Process to produce aromatics from crude oil

摘要

A process for producing aromatics from a hydrocarbon source in the presence of supercritical water comprising the steps of mixing a pressurized, pre-heated water stream with a pressurized, pre-heated petroleum feedstock, the pressurized, pre-heated water stream at a pressure above the critical pressure of water and a temperature above the critical temperature of water, feeding the combined stream to a supercritical water reactor to create a modified stream, cooling and depressurizing the modified stream, separating the depressurized stream in a vapor-liquid separator, condensing the vapor stream, separating the condensed stream into a water recovery stream and a light product recovery stream, extracting the aromatics from the light product recovery stream, depressurizing the liquid stream, separating the depressurized liquid stream in a heavy separator into an upgraded product stream, and recycling part of the upgraded product stream to the pressurized, pre-heated petroleum feedstock as a product recycle.

主权项

1. A process for producing aromatics from a hydrocarbon source in the presence of supercritical water, the process comprising the steps of:
mixing a pressurized, pre-heated water stream with a pressurized, pre-heated petroleum feedstock to create a combined stream,
wherein the pressurized, pre-heated water stream and the pressurized, pre-heated petroleum feedstock are at a pressure above a critical pressure of water,wherein the pressurized, pre-heated water stream is heated to a temperature above a critical temperature of water,wherein the pressurized, pre-heated petroleum feedstock is heated to a temperature between 10° C. and 300° C.; feeding the combined stream to a supercritical water reactor to produce a modified stream comprising water, aromatics and other hydrocarbons, wherein the supercritical water reactor is operated in an absence of an external supply of hydrogen gas and wherein the supercritical water reactor is operated in an absence of catalyst; cooling the modified stream in a reactor cooler to create a cooled stream, wherein the cooled stream is cooled to a temperature below 200° C.; depressurizing the cooled stream in a pressure reducer to create a depressurized stream, the depressurized stream comprising water, aromatics, gases, and other hydrocarbons, wherein a pressure of the depressurized stream is between 0.05 MPa and 2.2 MPa; separating the depressurized stream in a vapor-liquid separator to create a vapor stream and a liquid stream, the vapor stream comprising an amount of water and aromatics comprising benzene, toluene, and xylene, wherein the amount of water being a portion of the water present in the depressurized stream; condensing the vapor stream in a condenser to create a condensed stream; separating the condensed stream in a lights separator into a water recovery stream and a light product recovery stream, wherein the light product recovery stream contains the aromatics; extracting the aromatics in an extraction unit from the light product recovery stream to create an aromatic extract stream comprising benzene, toluene, and xylene, and a light product stream depressurizing the liquid stream in a heavy pressure reducer to create a depressurized liquid stream, wherein a pressure of the depressurized liquid stream is below 1 MPa; separating the depressurized liquid stream in a heavy separator into an upgraded product stream and a bottoms water stream, wherein the upgraded product stream comprises upgraded hydrocarbons relative to the pressurized, pre-heated petroleum feedstock; and recycling part of the upgraded product stream to the pressurized, pre-heated petroleum feedstock as a product recycle.