Hydrocarbon Oil Upgrading Under Natural Gas

40%的重质原油必须在进入管道并最终到达炼油厂之前进行升级。目前的加氢过程在高压下进行，消耗大量的氢气，并且是重温室气体（GHG）排放者。众所周知，氢气可以提高石油的性能，但经济成本很高。卡拉能源服务公司提出了一个创新的新的部分升级方案。这种新方法保持了氢气的优点，但使用了廉价且丰富的H供体，如甲烷，这是天然气的主要成分。Kara的专有工艺在低压下进行，使用廉价且丰富的天然气，消耗的氢气相当少。因此，整个过程的温室气体排放量较低。该项目将使Kara技术沿着技术准备水平向商业化方向发展，从TRL 5提升到TRL 6。其目标是确保新方法提供具有成本效益的优质产品，可用于管道运输和生产高附加值的石化产品。在温和的温度和压力（<5 MPa）下，通过将天然气（甲烷-甲烷化处理）催化掺入重油中实现了成功。天然气价格远低于氢气，从而提高了生产率，降低了生产成本，提高了盈利能力。这些成果建立了一个新的甲烷活化和液化工具，这是催化领域的一个突破，并将其应用于清洁能源转换。

Forty percent of heavy crude oil must be upgraded prior to entering the pipeline and eventually arriving at a refinery. The current upgrader process is conducted under high pressure, consumes large amounts of hydrogen and is a heavy greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter. The hydrogen is known to enhance the properties of the oil but the economic cost is high. An innovative new partial upgrade has been proposed by Kara Energy Services. This novel process maintains the benefits attributed to hydrogen but uses a cheap and abundant H-donor such as methane, this is the main component of natural gas. Kara's proprietary process is conducted under low pressure, uses natural gas, which is cheap and abundant, and consumes considerably less hydrogen. Therefore, the entire process has lower GHG emissions. This project will move the Kara technology along the technology readiness level toward commercialization from TRL 5 to TRL 6. The goal is to ensure the novel approach provides a cost-effective quality product ready for pipeline transportation and producing high-value added petrochemicals. The success is achieved by the catalytic incorporation of natural gas (methane-methanotreating) into the heavy oil at mild temperatures and pressures (<5 MPa). Natural gas prices are much lower than H2 providing enhanced productivity, reduced production costs and improved profitability. These outcomes establish a novel methane activation and liquefaction tool which is a breakthrough in the field of catalysis and its application to clean energy conversion.