Intergrated process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons

Abstract

A process is provided for in-field upgrading of heavy hydrocarbons such as whole heavy oil, bitumen, and the like using supercritical water.

1 . An integrated process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons comprising:
 passing a hydrocarbon feed into an in-field upgrader from a hydrocarbonaceous production source;   mixing the hydrocarbon feed with a fluid comprising water that has been heated to a temperature higher than its critical temperature in a mixing zone to form a mixture;   passing the mixture to a reaction zone;   reacting the mixture in the reaction zone under supercritical water conditions in the absence of externally added hydrogen for a residence time sufficient to allow upgrading reactions to occur;   withdrawing a single-phase reaction product from the reaction zone;   recovering energy from said reaction product for use in the hydrocarbonaceous production source; and   separating the cooled reaction product into gas, effluent water, converted hydrocarbons and unconverted hydrocarbons.   
   
   
       2 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , further comprising the step of applying distillation to the converted hydrocarbons. 
   
   
       3 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 2 , further comprising the step of blending a distillation overheads liquid with a distillation bottoms liquid. 
   
   
       4 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:
 passing dregs to dregs processing;   contacting the dregs with a distillation overheads liquid; and   recycling extracted hydrocarbons back with the hydrocarbon feed.   
   
   
       5 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 mixing dregs with a fluid comprising water that has been heated to a temperature higher than its critical temperature in another mixing zone to form another mixture;   passing the other mixture to another reaction zone;   reacting and extracting hydrocarbons from the other mixture in the other reaction zone under supercritical water conditions in the absence of externally added hydrogen for a residence time sufficient to allow upgrading reactions to occur; and   recycling a reactants product stream from the other reaction zone to the hydrocarbon feed.   
   
   
       6 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 5 , further comprising the step of applying distillation to the converted hydrocarbons. 
   
   
       7 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 6 , further comprising the step of blending a distillation overheads liquid with a distillation bottoms liquid. 
   
   
       8 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 6 , further comprising the step of recycling the distillation overheads liquid back with the hydrocarbon feed. 
   
   
       9 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbonaceous production source is at least one selected from the group consisting of heavy crude oil, tar sands, bitumen, heavy petroleum crude oils, heavy vacuum gas oils, vacuum residuum, petroleum tar, coal tar, oil shale, asphaltenes and mixtures thereof. 
   
   
       10 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the water is at least one selected from the group consisting of drinking water, treated or untreated wastewater, river water, lake water, seawater, produced water and mixtures thereof. 
   
   
       11 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the water has a temperature in a range of about 374° C. to about 420° C. and a pressure in a range of about 3205 to about 4000 psia. 
   
   
       12 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the mixture has an oil/water mass ratio in a range of about 1:1 to about 1:2. 
   
   
       13 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the reacting has a residence time in a range of about 8 min to about 30 min. 
   
   
       14 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the energy is recovered from the reaction product in a plurality of heat exchangers and steam boilers. 
   
   
       15 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , further comprising utilizing the recovered energy in an enhanced oil recovery or steam assisted gravity drain process. 
   
   
       16 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 4 , wherein the dregs processing is conducted in at least one selected from the group consisting of a dregs washer, a mixer-settler unit, and a solids leaching unit. 
   
   
       17 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claims 2  or  6 , wherein the distillation is conducted in a tray or packed column. 
   
   
       18 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the operating pressure of the mixing is in a range of about 3250 to about 3600 psia and the operating temperature of the mixing is in a range of about 385 to about 420° C. 
   
   
       19 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the operating pressure of the reacting is in a range of about 3205 to about 10000 psia and the operating temperature of the reacting is in a range of about 374 to about 1000° C. 
   
   
       20 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the operating pressure of the separating is in a range of about 150 to about 3500 psia and the operating temperature of the separating is in a range of about 50 to about 300° C. 
   
   
       21 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claim 1 , wherein the separating is conducted in at least one two-phase separator or three-phase separator. 
   
   
       22 . The process for in-field upgrading of hydrocarbons according to  claims 2  or  6 , wherein the operating pressure of the distillation is in a range of about 1 to about 50 psia and the operating temperature of the distillation is in a range of about 40 to about 90° C.