Chevron U.s.a. Inc.

Honeywell International Inc.

Shuwu Yang

Julie Chabot

Bruce Edward Reynolds

Bo Kou

Joseph V Nguyen

Erin Maris

Ling Jiao

Alexander E Kuperman

Oleg Mironov

Hsueh Sung Tung

Vivion Andrew Brennan

Christopher Paul Dunckley

Axel Brait

HsuehSung Tung

Rahul Shankar Bhaduri

Darush Farshid

Kaidong Chen

Goutam Biswas

Modinat Kotun

Kenneth Kwik

Erin P Maris

A method to upgrade heavy oil feedstock using an ebullated bed reactor and a novel catalyst system is provided. The ebullated bed reactor system includes two different catalyst with different characteristics: an expanded catalyst zone containing particulate catalyst having a particle size of greater than 0.65 mm; and a slurry catalyst having an average particle size ranging from 1 to 300 &#x3bc;m. The slurry catalyst is provided to the ebullated bed system containing the heavy oil feedstock, and entrained in the upflowing hydrocarbon liquid passing through the ebullated bed reaction zone. The slurry catalyst reduces the formation of sediment and coke precursors in the ebullating bed reactor system. The slurry catalyst is prepared from rework materials, which form a slurry catalyst in-situ upon mixing with the heavy oil feedstock.

Hydroprocessing catalysts and methods for making thereof

A method to reduce metal deposit in the hydroprocessing or upgrade of heavy oil feedstock is provided. The method comprises feeding an improved catalyst feed to the system, with the improved catalyst feed comprising a fresh slurry catalyst and a deoiled spent catalyst, with the deoiled spent catalyst being present in an amount of at least 10% the catalyst feed for the heavy oil upgrade system to have at least a 5% reduction in metal contaminant build-up compared to heavy oil upgrade system without the deoiled spent catalyst in the feed.

A method for preparing an improved slurry catalyst for the upgrade of heavy oil feedstock is provided. In one embodiment, the process comprises: sulfiding at least a metal precursor solution with at least a sulfiding agent forming a sulfided Group VIB catalyst precursor, the metal precursor solution having a pH of at least 4 and a concentration of less than 10 wt. % of Primary metal in solution; and mixing the catalyst precursor with a hydrocarbon diluent to form the slurry catalyst composition. The slurry catalyst prepared therefrom has a BET total surface area of at least 100 m/g, a total pore volume of at least 0.5 cc/g and a polymodal pore distribution with at least 80% of pore sizes in the range of 5 to 2,000 Angstroms in diameter.

The present invention provides a process for the preparation of a fluoroiodoalkane compound represented by the formula CF(CF)&#x2014;I, wherein n is 0 or 1. The process includes the step of contacting: (i) a compound represented by the formula CF(CF)&#x2014;Y, wherein Y is selected from H, Cl, Br, and COOH and n is 0 or 1; (ii) a source of iodine; (iii) an alkali or alkaline earth metal salt catalyst supported on a carrier; and (iv) a catalyst promoter for the alkali or alkaline earth metal salt catalyst. The catalyst promoter includes at least one element selected from a transition metal element, a rare earth metal element, a main group element other than the alkali or alkaline earth metal element, any salts thereof, and any combinations thereof. The contacting is carried out at a temperature and pressure and for a length of time sufficient to produce the fluoroiodoalkane compound. The contacting may be carried out in the presence or absence of a solvent and in the presence or absence of oxygen.

Catalyst promoters for producing trifluoroiodomethane and pentafluoroiodoethane

A process for preparing a slurry catalyst is provided. The slurry catalyst is prepared from at least a Group VIB metal precursor and optionally at least a Promoter metal precursor selected from Group VIII, Group IIB, Group IIA, Group IVA metals and combinations thereof. The slurry catalyst comprises a plurality of dispersed particles in a hydrocarbon medium having an average particle size ranging from 1 to 300 &#x3bc;m. The slurry catalyst is then mixed with a hydrogen feed at a pressure from 1435 psig (10 MPa) to 3610 psig (25 MPa) and a temperature from 200-800&#xb0; F. at 500 to 15,000 scf hydrogen per bbl of slurry catalyst for a minute to 20 hours, for the slurry catalyst to be saturated with hydrogen providing an increase of k-values in terms of HDS, HDN, and HDMCR of at least 15% compared to a slurry catalyst that is not saturated with hydrogen.

An improved process for preparing a slurry catalyst for the upgrade of heavy oil feedstock is provided. In the process, high shear mixing is employed to generate an emulsion containing droplets of metal precursor in oil with droplet sizes ranging from 0.1 to 300 &#x3bc;m. The emulsion is subsequently sulfided with a sulfiding agent, or in-situ in a heavy oil feedstock to form a slurry catalyst. The in-situ sulfidation in heavy oil is under sufficient condition for the heavy oil feedstock to generate the sulfiding source needed for the sulfidation.

An improved process to make a slurry catalyst for the upgrade of heavy oil feedstock is provided. The sulfiding of the metal precursor/catalyst precursor is carried out at least twice ('enhanced sulfiding') in the improved process to form a slurry catalyst with improved surface area and porosity value. The slurry catalyst under an enhanced sulfiding scheme is characterized as having increased catalytic activities over a slurry catalyst without an enhanced sulfidation step.

An improved hydroprocessing slurry catalyst is provided for the upgrade of heavy oil feedstock. The catalyst comprises dispersed particles in a hydrocarbon medium with the dispersed particles have an average particle size ranging from 1 to 300 &#x3bc;m. The catalyst has a total pore volume of at least 0.5 cc/g and a polymodal pore distribution with at least 80% of pore sizes in the range of 5 to 2,000 Angstroms in diameter. The catalyst is prepared from sulfiding and dispersing a metal precursor solution in a hydrocarbon diluent, the metal precursor comprising at least a Primary metal precursor and optionally a Promoter metal precursor, the metal precursor solution having a pH of at least 4 and a concentration of less than 10 wt. % of Primary metal in solution.

A process for preparing a slurry catalyst for the upgrade of heavy oil feedstock is provided. The process employs a pressure leach solution obtained from a metal recovery process as part of the metal precursor feed. In one embodiment, the process comprises: sulfiding a pressure leach solution having at least a Group VIB metal precursor compound in solution forming a catalyst precursor, and mixing the sulfided catalyst precursor with a hydrocarbon diluent to form the slurry catalyst. In another embodiment, the pressure leach solution is mixed with a hydrocarbon diluent under high shear mixing conditions to form an emulsion, which emulsion can be sulfided in-situ upon contact with a heavy oil feedstock in the heavy oil upgrade process.

An improved slurry catalyst feed system for heavy oil upgraded is provided. The catalyst feed system comprises a fresh slurry catalyst and a deoiled spent catalyst, with the deoiled spent catalyst being present in an amount of at least 10% the catalyst feed system. The deoiled spent catalyst is a slurry catalyst that has been used in a hydroprocessing operation resulting in than 80% but more than 10% of original catalytic activity, and containing less than 10 wt. % soluble hydrocarbons as unconverted heavy oil feed. The deoiled spent catalyst is slurried in a hydrocarbon medium as dispersed particles prior to being fed to the heavy oil upgrade system.

A process for the preparation of a fluoroiodoalkane represented by the structural formula CF(CF)&#x2014;I, wherein n is 0 or 1. The process has the step of reacting a source of iodine with a compound represented by the structural formula CF(CF)&#x2014;Y, wherein Y is selected from H, Cl, Br and COOH and wherein n is 0 or 1. The reaction is carried out at a temperature from about 100&#xb0; C. to about 750&#xb0; C. and at a pressure from about 0.001 to about 100 atm for a contact time from about 0.001 second to about 300 hours in the presence a catalyst. The catalyst is subject to one or both of the following: (a) treating the catalyst prior to the reaction via contact with a gas selected from the group consisting of hydrogen fluoride, trifluoromethane, hydrogen, hydrogen iodide, iodine, fluorine, and oxygen, wherein the contact is carried out at a temperature and for a contact time sufficient to reduce the length of the induction period of the catalyst; and (b) treating the catalyst after the reaction via contact with a gas selected from the group consisting of hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen, fluorine, oxygen, or air at a temperature and for a contact time sufficient to regenerate the catalyst.

Method for pretreating and regenerating catalysts used in a process for making fluoroiodoalkanes

An improved process to make a slurry catalyst for the upgrade of heavy oil feedstock is provided. In the process, at least a metal precursor feedstock is portioned and fed in any of the stages: the promotion stage; the sulfidation stage; or the transformation stage of a water-based catalyst precursor to a slurry catalyst. In one embodiment, the promoter metal precursor feedstock is split into portions, the first portion is for the sulfiding step, the second portion is for the promotion step; and optionally the third portion is to be added to the transformation step in the mixing of the sulfided promoted catalyst precursor with a hydrocarbon diluent to form the slurry catalyst. In another embodiment, the Primary metal precursor feedstock is split into portions.

Systems and methods for hydroprocessing heavy oil feedstock is disclosed. The process employs a plurality of contacting zones and at least a separation zone to convert at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming upgraded products. In one embodiment, water and/or steam being injected into at least a contacting zone. The contacting zones operate under hydrocracking conditions, employing at least a slurry catalyst. In one embodiment, at least a portion of the non-volatile fractions recovered from at least one of the separation zones is recycled back to at least a contacting zone ('recycled mode'). In one embodiment, the number of separation zones is less than the number of contacting zones in the system. In the separation zones, upgraded products are removed overhead and optionally treated in an in-line hydrotreater; and the bottom stream is optionally further treated in a fractionator.

Systems and methods for producing a crude product

A process for producing hydrofluorocarbon compounds represented by the following formula:CFCHFCHF

Manufacture of 1,1,1,2,3,3-hexafluoropropane and 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoropropane via catalytic hydrogenation

A process for the preparation of a fluoroiodoalkane compound represented by the formula: CF(CF)&#x2014;Y, wherein n is 0 or 1. The process includes contacting A, B and C. A is represented by the formula: CF(CF)&#x2014;Y, wherein n is 0 or 1, and Y is selected from the group consisting of: H, Cl, Br, and COOH. B is a source of iodine, and C is a catalyst containing elements with dsconfiguration and lanthanide elements. The process occurs at a temperature, and for a contact time, sufficient to produce the fluoroiodoalkane compound.

Growing community of inventors

Richmond, CA, United States of America

Shuwu Yang