Method for treating heavy oil

Abstract

According to the invention, there is provided a method for treating heavy crude oil (HCO) which includes the steps of combining the HCO with an alkane containing solvent to form an HCO/solvent mixture, sonicating this mixture at audio frequency to precipitate asphaltenes from the HCO/solvent mixture, and separating the precipitated asphaltenes from the HCO/solvent mixture.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for treating heavy crude oil (HCO) comprising the steps of:
 a) combining said HCO with an alkane containing solvent to form an HCO/solvent mixture;   b) sonicating said mixture at audio frequency to precipitate asphaltenes from the HCO/solvent mixture; and   c) separating the precipitated asphaltenes from the HCO/solvent mixture.   
     
     
         2 . A method as in  claim 1 , vacuum filtering the HCO/solvent mixture to remove precipitated asphaltenes. 
     
     
         3 . A method as in  claim 1 , distilling the HCO-solvent mixture to remove solvent from the HCO/solvent mixture after removal of precipitated asphaltenes so as to create a deasphalted and solvent free synthetic crude oil (SCO). 
     
     
         4 . A method as in  claim 1 , wherein the alkane contains solvent selected from the group consisting of pentane, hexane and iso-octane. 
     
     
         5 . A method as in  claim 1 , wherein the deasphalted HCO/solvent mixture is used as the feedstock for a chemical and/or biological oil upgrading process. 
     
     
         6 . A method as in  claim 5 , wherein the chemical and/or biological process uses enzyme sources. 
     
     
         7 . A method as in  claim 5 , wherein the chemical and/or biological process uses one or more oxidants in the presence of an acid. 
     
     
         8 . A claim as in  claim 6 , wherein the enzyme source is soyabean husk. 
     
     
         9 . A claim as in  claim 8 , wherein the enzyme is peroxidase. 
     
     
         10 . A claim as in  claim 7 , wherein the acid is acetic acid. 
     
     
         11 . A claim as in  claim 7 , wherein the oxidant is hydrogen peroxide combined with iron oxide. 
     
     
         12 . A method as in  claim 1 , wherein the deasphalting time is 2 minutes (120 seconds) or less. 
     
     
         13 . A method as in  claim 13 , wherein the deasphalting time is 60 seconds. 
     
     
         14 . A method as in  claim 1 , wherein the deasphalting solvent:HCO weight ratio is less than or equal to 3.5. 
     
     
         15 . A method as in  claim 15 , wherein the deasphalting solvent:HCO weight ratio is 1.16 or less. 
     
     
         16 . A method as in  claim 16 , wherein the deasphalting solvent:HCO weight ratio is 0.91.