Processing hydrocarbon-containing materials

#Processing hydrocarbon-containing materials can permit useful intermediates or products to be extracted from the materials. Natural hydrocarbon-containing materials can include a variety of other substances in addition to hydrocarbons.

#Systems and methods are disclosed herein for processing a wide variety of different hydrocarbon-containing materials, such as light and heavy crude oils, natural gas, bitumen, coal, and such materials intermixed with and/or adsorbed onto a solid support, such as an inorganic support. In particular, the systems and methods disclosed herein can be used to process (e.g., crack, convert, isomerize, reform, separate) hydrocarbon-containing materials that are generally thought to be less easily processed, including oil sands, oil shale, tar sands, and other naturally-occurring and synthetic materials that include both hydrocarbon components and solid matter (e.g., solid organic and/or inorganic matter).

#Such materials can be especially difficult to mix with liquids, e.g., with water or a solvent system during processing. For example, if the materials are low density, the materials tend to float to the surface of the liquid, or if the materials are high density they tend to sink to the bottom of the mixing vessel, rather than being dispersed. In some cases, the materials can be hydrophobic, highly crystalline, or otherwise difficult to wet. At the same time, it is desirable to process the feedstock in a relatively high solids level dispersion, for efficiency and in order to obtain a high final concentration of the desired product after processing.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a sequence of steps for processing hydrocarbon-containing materials.

#FIGS. 2 and 2A are diagrams illustrating jet flow exiting a nozzle.

#FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a jet-flow agitator according to one embodiment. FIG. 3A is an enlarged perspective view of the impeller and jet tube of the jet-flow agitator of FIG. 3. FIG. 3B is an enlarged perspective view of an alternate impeller.

#FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a technique 100 for processing hydrocarbon-containing materials such as oil sands, oil shale, tar sands, and other materials that include hydrocarbons intermixed with solid components such as rock, sand, clay, silt, and/or solid organic material. These materials may be in their native form, or may have been previously treated, for example treated in situ with radiation as described below. In a first step of the sequence shown in FIG. 1, the hydrocarbon-containing material 110 can be subjected to one or more optional mechanical processing steps 120. The mechanical processing steps can include, for example, grinding, crushing, agitation, centrifugation, rotary cutting and/or chopping, shot-blasting, and various other mechanical processes that can reduce an average size of particles of material 110, and initiate separation of the hydrocarbons from the remaining solid matter therein. In some embodiments, more than one mechanical processing step can be used. For example, multiple stages of grinding can be used to process material 110. Alternatively, or in addition, a crushing process followed by a grinding process can be used to treat material 110. Additional steps such as agitation and/or further crushing and/or grinding can also be used to further reduce the average size of particles of material 110.

#In a second step 130 of the sequence shown in FIG. 1, the hydrocarbon-containing material 110 can be subjected to one or more optional cooling and/or temperature-cycling steps. In some embodiments, for example, material 110 can be cooled to a temperature at and/or below a boiling temperature of liquid nitrogen. More generally, the cooling and/or temperature-cycling in step 130 can include, for example, cooling to temperatures well below room temperature (e.g., cooling to 10° C. or less, 0° C. or less, −10° C. or less, −20° C. or less, −30° C. or less, −40° C. or less, −50° C. or less, −100° C. or less, −150° C. or less, −200° C. or less, or even lower temperatures). Multiple cooling stages can be performed, with varying intervals between each cooling stage to allow the temperature of material 110 to increase. The effect of cooling and/or temperature-cycling material 110 is to disrupt the physical and/or chemical structure of the material, promoting at least partial dissociation of the hydrocarbon components from the non-hydrocarbon components (e.g., solid non-hydrocarbon materials) in material 110. Suitable methods and systems for cooling and/or temperature-cycling of material 110 are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/081,709, filed on Jul. 17, 2008, and U.S. Ser. No. 12/502,629, filed Jul. 14, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

#In a third step 140 of the sequence of FIG. 1, the hydrocarbon-containing material 110 can be exposed to charged particles or photons, such as photons having a wavelength between about 0.01 nm and 280 nm. In some embodiments, the photons can have a wavelength between, e.g., 100 nm to 280 nm or between 0.01 nm to 10 nm, or in some cases less than 0.01 nm. The charged particles interact with material 110, causing further disassociation of the hydrocarbons therein from the non-hydrocarbon materials, and also causing various hydrocarbon chemical processes, including chain scission, bond-formation, and isomerization. These chemical processes convert long-chain hydrocarbons into shorter-chain hydrocarbons, many of which can eventually be extracted from material 110 as products and used directly for various applications. The chemical processes can also lead to conversion of various products into other products, some of which may be more desirable than others. For example, through bond-forming reactions, some short-chain hydrocarbons may be converted to medium-chain-length hydrocarbons, which can be more valuable products. As another example, isomerization can lead to the formation of straight-chain hydrocarbons from cyclic hydrocarbons. Such straight-chain hydrocarbons may be more valuable products than their cyclized counterparts.