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United States Patent Application
20180305625
Beech, JR.; James H. ; et al. October 25, 2018
Hydrocarbon
Upgrading
Abstract
Aspects of the invention provide a process for upgrading a hydrocarbon feed.
The process includes providing a hydrocarbon feed and a utility fluid. Then
selectively extracting from the feed at least a portion of particulates to
produce a raffinate and an extract. Third hydroprocessing at least a portion of
the raffinate.
Inventors: Beech, JR.; James H.; (Kingwood, TX) ; Koc-Karabocek; Reyyan;
(Houston, TX) ; Evans; Christopher M.; (Jersey City, NJ) ; Yeh; Jeffrey C.;
(Houston, TX) ; Xu; Teng; (Houston, TX)
Applicant:
ExxonMobil Chemical Patents Inc.
Appl. No.: 16/017365
Claims
1-19. (canceled)
20. An upgrading system for upgrading a hydrocarbon feed, comprising: (a)a
fluid-feed supply for supplying a fluid-feed mixture comprising ahydrocarbon
feed and a utility fluid, the fluid-feed mixture having firstand second
particulates, the first particulates having a size .gtoreq.25.mu.m, and the
second particulates having a size in the range of 1.0 to20.0 .mu.m; and (b) a
separation system adapted for selectivelyextracting from the fluid-feed mixture
at least a portion of the firstparticulates to produce a raffinate and an
extract; and (c) ahydroprocessor for hydroprocessing at least a portion of the
raffinate;wherein the raffinate comprises .gtoreq.50 wt. % of the
fluid-feedmixture's second particulates, and wherein the extract
comprises.gtoreq.50% wt. % of the fluid-feed mixture's first particulates.
21. The upgrading system of claim 20, wherein the separation systemcomprises a
backwashing filtration system for providing the extract andthe raffinate.
22. The upgrading system of claim 20, wherein the separation systemcomprises a
sedimentation unit for providing the extract and theraffinate.
23. The upgrading system of claim 20, further comprising a solidsseparation
unit configured to receive the extract and to separate aliquid portion
therefrom.
24. The upgrading system of claim 20, further comprising (A) means
forwithdrawing a hydroprocessed effluent from the hydroprocessor and (B) afirst
separation unit configured to (i) receive the withdrawnhydroprocessed effluent
and (ii) separate from the hydroprocessedeffluent a first fluid-enriched stream
and a hydroprocessed productstream.
25. The upgrading system of claim 24, further comprising a secondseparation
unit, preferably a stabilizer, to provide an overhead stream,configured to
receive the hydroprocessed product stream and to separatefrom the
hydroprocessed product stream a second fluid-enriched stream anda product
stream.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S.Provisional
Application Ser. No. 62/011,965, filed Jun. 13, 2014 and EP14181262.8 filed
Aug. 18, 2014, the entireties are incorporated herein byreference. The present
application relates to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/011,959 filed Jun.
13, 2014 which is incorporated byreference in its entirety.
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates to upgrading hydrocarbons for improvedblending
characteristics, to processes for producing such upgradedhydrocarbons, to
hydrocarbons produced by such processes, and to the useof such hydrocarbon
products for blending with other hydrocarbons.Particularly, the process relates
to improving hydrocarbon compatibilityby removing from the hydrocarbon
particulate matter in a specified sizerange to provide the upgraded
hydrocarbon, and optionally hydroprocessingthe upgraded hydrocarbon.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
[0003] Steam cracking, also referred to as pyrolysis, has long been usedto
crack hydrocarbon feedstocks into a wide range of relatively highvalue
molecules including ethylene, propene, butenes, steam cracked gasoil
("SCGO"), etc. Besides these useful products, hydrocarbon pyrolysiscan
also produce a significant amount of relatively low-value heavyproducts, such
as pyrolysis tar. When the pyrolysis is produced by steamcracking, the
pyrolysis tar is identified as steam-cracker tar ("SCT").Economic
viability of refining processes relies in part on the ability toincorporate as
much of the product and residual fractions, such as SCTinto the value chain.
One use of residual and/or relatively low valueproducts is to blend these
fractions with other hydrocarbons, e.g., withother feedstreams or products.
[0004] It is conventional to subject the SCT to hydroprocessing in thepresence
of a utility fluid, e.g., a solvent having significant aromaticscontent. The
hydroprocessed SCT product generally has a decreasedviscosity, decreased
atmospheric boiling point range, and increasedhydrogen content over that of the
SCT feed, resulting in improvedcompatibility with fuel oil blend-stocks.
Additionally, hydroprocessingthe SCT in the presence of utility fluid produces
fewer undesirablebyproducts and the rate of increase in reactor pressure drop
is lessened.Conventional processes for SCT hydroprocessing is disclosed in U.S.
Pat.Nos. 2,382,260 and 5,158,668; and in International Patent
ApplicationPublication No. WO 2013/033590, which involves recycling a portion
of thehydroprocessed tar for use as the utility fluid.
[0005] SCT, however, generally contains an undesirable amount ofparticulate
matter, e.g., coke particles. The particulate matterrepresents about 0.5 wt. %
of the SCT and ranges in size from 1 to about1000 .mu.m. Depending on the size
of a commercial-scale SCT processor,this can represent approximately 5-10 tons
of solids per day being sentthrough the hydroprocessing unit. The presence of
these particulatesgenerally leads to a rapid increase in reactor pressure drop
and catalystdeactivation, resulting from the formation of undesirable
foulantdeposits on the catalyst, reactor internals, and ancillary equipment.
Asthe amount of these deposits increases, the yield of the desired
upgradedpyrolysis tar (upgraded SCT) decreases and the yield of
undesirablebyproducts increases. Moreover, the hydroprocessing reactor's
pressuredrop rapidly increases to a point where the reactor is inoperable.
[0006] Removing particulate matter, especially particulate matter that maybe a
foulant or foulant precursor, is not trivial. Conventionalfiltration techniques
have difficulty handling the load of solids andrequire frequent removal of the
retentate to remain operable, resulting,it is believed, from relatively small
particles in the SCT which veryeffectively clog the filter mechanism. Removing
particulates from SCT byconventional sedimentation, where particles in the SCT
segregate to thebottom of a large pool, requires commercially-impractical
residencetimes.
[0007] Thus, a method for reducing the impact of particulate matter in
SCTand/or rendering the SCT more amenable to hydroprocessing would
bebeneficial.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
[0008] While small particles present significant problems in filtrationand
sedimentation, it has been surprisingly found that the presence ofparticles in
the hydroprocessor feed having a size of up to about 25.mu.m generally does not
lead to the formation of deposits during SCThydroprocessing. Thus, aspects of
the invention relate to methods thatselectively remove particulate matter
having a size of .gtoreq.about 25.mu.m while allowing smaller particles to
remain in the hydroprocessorfeed.
[0009] Thus, in one aspect aspects of the invention provides a process
forupgrading a hydrocarbon feed, comprising providing a fluid-feed
mixturecomprising a hydrocarbon feed and a utility fluid, the fluid-feed
mixturehaving first and second particulates, the first particulates having
asize .gtoreq.25 .mu.m and being present in the fluid-feed mixture in anamount
A.sub.f.sup.large, and the second particulates having a size inthe range of 1.0
to 20.0 .mu.m and being present in the fluid-feedmixture in an amount
A.sub.f.sup.small. The process further includesselectively extracting from the
fluid-feed mixture at least a portion ofthe first particulates to produce a
raffinate and an extract, the extractcomprising at least a portion of the
extracted first particulates. Theprocess further includes hydroprocessing at
least a portion of theraffinate. The raffinate typically contains .gtoreq.50%
(by weight) ofthe fluid-feed mixture's second particulates. The extract
typicallycontains .gtoreq.50% (by weight) of the fluid-feed mixture's
firstparticulates.
[0010] In another aspect, the invention relates to a process for upgradinga
hydrocarbon feed. The process includes providing a fluid-feed mixturecomprising
a hydrocarbon feed and a utility fluid, and passing thefluid-feed mixture
through a backwashing filtration system to produce (i)an extract, e.g., a
solids-enriched portion, and (ii) a raffinate, e.g.,a solids-depleted portion.
[0011] In yet another aspect, the invention relates to an apparatus
forupgrading a hydrocarbon feed. The apparatus includes a fluid-feed supplyfor
supplying a fluid-feed mixture. The fluid-feed mixture comprises ahydrocarbon
feed and a utility fluid, the fluid-feed mixture having anamount
A.sub.f.sup.small (in weight percent, based on the weight of thefluid-feed
mixture) of particulates having a size in the range of 1.0 to20.0 .mu.m. The
apparatus also includes a separations system, theseparations system being
configured to selectively remove from thefluid-feed mixture .gtoreq.50 wt. %,
e.g., .gtoreq.75 wt. %, .gtoreq.80wt. %, .gtoreq.90 wt. %, .gtoreq.95 wt. %,
.gtoreq.97.5 wt. %, .gtoreq.99wt. % of particulates having a size .gtoreq.25.0
.mu.m to produce anextract and a raffinate. The raffinate has an amount
A.sub.r.sup.small(in weight percent, based on the weight of the raffinate) of
allparticulates in the raffinate having a size in the range of 1.0 to
20.0.mu.m.
source: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220180305625%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20180305625&RS=DN/20180305625
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