Upgrading of Heavy Crude Oil with W-Zr Catalyst

Abstract

The main problem of new crude oil reserves is the incipient increase of heavy crude oils in the American continent, i.e. USA, Mexico, Canada and Venezuela. These types of crude oils require several treatments before refining. One of these treatments can be hydrocracking. In this petroleum refining process, it is possible to modify the heavy crude oils to light crude oils. In this paper, we try to use hydrocracking to improve the quality of raw heavy crude oil, through some chemical transformations C-H binding rupture using a catalyst containing active metals such as tungsten and zirconium (W-Zr). After the crude oil was hydrocracked in presence of this novel bimetallic catalyst, the hydrocracked products showed lower content of asphaltenes, resins, sulfur and nitrogen. Also positive changes in the viscosity of crude oil measured as a decreasing of this value were observed. The American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity was significantly increased 6 units. Consequently, all these changes confirmed that the upgrading of the heavy crude oil was successful.

Catalytic Hydrothermal Conversion of Heavy Oil in the Porous Media

“…This creates certain problems for further transportation and refinery of heavy crude oil. , The complex geological and geochemical burial conditions in Permian deposits make thermal heavy oil recovery more complicated, because it is related to significant technical and environmental problems. − One has to note that the most explored heavy oil and natural bitumen reservoirs in sandstone rocks of Sheshminsky horizon of Permian deposits are located among localities at shallow depths, on the border of fresh and saline waters. In this regard, one of the most promising directions is a research dedicated to the transformation of heavy oil and natural bitumen into light hydrocarbons under reservoir conditions, aiming to reduce their viscosity. ,,, In the literature, modeling the thermal and catalytic conversion of crude oil and organic matter (OM) under the influence of steam is considered as one of the methods for studying the hydrocarbon generation processes and their subsequent transformation in sediments. − Recently, there are many works devoted to the application of oil-soluble catalysts containing variable valence metals to improve the efficiency of heavy oil production. In refs, − ,,− the activity of nickel, copper, iron, and manganese naphthenates during the upgrading of heavy oil sample from Luccin (China) at a temperature of 365 °C with a duration of 40 min was investigated, which were formed from oil-soluble precursors.…”