Process for upgrading heavy oil and bitumen

摘要

Disclosed is a process for the upgrading and demetallizing of heavy oils and bitumens. A crude heavy oil and/or bitumen feed is supplied to a solvent extraction process 104 wherein DAO and asphaltenes are separated. The DAO is supplied to an FCC unit 106 having a low conversion activity catalyst for the removal of metals contained therein. The demetallized distillate fraction is supplied to a hydrotreater 110 for upgrading and collected as a synthetic crude product stream. The asphaltene fraction can be supplied to a gasifier 108 for the recovery of power, steam and hydrogen, which can be supplied to the hydrotreater 110 or otherwise within the process or exported. An optional coker unit 234 can be used to convert excess asphaltenes and/or decant oil to naphtha, distillate and gas oil, which can be supplied to the hydrotreater 220.

主权项

1. A process for upgrading crude oil from a subterranean reservoir of heavy oil or bitumen, comprising:
thermally treating a heavy oil or bitumen to produce a resid containing metals; solvent deasphalting the resid containing metals in a solvent deasphalting unit to form an asphaltene fraction and a deasphalted oil (DAO) fraction, wherein the DAO fraction is essentially free of asphaltenes and has a reduced metals content; combusting a first portion of the asphaltene fraction to generate steam, wherein carbon dioxide and the generated steam are injected through one or more injection wells in communication with the subterranean reservoir to mobilize the heavy oil or bitumen; gasifying a second portion of the asphaltene fraction to produce hydrogen; supplying a feed comprising the DAO fraction to a reaction zone of a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit with a FCC catalyst to produce a demetallized hydrocarbon effluent in the FCC unit at a conversion rate of about 35 percent by volume to about 60 percent by volume of the feed to the FCC unit, wherein the DAO fraction in the feed is supplied directly to the FCC unit from the solvent deasphalting unit, and wherein operating conditions in the FCC unit are adjusted to control proportions of naphtha, distillate, and gas oil in the hydrocarbon effluent from the FCC unit; recovering the hydrocarbon effluent having a reduced metal content from the FCC unit; removing sulfur compounds from at least a portion of the hydrocarbon effluent by amine absorption in a sulfur removal unit; and hydrotreating the hydrocarbon effluent with the produced hydrogen at a pressure of about 3.5 MPa to about 10.5 MPa to produce a low sulfur hydrocarbon effluent.