Catalytic Heavy Oil Partial Upgrading under Natural Gas****

传统的加氢处理工艺可以用来降低重质原油的粘度，改善API比重，降低原油中的硫含量。在重油改质中使用氢气是众所周知的，可以提高重油的性质，但由于高压氢气的消耗(8兆帕)，加氢处理的成本相对较高。获得加氢好处的另一种方法是在重质原油中添加廉价而丰富的氢给体，如天然气的主要成分甲烷。本项目的目标是开发一种高性价比的部分改质技术，以提高重质原油的质量，既能满足管道运输要求，又能生产高附加值的石化产品。这将使用一种技术，该技术基于在温和的温度和压力(不高于5兆帕斯卡)下将天然气直接催化掺入重油中(即不高于5兆帕斯卡)，而不是加氢处理(即400oC和16兆帕斯卡氢气)，因为天然气价格比氢气更经济有利，从而提高生产率和降低生产成本，从而改善盈利能力。此外，在可运输的石油产品中加入天然气将最大限度地减少升级过程中的温室气体排放，使其更加环保。此外，拟议的研究成果将开创甲烷活化和液化的新途径，导致催化领域的突破及其在清洁能源转换中的应用。此外，该项目取得的成果将通过更有效和更清洁地利用加拿大丰富的自然资源重质原油和天然气，进一步确立加拿大在世界能源市场的领先地位。

Traditionally hydrotreating processes can be used to decrease the viscosity of heavy crude oil, improve the API gravity, and reduce the sulfur content of the oil. Using hydrogen in heavy oil upgrading is well known and can enhance the properties of the oil, but the costs of hydrotreating are relatively high due to the consumption of high pressure H2 (>8 MPa). An alternative approach to obtain the benefits of hydrogen addition is to add a cheap and abundant H-donor to the heavy crude oil, such as methane, the main component of natural gas. The goal of the current project is to develop a cost-effective partial upgrading technology to enhance the quality of heavy conventional for not only satisfying the pipeline transportation specification, but also producing high-value added petrochemicals. This will be done using a technology based on the directly catalytic incorporation of natural gas (i.e. methane - methanotreating) into the heavy oil at mild temperatures and pressures (no higher than 5 MPa) compared to hydrotreating (i.e. 400 oC and 16 MPa H2) as natural gas prices are far more economically advantageous compared to H2, leading to enhanced productivity and reduced production cost and thus improved profitability. Furthermore, the incorporation of natural gas into the transportable oil product will minimize greenhouse gas emission from upgrading process, making it more environmentally friendly. 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. Moreover, the achievement made from this project will further ascertain the leading position of Canada in the world's energy market through more efficient and cleaner utilization of heavy crude oil and natural gas which are abundant natural resources in Canada.