Catalytic heavy crude oil upgrading using natural gas

利用天然气催化重质原油升级

• 批准号: 460752-2013
• 负责人: Song, Hua
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=556130
• 关键词: Catalytic; heavy; crude; oil; upgrading

Hydrocracking is conventionally employed as the process to upgrade heavy crude oil for reducing its viscosity, increasing its H/C ratio, and removing associated impurities. Such process is costly and energy inefficient due to the involvements of expensive hydrogen generated from a separate unit through natural gas steam reforming and high operation pressure. The proposed collaborative research with the industrial partner, Imperial Oil, aims to effectively upgrade heavy crude oil including extra heavy oil and bitumen extracted from oil sands to synthetic crude oil with acceptable specifications (i.e. API of 30 ~ 34o and sulfur content of 0.1 ~ 0.2%) and increased productivity at much lower pressure (<3 MPa) through directly using natural gas as reducing agent. Under the facilitation of the specially developed catalyst, methane as the main component of natural gas can be activated and thereafter crack down and saturate the long carbon chain using a synergetic effect occurring between methane and co-existing higher hydrocarbons and remove heteroatoms contained in the heavy crude oil, while itself being converted to produce extra synthetic crude oil. The proposed concept has been indirectly validated through experimental data collected from low rank coal and biomass methane upgrading and syngas liquefaction performed at near atmospheric pressure. The successful achievement of the promised objectives will lead to significant cost reduction of the heavy crude oil upgrading process and make it more economically attractive and environmentally friendly. More specifically, the project deliverables will potentially make greater profit margin to Imperial Oil's downstream refining business sector and eventually benefit its upstream oil production division if the developed technique can be successfully implemented for heavy oil in-situ upgrading. Moreover, the outcomes obtained from the proposed research will create a novel way of methane activation and liquefaction, leading to the breakthrough in the field of catalysis and its application in clean energy conversion.

加氢裂化通常用作重质原油升级以降低其粘度、增加其H/C比和除去相关杂质的方法。由于涉及通过天然气蒸汽重整从单独的单元产生的昂贵的氢气和高操作压力，这种方法是昂贵的并且能量效率低。与工业合作伙伴帝国石油公司的拟议合作研究，目的是通过直接使用天然气作为还原剂，在低得多的压力（<3 MPa）下，有效地将从油砂中提取的重质原油（包括超稠油和沥青）改质为可接受规格（即API为30 ~ 34 °，硫含量为0.1 ~ 0.2%）的合成原油，并提高生产率。在专门开发的催化剂的促进下，作为天然气主要成分的甲烷可以被活化，然后利用甲烷与共存的高级烃之间发生的协同效应，裂解并饱和长碳链，去除重质原油中含有的杂原子，同时本身被转化为生产额外的合成原油。所提出的概念已间接验证，通过实验数据收集低阶煤和生物质甲烷提质和合成气液化在近大气压下进行。承诺目标的成功实现将导致重质原油改质工艺的成本显著降低，并使其更具经济吸引力和环境友好性。更具体地说，如果所开发的技术能够成功地用于重油原位提质，该项目交付成果将有可能为帝国石油的下游炼油业务部门带来更大的利润率，并最终使其上游石油生产部门受益。此外，从拟议的研究中获得的结果将创造一种新的甲烷活化和液化方式，导致催化领域的突破及其在清洁能源转化中的应用。