Nozzle reactor and method of use

Abstract

Embodiments of a nozzle reactor of the type useable to inject a first material feed stock and a second material feed stock to cause interaction between the first material feed stock and second material feed stock are described herein. According to some embodiments, the nozzle reactor may crack residual oil produced by other processing units in a refinery process. Furthermore, nozzle reactors may replace traditional processing units of a refinery process, such as cokers, hydrocrackers and deasphalting units.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A feed material cracking method comprising:
 injecting a stream of cracking material through a cracking material injector into a reaction chamber; and   injecting residual oil into the reaction chamber adjacent to the cracking material injector and traverse to the stream of cracking material entering the reaction chamber from the cracking material injector.   
     
     
         2 . The feed material cracking method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the residual oil comprises asphaltene. 
     
     
         3 . The feed material cracking method as claimed in  claim 2 , further comprising the step of mixing the asphaltene with a solvent prior to injecting the asphlatene into the reaction chamber. 
     
     
         4 . The feed material cracking method as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the solvent is selected from the group consisting of toluene, Aromatic 100, Aromatic 150, and vacuum gasoil. 
     
     
         5 . The feed material cracking method as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the asphaltene and solvent are mixed at a asphaltene:solvent ratio of from about 1:2 to about 2:1. 
     
     
         6 . The feed material cracking method as claimed  claim 1 , wherein the residual oil comprises coke. 
     
     
         7 . The feed material cracking method as claimed in  claim 6 , further comprising the steps of:
 grinding the coke to thereby form up ground coke; and   mixing the ground coke with a solvent prior to injecting the ground coke into the reaction chamber.   
     
     
         8 . The feed material cracking method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein grinding the coke comprises grinding the coke to a particle size less than 250 microns. 
     
     
         9 . The feed material cracking method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the solvent comprises Aromatic 100, Aromatic 150, or VGO. 
     
     
         10 . The feed material cracking method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the ground coke and solvent are mixed at a solvent:ground coke ratio of from about 2:1 to about 1:1. 
     
     
         11 . A method of modifying a refinery plant including at least one of a coker, a hydrocracker, and a deasphalting unit, the method comprising:
 replacing at least one of the coker, hydrocracker, and deasphalting unit with a nozzle reactor, the nozzle reactor comprising in combination:
 a reactor body having a reactor body passage with an injection end and an ejection end; 
 a first material injector having a first material injection passage and being mounted in the nozzle reactor in material injecting communication with the injection end of the reactor body, the first material injection passage having (a) an enlarged volume injection section, an enlarged volume ejection section, and a reduced volume mid-section intermediate the enlarged volume injection section and enlarged volume ejection section, (b) a material injection end, and (c) a material ejection end in injecting communication with the reactor body passage; and 
   a second material feed port penetrating the reactor body and being (a) adjacent to the material ejection end of the first material injection passage and (b) transverse to a first material injection passage axis extending from the material injection end and material ejection end in the first material injection passage in the first material injector.   
     
     
         12 . The method of modifying a refinery plant as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein the refinery plant comprises a coker, hydrocracker, and a deasphalting unit and wherein each of the coker, hydrocracker and deasphalting unit are replaced with a nozzle reactor. 
     
     
         13 . The method of modifying a refinery plant as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein the enlarged volume injection section, reduced volume mid-section, and enlarged volume ejection section in the first material injection passage cooperatively provide a substantially isentropic passage for a first material feed stock through the first material injection passage. 
     
     
         14 . The method of modifying a refinery plant as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein the reactor body passage has a varying cross-sectional area and wherein the cross-sectional area of the reactor body passage either maintains constant or increases between the injection end and the ejection end of the reactor body passage. 
     
     
         15 . The method of modifying a refinery plant as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein the at least one of the coker, hydrocracker and deasphalting unit remains in the refinery plant after replacing at least one of the coker, hydrocracker and deasphalting unit with the nozzle reactor, and wherein a material that passes through the nozzle reactor uncracked is recycled back to the at least one of the coker, hydrocracker and deasphalting unit that remains in the refinery plant.