METHOD FOR IMPROVING THE TRANSPORTABILITY OF HEAVY CRUDE OIL

摘要

The invention relates to a method for improving the transportability of heavy crude oil. Proceeding from the disadvantages of the known prior art, a method is to be devised which can be carried out with little effort and without special safety precautions. As an additive, a water-containing hydrocarbon mixture with a chain length of predominantly C4 to C12 is used, said mixture not containing oxygen-containing hydrocarbon compounds. The hydrocarbon mixture is produced in parallel in the region of a petroleum deposit from natural gas and/or an associated gas and from a heavy crude oil sub-quantity which has been branched off. In the process, a first syngas and a second syngas are produced as intermediate products which are mixed in a mixer and then compressed. Subsequently, the syngas is catalytically converted into methanol, and the methanol is converted into a methanol/water mixture (crude methanol) by a condensation process and then catalytically converted into a dimethyl ether/methanol/water mixture. The water-containing hydrocarbon mixture with a chain length of C4 to C12 is produced by a dehydration process, said mixture being either untreated or added to the heavy crude oil after a degasification and/or dewatering process. A light crude oil is obtained from the heavy crude oil, and the light crude oil can be transported to a refinery via lines and increases the produced quantity of gasoline by the hydrocarbons contained in the water-containing hydrocarbon mixture during the subsequent refining process of the light crude oil into conventional gasoline.