Catalytic Heavy Oil Partial Upgrading under Natural Gas

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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.