Shale oil stabilization with a hydrogen donor quench and a hydrogen transfer catalyst

A process for producing shale oil, comprising the steps of:

• feeding raw oil shale into a surface retort;
• feeding solid heat carrier material comprising a combusted particulate-laden residual stream and combusted retorted material into said retort;
• retorting said raw oil shale by mixing said raw oil shale with said solid heat carrier material in said surface retort at a retorting pressure ranging from atmospheric pressure to about 50 psig at a sufficient retorting temperature to liberate a effluent particulate-laden product stream comprising hydrocarbons and entrained oil shale particulates;
• agglomerating a substantial portion of said oil shale particulates in said particulate-laden product stream by feeding a hydrogen donor and a hydrogen transfer catalyst at about the same pressure as said retorting pressure in said surface retort into said particulate-laden product stream substantially immediately after said particulate-laden product stream exits said retort;
• partially dedusting said particulate-laden product stream by removing less than about 99% by weight oil shale particulates from said particulate-laden product stream in a cyclone after said hydrogen donor and said hydrogen transfer catalyst have been added to said particulate-laden product stream;
• substantially removing said hydrogen transfer catalyst from said particulate-laden product stream after a substantial portion of said oil shale particulates have been agglomerated;
• separating a fraction of normally liquid shale oil containing said hydrogen donor quench and a substantial portion of said entrained oil shale particulates from said hydrogen donor quenched product stream;
• separating said fraction in at least one solids-liquid separation device into a substantially dedusted stream of hydrogen donor and shale oil containing a substantially lower concentration of said oil shale particulates than said fraction and a particulate-laden residual stream laden consisting a substantially higher concentration of said oil shale particulates than said fraction;
• upgrading said dedusted stream with an upgrading gas comprising hydrogen in the presence of an upgrading catalyst under upgrading conditions;
• and
• substantially combusting said particulate-laden residual stream and said retorted material for use as said solid heat carrier material in said retort.

A process for producing shale oil, comprising the steps of:

• (a) feeding raw oil shale into a surface retort selected from the group consisting essentially of a screw conveyor retort with a surge bin, a rotating pyrolysis drum with an accumulator having a rotating trommel screen, a fluid bed retort, a static mixer retort with a surge bin, and a gravity flow retort;
• (b) feeding solid heat carrier material comprising combusted oil shale and shale dust at a temperature ranging from about 1000.degree. F. to about 1400.degree. F. into said retort;
• (c) retorting said raw oil shale by contacting said raw oil shale with said solid heat carrier material in said retort at a pressure ranging from atmospheric pressure to about 50 psig and at a temperature ranging from about 850.degree. F. to about 1000.degree. F. to liberate an effluent dust-laden product stream comprising hydrocarbons and entrained particulates of raw, retorted and combusted oil shale dust ranging in size from less than one micron to 1000 microns;
• (d) withdrawing said dust-laden product stream from said surface retort;
• (e) injecting a normally liquid, hydrogen donor quench into said dust-laden product stream at a feed ratio ranging from about 0.1:1 to about 100:1 pounds of hydrogen donor quench per pound of dust-laden product stream substantially immediately after said dust-laden product stream is withdrawn from said retort to enhance removal of said oil shale dust from said dust-laden product stream and substantially stabilize and limit polymerization of said dust-laden product stream and enhance agglomeration of said shale dust while concurrently feeding a hydrogen transfer catalyst at a pressure ranging from atmospheric pressure to about 50 psig into said dust-laden product stream to substantially increase the reaction rate of said hydrogen donor quench said hydrogen transfer catalyst comprising at least one reaction component selected from the group consisting of platinum, irridium, cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, chromium, and combinations thereof on a support selected from the group consisting essentially of alumina, carbon, silica, and combinations thereof;
• (f) substantially removing said hydrogen transfer catalyst from said hydrogen donor quenched stream and partially dedusting said hydrogen donor quenched product stream in at least one gas-solids separation device selected from the group consisting essentially of a cyclone and a filter;
• (g) separating hydrogen transfer catalyst from said shale dust in a solids separator selected from the group consisting of a cyclone and a filter;
• (h) separating a fraction of normally liquid shale oil containing said hydrogen donor quench and from about 1% to about 70% by weight of said shale dust from said partially dedusted, hydrogen donor quenched product stream in at least one separator selected from the group consisting essentially of a fractionator, scrubber, and quench tower;
• (i) feeding said fraction of shale oil containing said shale dust and said hydrogen donor quench at a temperature above the pour point of said shale oil to at least one deduster selected from the group consisting essentially of a centrifuge, desalter, and dryer;
• (j) separating said fraction in said deduster into a substantially dedusted product stream comprising shale oil and said hydrogen donor quench and a residual stream of sludge comprising substantially shale dust;
• (k) substantially combusting said retorted shale and said separated shale dust in a combustor selected from the group consisting of a lift pipe combustor, a generally horizontal combustor and a fluid bed combustor, to form heat carrier material for use in steps (b) and (c);
• (l) contacting said dedusted stream with a mild severity upgrading gas selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and hydrogen rich gas in the presence of a mild severity catalyst under mild severity upgrading conditions in a first stage upgrading reactor selected from the group consisting of a hydrotreater and a hydrocracker;
• (m) separating said mild severity upgraded product stream into a hydrogen rich gaseous fraction, a light shale oil fraction, a residual product fraction, and a hydrogen donor fraction in a separator selected from the group consisting of a distillation column and an extraction column;
• (n) contacting said residual product fraction with a high severity upgrading gas selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and a hydrogen rich gas in the presence of a high severity catalyst under high severity upgrading conditions in a second stage upgrading reactor selected from the group consisting of a hydrotreater, catalytic cracker, and a hydrocracker;
• (o) recycling said hydrogen donor fraction for use as said hydrogen donor quench in step (e);
• and
• (p) substantially removing trace metals and shale dust from said hydrogen transfer catalyst after said hydrogen transfer catalyst has been removed from said hydrogen donor quenched product stream and then recycling said hydrogen transfer catalyst for use in step (e).