This invention relates to the optimization of a diluent recovery unit with a resid hydrocracker by the use of an optimized atmospheric fractionator in the conversion of a light sweet refinery to diluted bitumen.
Extensive reserves in the form of “heavy crudes” exist in a number of countries, including Western Canada, Venezuela, Russia, the United States, and elsewhere. These deposits of heavy crudes often exist in areas that are inaccessible by normal means. Generally, the term “heavy crude” refers to a hydrocarbon material having an API gravity of less than 25.
“DilBits” are produced by blending heavy bitumen with a light diluent (e.g. condensate, naphtha or natural gasoline) to reduce the viscosity for pipeline specifications. The bitumen is often high in sulfur, high in nitrogen and corrosive requiring significant metallurgy upgrades in refinery Crude, Vacuum, and other downstream processing units.
A recent invention utilizes a diluent recovery unit (DRU) in front of a Resid Hydrocracker. The DRU does not require significant metallurgy upgrades because the corrosive organic acids are not a concern at its lower operating temperatures (e.g. below 450° F.). The bottoms product from the DRU is whole bitumen which is high in sulfur, high in nitrogen and corrosive. The whole bitumen material (including distillates and gas oils) is fed to a Resid Hydrocracker where it is desulfurized, nitrogen is reduced and corrosive elements are neutralized so that it can be processed in an existing light sweet refinery.
It can cost billions of dollars to upgrade an existing light sweet refinery to process heavy bitumen. There are concerns that the costs of converting refineries to process heavy bitumen will be hard to recoup. Long term, the ability to use heavy bitumen is an issue that's expected to confront the refining industry for an extended period of time.
A prior invention summarized the benefits of feeding the recovered lowered boiling point hydrocarbonaceous feedstock from the Resid Hydrocracker unit to existing fractionation towers (crude atmospheric and vacuum) in an existing refinery. The diluent recovery unit (DRU) and Resid Hydrocracker and further described in copending patent application Ser. No. 12/378,671 filed Feb. 18, 2009, Ser. No. 12/378,610 filed on Feb. 18, 2009, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.
This invention is an alternative that further optimizes the integration of the Diluent Recovery with the Resid Hydrocracker for the conversion of a light sweet refinery to a heavy Sour Refinery by including an integrated atmospheric fractionation tower as part of the Resid Hydrocracker. The benefits of this integration are: efficient use of capital, easier start-up/shut-down and reduced operating costs. This results in the optimization of a diluent recovery unit with a Resid Hydrocracker atmospheric fractionator in the conversion of a light sweet refinery to diluted bitumen.
Rather than incur the cost of extensively retrofitting an existing light sweet refinery, we have invented a unique way of conditioning the heavy sour crude at the refinery location to make it acceptable for processing in the existing light sweet refinery equipment. Our system does not significantly modify an existing sweet refinery. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings.
The overhead material from the atmospheric fractionator heats the diluted bitumens prior to feeding the blend to the DRU. The invention also includes the step of blending Resid Hydrocracker ATB with conventional ATB for stability.
The disclosed atmospheric fractionator is shown in
The design distillate products from an atmospheric fractionator are determined by the owner and depend upon economic factors at the location of the atmospheric fractionator.
The above detailed description of the present invention is given for explanatory purposes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the whole of the foregoing description is to be construed in an illustrative and not a limitative sense, the scope of the invention being defined solely by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61669168 | Jul 2012 | US |