The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 29, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 04, 1996
Luc Gouzien, Le Havre, FR;
Elisabeth Mouchot, Etoutteville, FR;
Pierre Lutran, Vincennes, FR;
Marc Persing, St. Andresse, FR;
Total Raffinage Distribution, S.A., Puteaux, FR;
Abstract
A method for reducing the viscosity of a liquid heavy hydrocarbon feedstock comprising the steps of bringing said feedstock to a temperature capable of cracking of at least a portion of the hydrocarbons present in said feedstock and introducing said feedstock into a bottom portion of a maturation device (i.e. a 'soaker'), where the feedstock is displaced from the bottom upwards, to get evacuated from a top portion of the soaker towards a fractioning unit. The invention also relates to an apparatus comprising a soaker in which are located, transversely to the direction of displacement of the feedstock to be treated, a plurality of annular discs spaced apart from one another, each disc comprising a circular central passage substantially coaxial to the soaker, the treated feedstock circulating from the bottom portion upwards in the soaker through the central passages of the various annular discs.