upgrading

Al-Marshed

Hart

Leeke

et al. 2015

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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Ultradispersed particles of size less than 100 nm for in situ catalytic upgrading have been reported to outperform the augmented catalytic upgrading achieved by incorporating pelleted refinery catalyst to the horizontal production well of the THAI process. Hydroconversion of heavy oil was carried out in a stirred batch reactor at 425˚C, 50 bar (initial H 2 pressure), 900 rpm and 60 min reaction time using a range of unsupported transition metal (Mo, Ni and Fe) catalysts. The effect of metal nanoparticles (NPs) was evaluated in terms of product distribution, physical properties and product quality. The produced coke and recovered catalysts were also studied. The levels of API gravity and viscosity of the upgraded oils observed with the NPs was approximately 21˚API and 108 cP compared with thermal cracking alone (24˚API and 53.5 cP), this moderate upgrade with NPs is due to the lack of cracking functionality offered by supports such as zeolite, alumina or silica. However, it was found that the presence of dispersed NPs significantly suppressed coke formation 4.4 wt% (MoS 2 ), 5.7 wt% (NiO) and 6.8 wt% (Fe 2 O 3 ) compared to 12 wt% obtained with thermal cracking alone. The results also showed that with dispersed unsupported metal NPs in sulfide form the middle distillate (177-343 ˚C) of the upgraded oil was improved particularly MoS 2 which gave 50 wt% relative to 43 wt% (thermal cracking) and 28 wt% (feed oil). The middle distillate yields for Fe 2 O 3 and NiO are 47 wt% and 49 wt%, respectively. Hence, iron and nickel-based unsupported NPs showed similar activity when compared to MoS 2 . The cost and availability of iron-based catalysts compared to Ni and Mo counterpart for heavy oil upgrading are advantages that may justify its preference.Furthermore, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that introducing dispersed catalysts to the upgrading helped to produce sponge-type coke which could be used as industrial fuel compared to shot-type obtained upon thermal cracking.

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Section: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of Different Transition Metal Dispersed Catalysts for In Situ Heavy Oil Upgrading

Al-Marshed

Hart

Leeke

et al. 2015

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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“…Currently, cyclic steam stimulation technology is the most popular and effective way of enhanced heavy oil recovery throughout the world, especially in China where approximately 80% of heavy oil resources were recovered in this way [2]. In the process, steam is injected into a reservoir to provide the heat that is required for visbreaking of the heavy oil/bitumen [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparation of silica‐supported nanoFe/Ni alloy and its application in viscosity reduction of heavy oil

Liu

Yang

Xiao-hong

et al. 2015

Micro & Nano Letters

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Nanozero valent iron and nickel particles of silica composite (SiO 2 /Fe/Ni) were prepared via sodium borohydride reduction of ferric chloride and nickel chloride mixed solution in the presence of surface-modified silica. The prepared nano-SiO 2 /Fe/Ni was characterised by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area method. It was found that the SiO 2 /Fe/Ni, composed of silica with an average size of about 12 nm and zero valent iron and nickel nanoparticles (Fe/Ni) with an average size of several nanometres, exhibited good anti-oxidation stability, dispersity and phase transfer function. The catalytic effect of SiO 2 /Fe/Ni on the Shengli extra-heavy oil was evaluated at a low temperature and the sulphur content of heavy oil before and after aquathermolysis was analysed by an elemental analyser. Results have revealed that the SiO 2 /Fe/Ni has good catalytic performance in the aquathermolysis process of heavy oils. In particular, at the condition of mass fraction of 0.5% and reaction temperature of 150°C for 48 h, it could significantly reduce the viscosity of heavy oil from 184 to 42 Pa•s. When compared with the original heavy oil sample the viscosity reduction rate was 77.17%, showing promising potential in the industrial production of heavy crude oils.

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“…The upgrading technologies of oil sand bitumen are typically divided into thermal and catalytic cracking conversion processes considering if there is the presence of catalysts or not. Visbreaking and coking, − in terms of reaction severity, are known as the most widely operated thermal cracking processes. Visbreaking , is a relatively mild thermal cracking process to improve the viscosity characteristics of the residue without coke formation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Visbreaking and coking, − in terms of reaction severity, are known as the most widely operated thermal cracking processes. Visbreaking , is a relatively mild thermal cracking process to improve the viscosity characteristics of the residue without coke formation. Coking , could achieve deep conversion of heavy oil with long reaction time, especially for delayed coking with hours of residence time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upgrading of Canadian Oil Sand Bitumen via Cracking and Coke Gasification: Effect of Catalyst and Operating Parameters

et al. 2017

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Canadian oil sand bitumen was stepwise converted via an integrated cracking and coke gasification (ICCG) process. The cracking behaviors of oil sand bitumen were investigated in a fluidized bed reactor with FCC and bifunctional (BFC) catalysts, respectively. The BFC catalyst specialized for the ICCG process was designed with both cracking and gasification activities. The results showed that the liquid yield of 78 wt % and conversion ratio of 87% of oil cracking could be simultaneously realized over hydrothermally treated catalysts (A-FCC and A-BFC) at 510 °C. The cracking performance of catalysts was closely related with their acidity, as indicated by NH3-TPD analysis. Coke deposit on the catalyst could lead to severe pore blockage. Catalyst regeneration via coke gasification could recover its pore structures and meanwhile produce high-quality syngas with the sum of H2 and CO up to 80 vol %. Comparing with FCC catalysts, the regeneration (coke gasification) time over BFC catalysts was shortened by about 30% due to its well-developed pores and high alkaline oxides content, and these effects could be further enhanced by impregnating potassium oxides as catalytic additives. Finally, the alternating cracking-gasification operation was conducted for four cycles to justify the stability of BFC catalyst. The newly designed amorphous BFC catalyst exhibited high hydrothermal stability and could be potentially used for oil sand bitumen upgrading via the ICCG process in a large scale.

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Thermal visbreaking of heavy oil from the Nigerian tar sand

Cited by 36 publications

References 7 publications

Effectiveness of Different Transition Metal Dispersed Catalysts for In Situ Heavy Oil Upgrading

Effectiveness of Different Transition Metal Dispersed Catalysts for In Situ Heavy Oil Upgrading

Preparation of silica‐supported nanoFe/Ni alloy and its application in viscosity reduction of heavy oil

Upgrading of Canadian Oil Sand Bitumen via Cracking and Coke Gasification: Effect of Catalyst and Operating Parameters

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