Thermal cracking of condensates to produce olefins and diesel

Abstract

A process for processing condensate feedstock into one or more products including contacting condensate feedstock with steam; recovering in a volatilization device a vapor phase of hydrocarbons with a boiling point of less than 300° C. and a liquid phase of unvaporized hydrocarbons with a boiling point of greater than 300° C.; fractionating the liquid phase in a vacuum distillation column into one or more distillate fractions; hydroprocessing a light and a heavy VGO fraction in a hydroprocessing system to produce a hydroprocessed light and a hydroprocessed heavy VGO fraction and a diesel fraction; collecting the vacuum residue of the vacuum distillation column; and feeding the hydroprocessed heavy and light VGO fractions and the vapor phase to a steam cracking reactor to convert at least a portion of the hydrocarbons to one or more olefins and a pyrolysis oil stream.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A process for processing a condensate feedstock to produce one or more products, the process comprising:
 contacting a condensate feedstock with steam to volatilize a portion of the hydrocarbons;   recovering a vapor phase comprising volatilized hydrocarbons with a boiling point of less than 300° C. and a liquid phase comprising unvaporized hydrocarbons with a boiling point of greater than 300° C. in a volatilization device;   fractionating the liquid phase in a vacuum distillation column into one or more distillate fractions comprising a light VGO fraction, a heavy VGO fraction, and a vacuum residue fraction;   hydroprocessing the light VGO fraction and the heavy VGO fraction in a hydroprocessing system to produce a hydroprocessed light VGO fraction, a hydroprocessed heavy VGO fraction, and a diesel fraction;   collecting the vacuum residue of the vacuum distillation column; and   feeding the hydroprocessed light VGO fraction, the hydroprocessed heavy VGO fraction, and the vapor phase to a steam cracking reactor to convert at least a portion of the hydrocarbons therein to a steam cracker effluent comprising one or more olefins and a pyrolysis oil stream.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the hydroprocessing system further comprises hydroprocessing the light VGO fraction in a first hydroprocessing unit, producing the hydroprocessed light VGO fraction, and hydroprocessing the heavy VGO in a second hydroprocessing unit, producing the hydroprocessed heavy VGO fraction and the diesel fraction with a maximum sulfur content of 10 ppm. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the condensate feedstock comprises from 40 wt % to 99 wt % of hydrocarbons with a boiling material of less than 300° C. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the condensate feedstock comprises from 1 wt % to 20 wt % of hydrocarbons with a boiling material of greater than 500° C. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising preheating the condensate feedstock to a temperature below a bubble point temperature of the condensate feedstock prior to the contacting step. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein one or more products comprises butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, octane, and cyclic and olefinic species of butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, octane. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 6 , further comprising recycling a portion of the one or more olefins into the volatilization device. 
     
     
         8 . A system for producing one or more products from condensate feedstock, the system comprising:
 a volatilization device comprising a steam inlet, a hydrocarbon inlet, a vapor phase outlet and a liquid phase outlet, the volatilization device separating a condensate feedstock into a vapor phase and a liquid phase;   a vacuum distillation column for separating the liquid phase into one or more distillate fractions comprising a light VGO fraction with boiling point in the range of 300 to 370° C., a heavy VGO fraction with a boiling point in the range of 370 to 500° C., and a vacuum residue with a boiling point greater than 500° C.;   a hydroprocessing system configured to hydroprocess the light VGO fraction producing a hydroprocessed light VGO fraction and hydroprocess the heavy VGO fraction producing a hydroprocessed heavy VGO fraction and a diesel fraction; and   a steam cracking reactor for converting the hydrocarbons in the vapor phase, the hydroprocessed light VGO fraction, and the hydroprocessed heavy VGO fraction to form a steam cracker effluent comprising one or more olefins and a pyrolysis oil stream.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the hydroprocessing system is configured to hydroprocess the light VGO fraction in a first hydroprocessing unit, producing the hydroprocessed light VGO fraction, hydroprocess the heavy VGO in a second hydroprocessing unit, producing the hydroprocessed heavy VGO fraction and the diesel fraction with a maximum sulfur content of 10 ppm. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the volatilization device receives condensate feedstock comprising from 40 wt % to 99 wt % of hydrocarbons with a boiling material of less than 300° C. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the volatilization device receives condensate feedstock comprising from 1 wt % to 20 wt % of hydrocarbons with a boiling material of greater than 500° C. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein pyrolysis oil is mixed with the vacuum residue to be collected downstream as VLSO. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein diesel is mixed with the vacuum residue to be collected downstream as VLSFO. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein a preheater preheats the condensate feedstock prior to entry into the volatilization device. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 8 , further comprising a recycle line fluidly connected to the steam cracking reactor and the hydrocarbon inlet to the volatilization device.