Systems and Methods for Producing a Crude Product

Abstract

A process for hydroprocessing heavy oil feedstock is disclosed. The process operates in once-through mode, employing a plurality of contacting zones and separation zones in sequential mode, parallel mode, or combinations thereof to convert at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming upgraded products. The contacting zones operate under hydrocracking conditions, employing a slurry catalyst for upgrading the heavy oil feedstock. In one embodiment, the effluent stream from the contacting zone is sent to a separation zone in series operating at a pressure drop of at most 100 psi from the contacting zone. In another embodiment, the effluent from a contacting zone to the next contacting zone in series for further upgrade, with the next contacting zone having a pressure drop of at most 100 psi, with the pressure drop is not due to a pressure reducing device as in the prior art.

1 . A process for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock, the process employing a plurality of contacting zones and at least one separation zones, the process comprising:
 providing a hydrogen containing gas feed;   providing a heavy oil feedstock;   providing a slurry catalyst feed comprising an active metal catalyst having an average particle size of at least 1 micron in a hydrocarbon oil diluent;   combining at least a portion of the hydrogen containing gas feed, at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock, at least a portion of the additive material, and at least a portion of the slurry catalyst feed in a first contacting zone under hydrocracking conditions, operating at a first pressure, to convert at least a portion of the first heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming upgraded products, the first contacting zone has an exit pressure of X;   sending a first effluent stream from the first contacting zone to a first separation zone having an entry pressure of Y, wherein volatile upgraded products are removed with the hydrogen containing gas as a first overhead stream, and the slurry catalyst and unconverted heavy oil feedstock are removed as a first non-volatile stream, wherein the first non-volatile stream contains less than 30% solid, wherein the first separating zone has an entry pressure of Y;   recovering the first overhead stream; and   recovering the first non-volatile stream;   wherein there is a pressure drop Z between the exit pressure X of the first contacting zone and the entry pressure Y of the first separation zone, and Z is less than 100 psi.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the pressure drop Z is less than 75 psi. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the pressure drop Z is less than 50 psi. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the pressure drop Z is not due to a pressure reducing device. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the pressure drop Z is due to at least one of friction loss, wall drag, volume increase, and piping components. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the first contacting zone and the first separating zone are in direct fluid communication. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the active catalyst has an average particle size ranging from 1 to 20 microns. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the slurry catalyst comprises clusters of colloidal sized particles of less than 100 nm in size. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the slurry catalyst comprises an active metal catalyst at a concentration of greater than 1000 wppm of active metal catalyst to heavy oil feedstock. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the slurry catalyst comprises an active metal catalyst at a concentration of 1000 wppm to 3 wt. % of active metal catalyst to heavy oil feedstock. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 10 , wherein the slurry catalyst comprises an active metal catalyst at a concentration of at least 1200 wppm of active metal catalyst to heavy oil feedstock. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 adding an amount of water of up to 30 wt % of the first heavy oil feedstock to the first contacting zone.   
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 adding an additional hydrocarbon oil feed other than the heavy oil feedstock, in an amount ranging from 2 to 30 wt. % of the heavy oil feedstock, to the first contacting zone.   
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 13 , wherein the additional hydrocarbon oil feed is selected from vacuum gas oil, naphtha, medium cycle oil, light cycle oil, heavy cycle oil, solvent donor, and aromatic solvents. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 1 , for treating a heavy oil feedstock having a TAN of at least 0.1; a viscosity of at least 10 cSt; an API gravity at most 15; at least 0.0001 grams of Ni/V/Fe; at least 0.005 grams of heteroatoms; at least 0.01 grams of residue; at least 0.04 grams C5 asphaltenes; and at least 0.002 grams of MCR per gram of heavy oil feedstock. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising
 providing at least an additive material selected from inhibitor additives, anti-foam agents, stabilizers, metal scavengers, metal contaminant removers, metal passivators, and sacrificial materials, in an amount of less than 1 wt. % of the heavy oil feedstock to the first contacting zone.   
     
     
         17 . The process of  claim 16 , wherein the additive material is a sacrificial material for trapping metals in the heavy oil feed and coke, having a BET surface area of at least 1 m 2 /g and a total pore volume of at least 0.005 cm 3 /g. 
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein each of the contacting zones in the process is operated at a liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) ranging from 0.075 h −1  to about 2 h −1 . 
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein each of the contacting zones in the process is operated at a liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) ranging from 0. 1 h. −1  to about 1.5 h −1 . 
     
     
         19 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the additive material is an anti-foam agent selected from the group of silicone compounds. 
     
     
         20 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of contacting zones are configured in a permutable fashion for the plurality of contacting zones and separation zones to operate in: a sequential mode; a parallel mode; a combination of parallel and sequential mode; all online; some online and some on stand-by; some online and some off-line; a parallel mode with the effluent stream from the contacting zone being sent to at least a separation zone in series with the contacting zone; a parallel mode with the effluent stream from the contacting zone being combined with an effluent stream from at least another contacting zone and sent to the separation zone; and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         21 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of contacting zones operate in a parallel mode, and further comprising:
 providing to a second contacting zone, also operated under hydrocracking conditions, at least a portion of hydrogen containing gas feed, at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock, and at least a portion of the slurry catalyst feed;   combining the at least a portion of hydrogen containing gas feed, the at least a portion of heavy oil feedstock, and the at least a portion of slurry catalyst in the second contacting zone to convert at least the at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming additional upgraded products;   sending a second effluent stream from the second contacting zone containing the additional upgraded products, the slurry catalyst, the hydrogen containing gas, and unconverted heavy oil feedstock to a second separation zone, wherein additional volatile upgraded products are removed with the hydrogen containing gas as a second overhead stream, and the slurry catalyst and unconverted heavy oil feedstock are removed in a second non-volatile stream containing less than 30% solid;   collecting the second overhead stream for further processing in a product purification unit; and   collecting the second non-volatile stream for further processing including slurry catalyst separation and recovery.   
     
     
         22 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of contacting zones operate in a parallel mode, and further comprising:
 providing to a second contacting zone, also operated under hydrocracking conditions, at least a portion of hydrogen containing gas feed, at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock, and at least a portion of the slurry catalyst feed;   combining the at least a portion of hydrogen containing gas feed, at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock, and at least a portion of the slurry catalyst feed in the second contacting zone to convert at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming additional upgraded products;   sending a second effluent stream from the second contacting zone comprising the additional upgraded products, the slurry catalyst, the hydrogen containing gas, and unconverted heavy oil feedstock to the first separation zone along with the first effluent stream, wherein the first overhead stream and the first non-volatile stream are separated and removed for further processing.   
     
     
         23 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of contacting zones operate in sequential mode, and further comprising, prior to sending the first effluent stream to the first separation zone:
 sending the first effluent stream from the first contacting zone to a second contacting zone which is also maintained under hydrocracking conditions with additional hydrogen containing gas feed to convert at least a portion of the unconverted heavy oil feedstock in the effluent stream to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming additional upgraded products; and   collecting a mixture of the upgraded products, the slurry catalyst, the hydrogen containing gas, and unconverted heavy oil feedstock from the second contacting zone as a feed into the first separation zone.   
     
     
         24 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of contacting zones operate in sequential mode, and further comprising:
 sending the first non-volatile stream from the first separation zone to a second contacting zone which is also maintained under hydrocracking conditions with additional hydrogen containing gas feed to convert at least a portion of the unconverted heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming additional upgraded products;   sending a mixture comprising the additional upgraded products, the slurry catalyst, the additional hydrogen containing gas, and unconverted heavy oil feedstock to a second separation zone, whereby volatile additional upgraded products are removed with the additional hydrogen containing gas as an overhead stream, and the slurry catalyst and unconverted heavy oil feedstock are removed as a second non-volatile stream.