In-situ prepared nanoparticles and their role in heavy oil upgrading

随着对高价值石油产品需求的增加和原油来源的非常规化，对有效的重油改造工艺的需求日益增长。升级过程包括将重馏分转化为具有更高氢碳比的轻馏分和馏分，并去除杂原子，最终改善燃烧特性并减少燃料利用对环境的影响。主要的升级过程属于加氢裂化和/或热裂化，这可能涉及催化剂。催化升级是重油转化为轻质油最有前途的技术。该催化剂通过降低给定反应的活化能势垒，降低了升级反应的严重程度，提高了选择性。重油通过催化反应和热反应裂解和氢化，产生更有价值的馏分油。渣油升级中使用的典型催化剂是支撑在氧化铝和/或二氧化硅基体上的钼、钴、镍和/或钨的氧化物。超分散催化与传统的固定化和流化床催化相比具有许多优点。超分散催化除了为原位耦合回收和升级提供了理想的平台外，还减少了活性表面和反应物质之间的传质限制，同时提供了广泛的活性区域，可以发生反应，特别是当分散的颗粒处于纳米域时。我课课组最近的工作重点是在稠油中原位制备各种分散的金属/金属氧化物纳米颗粒。研究原位制备的超分散金属/金属氧化物纳米颗粒在稠油提质中的作用；包括加氢裂化和热裂化。

There is a growing need for effective heavy oil upgrading processes as the demand for high value petroleum products is mounting and the sources of crude oil are becoming more and more unconventional. Upgrading processes involve converting heavy fractions into light fractions, distillates, with higher hydrogen to carbon ratio and removing heteroatoms, which ultimately improve the combustion characteristics and reduce the environmental impact of fuel utilization. Major upgrading processes fall under hydrocracking and/or thermalcracking, which may involve catalysts. Catalytic upgrading is the most promising technology for the conversion of heavy oils into lighter products. The catalyst reduces the severity of the upgrading reactions and enhances the selectivity by reducing the activation energy barrier of given reactions. Heavy oil is cracked and hydrogenated by both catalytic and thermal reactions to produce more valuable distillates. Typical catalysts used in residue upgrading are oxides of molybdenum, cobalt, nickel and/or tungsten supported on a matrix of alumina and/or silica. Ultradispersed catalysis has many advantages over the conventional fixed and fluidized bed catalysis. In addition to offering an ideal platform for coupling in-situ recovery and upgrading, ultradispersed catalysis reduces mass transfer limitations between the active surface and the reacting species while providing an extensive active area were reactions can take place, especially when the dispersed particles are in the nano domain. Recent efforts in my research group have focused on studying the in-situ preparation of a wide variety of dispersed metal/metal oxide nanoparticles in heavy oil. The proposed work aims at investigating the role of the in-situ prepared ultradispersed metal/metal oxide nanoparticles in heavy oil upgrading; including hydrocracking and thermalcracking.