Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, As Represented by the Minister

David J Patmore

Ramaswami Ranganathan

Barry B Pruden

Chandra P Khulbe

Theo J De Bruijn

Keith Belinko

Adolfo E Silva

Charlene M Hogan

Rodney H Packwood

Several procedures are provided for the thermal rearrangement of a water emulsion, of or a mixture with water, of a feedstock selected from the group consisting of tar sand bitumen, heavy oil, refinery residue and a heavy waste oil stream, the feedstock containing a naturally-occurring, finely-divided mineral material. The essence of such procedures involves contacting the water emulsion or the water mixture with a gas selected from the group consisting of synthesis gas and carbon monoxide in the presence of a catalytic amount, i.e., from about 0.3% to about 15% of a bifunctional catalyst that facilitates the water gas shift reaction and also promotes the hydrogenation and stabilization of cracking reaction products. The bifunctional catalyst includes the naturally-occurring, finely-divided mineral material which is contained in the feedstock. The process is conducted under such conditions of pressure and temperature that the water gas shift reaction occurs. Thermally rearranged liquid oil having a lower viscosity and a lower density than that of the feedstock is recovered. In addition, separate streams of gaseous carbon dioxide and gaseous hydrogen are also recovered therefrom.

Upgrading oil emulsions with carbon monoxide or synthesis gas

A process is described for the hydrocracking of heavy hydrocarbon oils which permits pitch conversions of over 90%, and preferably over 95%. A slurry of a heavy hydrocarbon oil and carbonaceous additive particles, such as coal, is passed in the presence of hydrogen through a confined vertical hydrocracking zone at high temperatures and pressures. An effluent which is almost entirely a gaseous phase is removed from the top of the hydrocracking zone, while a drag stream is removed from the remaining liquid in the hydrocracking zone. The top effluent has the advantage of being substantially free of pitch and metals, with the unreacted carbonaceous additives, metals and any unconverted pitch being all concentrated in the drag stream.

Hydrocracking of heavy hydrocarbon oils with high pitch conversion

A process is described for the simultaneous demetalization and hydrocracking of heavy hydrocarbon oils. The process permits the recovery of metals such as vanadium and nickel in an economic manner by passing a slurry of a heavy hydrocarbon oil and carbonaceous additive particles, such as coal, in the presence of hydrogen through a confined vertical hydrocracking zone at high temperatures and pressures. A mixed effluent containing a gaseous phase and a liquid phase is removed from the top of a hydrocracking zone, while there is removed from the bottom of the hydrocracking zone a portion of the hydrocracking zone contents containing carbonaceous remains of the additive particles to which is adsorbed the metal residues from the feedstock. The effluent removed from the top of the hydrocracking zone can be subsequently fed directly to a catalytic hydrocracking unit.

Simultaneous demetalization and hydrocracking of heavy hydrocarbon oils

An improved process is described for the hydrocracking of heavy hydrocarbon oil, such as oils extracted from tar sands. The charge oil in the presence of an excess of hydrogen is passed through a tubular hydrocracking zone, and the effluent emerging from the top of the zone is separated into a gaseous stream containing a wide boiling range material and a liquid stream containing heavy hydrocarbons. According to the novel feature, the hydrocracking process is carried out in the presence of a catalyst consisting of finely divided coal or other carbonaceous material carrying catalytically active metals from Group VIA and Group VIII of the Periodic Table of Elements, e.g. cobalt and molybdenum. The catalyst is slurried with the charge stock and has been found to greatly reduce coke precursors and thereby prevent the formation of carbonaceous deposits in the reaction zone while also being effective in reducing the sulfur concentration of the product.

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Ottawa, Canada

David J Patmore