| 摘要 |
<p>The present invention relates to a method of improving a heavy hydrocarbon, such as bitumen, to a lighter more fluid product and, more specifically, to a final hydrocarbon product that is refinery-ready and meets pipeline transport criteria without the addition of diluent. A solid asphaltene by-product is created for easy handling and further processing. The invention is targeted to enhance Canadian bitumen, but has general application in improving any heavy hydrocarbon. The process comprises: (a) pre-heating a process fluid in a heater to a designed temperature; (b) moving the pre-heated process fluid to a reactor, and optimally converting asphaltenes in the process fluid within the reactor to produce a stream of thermally affected asphaltene-nch fraction( s), and a stream of non-condensible vapour and lighter liquid hydrocarbon(s); (c) deasphalting the thermally affected asphaltene-nch stream with a solvent extraction process into a stream of heavy deasphalted oil (DAO) and a second stream containing concentrated asphaltene; (d) separating dry thermally affected asphaltene solids from the second stream in a separation unit, recovering the process solvent; (e) a produced refinery feedstock comprising at least one of the produced streams.</p> |
