Method of and apparatus for upgrading and gasifying heavy hydrocarbon feeds

An apparatus for producing sweet synthetic crude from a heavy hydrocarbon feed comprising:

• a) an upgrader comprising:
• I. a distillation column for receiving said heavy hydrocarbon feed and producing a distillate fraction, and a non-distilled fraction containing sulfur, asphaltene and metals;
• II a solvent deasphalting unit for processing said non-distilled fraction and producing a deasphalted oil stream and an asphaltene stream, an outlet of said deasphalting unit containing said deasphalted oil being connected to an inlet of a thermal cracker and wherein said asphaltene stream comprises said high-carbon by-products;
• III said thermal cracker thermally cracking said deasphalted oil and forming a thermally cracked stream;
• b) a gasifier for gasifying said asphaltenes in the presence of air or oxygen and producing ash and a gas mixture:
• c) a scrubber which receives said gas mixture and water and produces sour water and a clean sour gas mixture;
• d) a first gas processor which receives said clean sour gas mixture and produces a sweet synthetic fuel gas, said first gas processor comprises:
• I a solvent contactor which receives lean solvent from a solvent regenerator and said clean sour gas mixture and produces a sweet product and rich solvent;
• II said solvent regenerator receiving said rich solvent and producing said lean solvent and acid gas;
• III a sulfur recovery unit which receives said acid gas and produces sulfur and a sulfur-depleted gas which is incinerated as required and vented to the atmosphere;
• and
• IV a liquid recovery unit which receives said sweet product and produces sweet synthetic fuel gas and sour water;
• e) a hydroprocessing unit for receiving said sour products and hydrogen gas, thereby producing gas and said sweet crude, said hydroprocessing unit comprising:
• I a hydroprocessor which receives said distillate feed and hydrogen gas and produces a high-pressure hydroprocessed product;
• II a first flash vessel which receives said high-pressure hydroprocessed product and produces high pressure sour gas and high pressure flashed product;
• III a second flash vessel which receives said high pressure flashed product and produces low pressure sour gas and low pressure flashed product;
• IV a stripper which receives said low pressure flashed product and steam and produces low pressure sour gas, sour water and sweet synthetic crude;
• V a first solvent contactor in fluid communication with a first solvent regenerator and containing a clean solvent, said first solvent contactor receiving said high pressure high pressure sour gas from said first flash vessel and producing sweet recycle gas which is fed to said hydroprocessor and sour solvent, said first solvent regenerator receiving said sour solvent and producing said clean solvent which is fed to said first solvent contactor and hydrogen sulfide and ammonia;
• and
• VI a second solvent contactor in fluid communication with a second solvent regenerator and containing clean solvent, said second solvent contactor receiving said low pressure sour gas from said second flash vessel and from said stripper and producing fuel gas and sour solvent, said second solvent regenerator receiving said sour solvent and producing said clean solvent which is fed to said second solvent contactor;
• and
• f) a hydrogen recovery unit for receiving said synthetic fuel gas and producing further hydrogen gas and hydrogen-depleted synthetic fuel gas, said further hydrogen gas being supplied to said hydroprocessing unit.

A method for producing sweet synthetic crude from a heavy hydrocarbon feed comprising:

• a) upgrading said heavy hydrocarbon feed in an upgrader and thereby producing a distillate feed including sour products, and high-carbon content by-products;
• b) gasifying in a gasifier said high-carbon contentby-products and producing synthetic fuel gas and sour by-products;
• c) hydroprocessing said sour products along with hydrogen gas, thereby producing gas and said sweet crude;
• and
• d) recovering hydrogen in a hydrogen recovery unit from said synthetic fuel gas and producing further hydrogen gas and hydrogen-depleted synthetic fuel gas, and supplying said further hydrogen gas to said hydroprocessing unit, wherein said gasifying step is conducted in the presence of air or oxygen and produces ash and a gas mixture;
• e) scrubbing said gas mixture along with water thereby producing sour water and a clean sour gas mixture;
• f) processing said clean sour gas mixture in a first gas processor thereby producing a sweet synthetic fuel gas;
• g) processing a portion of said clean sour gas mixture thereby producing a processed gas mixture;
• and
• h) producing a hydrogen-enriched gas mixture from a synthetic fuel gas using a system having a membrane.

An apparatus for upgrading a heavy hydrocarbon feed comprising:

• a) a first distillation column for receiving said heavy hydrocarbon feed and producing a first distillate fraction, and a first non-distilled fraction containing sulfur, asphaltene and metals;
• b) a solvent deasphalting unit for processing said non-distilled fraction and producing a deasphalted oil stream and a first asphaltene stream, an outlet of said deasphalting unit containing said deasphalted oil being connected to an inlet of a thermal cracker and wherein said first asphaltene stream comprises high-carbon by-products, said thermal cracker thermally cracking said deasphalted oil and forming a thermally cracked stream;
• c) a second distillation column for receiving said thermally cracked deasphalted oil and producing a second distillate fraction and a second non-distilled fraction containing sulfur, asphaltene and metals;
• d) a further solvent deasphalting unit for processing said second non-distilled fraction and producing a second deasphalted oil stream and a second asphaltene stream, an outlet of said further deasphalting unit containing said deasphalted oil being connected to an inlet of said first distillation column and wherein said second asphaltene stream comprises said high-carbon by-products;
• and
• e) means for combining said first asphaltene stream and said second asphaltene stream.

A method for upgrading a heavy hydrocarbon feed comprising the steps of:

• a) distilling said heavy hydrocarbon feed in a first distillation column and producing a first distillate fraction, and a first non-distilled fraction containing sulfur, asphaltene and metals;
• b) solvent deasphalting said non-distilled fraction and producing a deasphalted oil stream and a first asphaltene stream, connecting an outlet of said deasphalting unit containing said deasphalted oil to an inlet of a thermal cracker and wherein said first asphaltene stream comprises high-carbon byproducts, said thermal cracker thermally cracking said deasphalted oil and forming a thermally cracked stream;
• c) distilling said thermally cracked deasphalted oil in a second distillation column for and producing a second distillate fraction and a second non-distilled fraction containing sulfur, asphaltene and metals;
• d) further solvent deasphalting said second non-distilled fraction and producing a second deasphalted oil stream and a second asphaltene stream, connecting an outlet of said further deasphalting unit containing said deasphalted oil to an inlet of said first distillation column and wherein said second asphaltene stream comprises also high-carbon by-products;
• and
• e) combining said first asphaltene stream and said second asphaltene stream.