US 4,308,128 AGranted

Producing liquid hydrocarbon streams by hydrogenation of fossil-based feedstock

AssigneeDut Pty Limited

InventorDonald R. Cummings

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Abstract

An economic route to transport fuels from low grade feedstocks containing organic polycyclic components and mineral and/or metallic components comprises separating the feedstock into (a) a residue containing fuel values and substantially all of the mineral and metallic components and (b) a liquid hydrocarbon fraction; hydrogenating the liquid hydrocarbon fraction; providing hydrogen for the hydrogenation by steam reforming methane-containing gas recovered from the hydrogenated material; and providing the heat for the steam reforming by immersing the reformer reactor tubes in a fluidized bed heated by combustion of residue from the separation step. If the fluidized bed is pressurized, the process can be made substantially self-contained with all the heat and power requirements for steam generation and feedstock compression for hydrogenation and steam reforming being recovered from the flue gas.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A process which comprises the steps of separating a fossil-based feedstock containing a substantial proportion of high molecular weight organic polycyclic components and also mineral and/or metallic components to provide (a) a residue containing fuel values and substantially all of said mineral and/or metallic components and (b) a liquid hydrocarbon fraction;

reducing the average molecular weight of said liquid hydrocarbon fraction by hydrogenation;
and fractionating hydrogenated material thereby obtained to form a gaseous fraction containing substantially all the methane in the hydrogenated product and at least one liquid hydrocarbon stream;
and providing hydrogen for said hydrogenation by steam reforming a methane-containing gas provided from said gaseous fraction, the reforming being effected at elevated temperature in a reactor vessel which is at least partly immersed in a fluidised bed of finely divided solid material which is heated by combustion of a fuel provided at least in part from said residue of said separation step.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.