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US 8,105,480B2 12 PROCESS FOR TREATING HEAVY OILS Thisapplicationclaimsprioritybasedonprovisionalappli cation Ser. No. 60/905,171, ?led Mar. 6, 2007, the contents of Whichareincorporatedbyreferenceintheirentirety. This invention relates to a process for treating heavy oils. More particularly,thisinventionrelatestoaprocessfortreat ing heavy oils by destructuring such heavy oils through molecular rearrangement, thereby reducing the viscosity of such heavy oils. Such treating is effected by subjecting a heavy oil to cavitation. The treated heavy oil has a reduced viscosity due to molecular rearrangement, and its further processingorupgradingmay beeffectedunderconditionsof loWerseveritythanuntreatedheavyoil. The term “heavy oil”, as used herein, includes oils Which are classi?ed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), as heavy oils or extra heavy oils. In general, a heavy hydrocar bon oil has an API gravity between 22.30 (density of 920 kg/m3or0.920g/cm3)and10.00(densityof1,000kg/m3or1 g/cm3).An extraheavyoilingeneralhasanAPI gravityof 20 less than 10.00 (density greater than 1,000 kg/m3 or greater than1g/cm3).Forexample,heavyoilsmaybeextractedfrom oil sands, atmospheric tarbottoms products, vacuum tarbot tomsproducts,shaleoils,coal-derivedliquids,crudeoilresi dues,andtoppedcrudeoils. 25 Such heavy oils, hoWever, are highly viscous and dif?cult to pump through pipelines, and require high severity tech niquesforupgrading. Heavy oils in general have macro and micro structural properties as Well as having speci?c chemical constitutive 30 molecules. The chemical constitutive molecules belong to tWo generic categories, maltenes and asphaltenes. Maltenes are soluble in 40 volumes of pentane, While asphaltenes are solubleintoluenebutinsolubleinpentane.Alsopresentinthe heavyoilsaremetals,particularlynickelandvanadium.The 35 metalsareassociatedmainlyWiththeasphaltenes.Thespatial organiZationofmaltenesandasphaltenesresultsinthemacro and micro structural properties, With the molecular organiZa tion causing the high viscosities, Which pose a problem in transportingsuchoils,andinseparatingtheasphaltenesfrom40 themaltenes. More particularly, the asphaltenes are formed by a core of polynuclear aromatic molecules grouped in layers, to Which alkyl chains are attached. The core is surrounded by and immersed in the maltene material. The maltene material 45 includes free saturates (some of them cyclic), mono- and diaromatics and resins Which are believed to be associated closelyWiththeasphaltenes.ThisorganiZationisconsidered tobethemicrostructureandthecoreoftheasphaltenescanbe consideredaspossessingmicrocrystallinearrangements.The microstructural organization forms aggregates in Which sev eral microcrystalline arrangements form a micellar structure knoWn as a macrostructure. The micellar structure or macro structure has strong associative and cohesive forces betWeen the aggregates, Which accounts for the high viscosity of the heavyoil. US. Pat.No.5,096,566disclosesamethodofreducingthe viscosityofaheavyoilbyheatingaheavyhydrocarbonoilto a temperature of 350°-450o C., and heating a gas, such as hydrogenornitrogen,toatemperatureof400-9000C.The 60 heavyoilandtheheatedgasthenaremixedinamixer,andthe mixture of heavy oil and gas in the mixer is subjected to a pressureoffrom700to2,000psi.Themixturethenispassed through a small noZZle or ori?ce such that a pressure drop of from500to1,500psioccursacrossthenoZZleorori?ce,and the heavy oil and gas mixture is ejected from the noZZle or ori?ce,therebyprovidinganoilhavingareducedviscosity. When theheavyoilismixedWiththehydrogen,mildhydro cracking of the heavy oil also occurs. This oil then may be processed further, such as in a reaction Zone, for example. InaccordanceWithanaspectofthepresentinvention,there is provided a process for treating a heavy oil. The process comprisessubjectingaliquidcomprisingaheavyoiltocavi tation in order to reduce the viscosity of the heavy oil. In a non-limiting embodiment, the heavy oil is treated in theabsenceofhydrogen. The term “liquid”, as used herein, means a liquid at stan dardtemperatureandpressure. The term, “standard temperature and pressure,” as used herein, means 1 atmosphere pressure and 150 C. As is knoWn in the art, cavitation means the formation, groWth, and collapse or implosion of gas or vapor ?lled bubblesinliquids.Cavitationrequiresthepresenceofsmall and transient microcavities or microbubbles of vapor or gas. The microcavities or microbubbles groW, and then implode or collapse.Theimplosion,orsuddencompressionandcollapse ofthemicrocavitiesormicrobubblesraisesthetemperatureof the interface betWeen the microcavities or microbubbles and theheavyoilforveryshorttimeintervals,i.e.,microseconds. Such temperature increases facilitate free radical formation and chemical reaction. Thus,duringcavitation,aportionoftheliquidcomprising the heavy oil is in the form of a gas Which is dispersed as bubblesintheliquidportion. Such cavitationmay be effectedby means knoWn tothose skilled in the art, such as, for example, by hydrodynamic cavitation, or ultrasonic cavitation. It is to be understood, hoWever, that the scope of the present invention is not to be limited to any speci?c method of effecting cavitation. In a non-limiting embodiment, the liquid comprising the heavyoilissubjectedtohydrodynamiccavitation.Inhydro dynamic cavitation, the liquid comprising the heavy oil, a portionofWhichisintheformofagasdispersedintheliquid, is passed through a restriction or cavitation Zone, such as, for example, a capillary or noZZle, to increase the velocity of the mixture.The gaseousportionmay bepresentpriortopassing theliquidcomprisingtheheavyoilthroughthecavitation Zoneand/orsuchgaseousportionmay beproducedasaresult ofthepressuredropthatresultsfrompassingtheliquidcom prisingtheheavyoilthroughthecavitationZone. In general, one can determine Whether hydrodynamic cavi tationhasoccurredbydeterminingthecavitationnumberfor the heavy oil, Which is passed through the cavitation Zone. The cavitation number may be determined in metric units accordingtothefolloWingequation: Wherein o c is the cavitation number, P is the local static pressureoftheheavyoil,Pvisthevaporpressureoftheheavy oil,pisthedensityoftheheavyoil,andVisthevelocityofthe heavyoil. In general, depending upon the exact parameters employed,thecavitationnumber,(Ic,doesnotexceed1.5.It is to be understood, hoWever, that, Within the scope of the presentinvention,theremay becavitationincertaininstances When the cavitation number is greater than or equal to 1.5. In a non-limiting embodiment, the liquid comprising the heavyoilispassedthroughthecavitationZone,Whichmaybe intheformofacapillaryornoZZleorothertypeofrestriction, ata velocity offrom about 100 m/ sec to about 300 m/ sec, and 50 55 65PDF Image | PROCESS FOR TREATING HEAVY OILS
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