초록 ▼

Systems and methods for hydroprocessing heavy oil feedstock is disclosed. The process employs a plurality of contacting zones and at least a separation zone to convert at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming upgraded products. In one embodiment, water and

Systems and methods for hydroprocessing heavy oil feedstock is disclosed. The process employs a plurality of contacting zones and at least a separation zone to convert at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons, forming upgraded products. In one embodiment, water and/or steam being injected into at least a contacting zone. The contacting zones operate under hydrocracking conditions, employing at least a slurry catalyst. In one embodiment, at least a portion of the non-volatile fractions recovered from at least one of the separation zones is recycled back to at least a contacting zone (“recycled mode”). In one embodiment, the number of separation zones is less than the number of contacting zones in the system. In the separation zones, upgraded products are removed overhead and optionally treated in an in-line hydrotreater; and the bottom stream is optionally further treated in a fractionator.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A process for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock, the process employing at least three contacting zones and at least two separation zones, wherein at least one separation zone comprises an interstage flash separator (ISF) interposed between two contacting zones, the process comprising: combini

1. A process for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock, the process employing at least three contacting zones and at least two separation zones, wherein at least one separation zone comprises an interstage flash separator (ISF) interposed between two contacting zones, the process comprising: combining the heavy oil feedstock, a hydrogen containing gas, and a slurry catalyst in a first contacting zone under hydrocracking conditions to convert at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock to upgraded products comprising lower boiling hydrocarbons, and form a mixture comprising the upgraded products comprising lower boiling products, the slurry catalyst, the hydrogen containing gas, and an unconverted portion of the heavy oil feedstock;sending the mixture comprising the upgraded products comprising lower boiling products, the slurry catalyst, the hydrogen containing gas, and the unconverted portion of the heavy oil feedstock to the ISF to separate, as an overhead stream, the upgraded products comprising lower boiling products and the hydrogen containing gas and, as a first non-volatile stream, the slurry catalyst and the unconverted portion of the heavy oil feedstock;wherein the first non-volatile stream is sent to a subsequent contacting zone other than the first contacting zone, which subsequent contacting zone is maintained under hydrocracking conditions with an additional hydrogen containing gas feed, to convert at least a portion of the unconverted portion of the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons and form additional upgraded products comprising lower boiling hydrocarbons;sending a mixture comprising the additional upgraded products, the slurry catalyst, the hydrogen containing gas, the additional hydrogen containing gas, and unconverted heavy oil feedstock from the subsequent contacting zone to at least a separation zone, whereby the additional upgraded products are removed with the additional hydrogen containing gas as an overhead stream, and the slurry catalyst and the unconverted heavy oil feedstock are removed as an additional non-volatile stream;recycling at least a portion of the additional non-volatile stream in an amount between 2 to 50 wt. % of the heavy oil feedstock to at least one of the contacting zones as a recycled catalyst stream,wherein the slurry catalyst comprises a recycled slurry catalyst and a fresh slurry catalyst, wherein at least a portion of the fresh slurry catalyst is fed into a contacting zone other than the first contacting zone, andwherein the number of contacting zones in operation is equal or greater than the number of separation zone(s) in operation. 2. The process of claim 1, wherein water is added to at least one of the contacting zones in an amount of 1 to 25 weight % on the weight of the heavy oil feedstock. 3. The process of claim 2, wherein water is added to the first contacting zone. 4. The process of claim 3, wherein the water is added directly to the heavy oil feedstock forming a mixture prior to feeding the mixture to the first contacting zone. 5. The process of claim 4, wherein the mixture of water and heavy oil feedstock is preheated at a temperature of at least 50° C. below the hydrocracking temperature. 6. The process of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the water is added as steam injection. 7. The process of claim 6, wherein the steam is injected into a plurality of feed points in the at least one of the contacting zones. 8. The process of claim 2, wherein water is added directly into at least a contacting zone at multiple points along the contacting zone, in an amount ranging from 1 to 20 wt. % of the heavy oil feedstock. 9. The process of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the non-volatile stream from the at least a separation zone is recycled to at least one of the contacting zones for use as a recycled slurry catalyst, and remainder of the non-volatile stream is removed from the process as a bleed-off stream in an amount sufficient for the process to have a conversion rate of at least 85%. 10. The process of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the non-volatile stream from the at least a separation zone is recycled to at least one of the contacting zones for use as a recycled slurry catalyst, and remainder of the non-volatile stream is removed from the process as a bleed-off stream in an amount sufficient for the process to have a conversion rate of at least 90%. 11. The process of claim 10, wherein remainder of the non-volatile stream is removed from the process as a bleed-off stream in an amount sufficient for the process to have a conversion rate of at least 95%. 12. The process of claim 11, wherein the recycled stream is sent to the first contacting zone. 13. The process of claim 11, wherein the at least a portion of the non-volatile stream for recycling to at least one of the contacting zones ranges between 3 to 25 wt, % of the heavy oil feedstock to the process. 14. The process of claim 11, wherein the bleed-off stream contains between 3 to 20 wt. % solid as slurry catalyst. 15. The process of claim 11, wherein the bleed-off stream contains between 3 to 10 vol. % solid as slurry catalyst. 16. The process of claim 1, wherein the at least a separation zone is maintained at a temperature within 90° F. of the temperature of the contacting zones, and a pressure within 10 psi of the pressure in the contacting zones. 17. The process of claim 1, wherein additional hydrocarbon oil feed other than heavy oil feedstock, in an amount ranging from 2 to 30 volume % of the heavy oil feedstock, is added to any of the contacting zones. 18. The process of claim 17, wherein the additional hydrocarbon oil feed is selected from vacuum gas oil, naphtha, medium cycle oil, solvent donor, and aromatic solvents. 19. The process of claim 1, wherein the recycled slurry catalyst is from the non-volatile stream from the at least a separation zone. 20. The process of claim 19, wherein all of the fresh slurry catalyst is for feeding a contacting zone other than the first contacting zone. 21. The process of claim 1, further comprising providing at least an additive material selected from inhibitor additives, anti-foam agents, stabilizers, metal scavengers, metal contaminant removers, metal passivators, and sacrificial materials, in an amount ranging from 1 to 20,000 ppm of the heavy oil feedstock to the first contacting zone. 22. The process of claim 21, wherein the additive material comprises a spent slurry catalyst sacrificial material with a BET surface area of at least 1 m2/g. 23. The process of claim 1, wherein the first contacting zone operates at an exit pressure X, and X is at most 100 psi higher than an entry pressure Y of a contacting zone or a separating zone in series with the first contacting zone. 24. The process of claim 1, wherein the plurality of contacting zones are configured in a permutable fashion for the plurality of contacting zones to operate in: a sequential mode; a parallel mode; a combination of parallel and sequential mode; all online; some online and some on stand-by; some online and some off-line; a parallel mode with the effluent stream from the contacting zone being sent to at least a separation zone in series with the contacting zone; a parallel mode with the effluent stream from the contacting zone being combined with an effluent stream from at least another contacting zone and sent to the separation zone; and combinations thereof. 25. The process of claim 1, wherein the ISF operates in full ISF mode. 26. The process of claim 25, wherein the ISF operates in partial ISF mode. 27. The process of claim 1, further comprising feeding additional slurry catalyst to the contacting zone other than the first contacting zone. 28. The process of claim 27, wherein the additional slurry catalyst feed to the contacting zone other than the first contacting zone is a different from the shiny catalyst feed to the first contacting zone. 29. The process of claim 1, wherein the process further employs at least an additional separation zone for treating the non-volatile stream from the at least a separation zone, wherein the additional separation zone operates at a lower pressure than the at least a separation zone for removing lighter products from the non-volatile stream prior to further treatment for de-oiling or metal recovery. 30. A process for hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock, the process employing at least three contacting zones and at least two separation zones, including a first contacting zone and a contacting zone other than the first contacting zone, wherein one of the separation zones is an ISF interposed between the first contacting zone and the contacting zone other than the first contacting zone, the process comprising: combining the heavy oil feedstock, a hydrogen containing gas, and a slurry catalyst in the first contacting zone under hydrocracking conditions to convert at least a portion of the heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons and form upgraded products;sending a mixture comprising the upgraded products, the slurry catalyst, the hydrogen containing gas, and an unconverted portion of the heavy oil feedstock to the ISF, whereby the upgraded products are separated with the hydrogen containing gas as an overhead stream, and the slurry catalyst and the unconverted portion of the heavy oil feedstock are separated as a first non-volatile stream; andcombining the first non-volatile stream with an additional hydrogen containing gas to form a combined stream and sending the combined stream to the contacting zone other than the first contacting zone, which other contacting zone is maintained under hydrocracking conditions to convert at least an additional portion of the unconverted heavy oil feedstock to lower boiling hydrocarbons and form additional upgraded products and a remaining amount of unconverted heavy oil feedstock;sending a mixture comprising the additional upgraded products, the slurry catalyst, the additional hydrogen containing gas, and the remaining amount of unconverted heavy oil feedstock from the contacting zone other than the first contacting zone to at least a separation zone, whereby the additional upgraded products are removed with the additional hydrogen containing gas as an additional overhead stream, and the slurry catalyst and the remaining amount of unconverted heavy oil feedstock are removed as an additional non-volatile fraction;collecting the additional overhead stream for further processing; andcollecting the additional non-volatile fraction for further processing;wherein the number of contacting zones in operation is equal or greater than the number of separation zone(s) in operation and wherein all of the additional non-volatile fraction is collected for further processing in a fractionator or a de-oiling unit and,wherein the additional non-volatile fraction is further processed in a fractionator, wherein the fractionator operates at a lower pressure than the at least a separation zone for removing lighter products from the additional non-volatile stream prior to further treatment for de-oiling or metal recovery. 31. The process of claim 30, wherein the ISF operates in full ISF mode. 32. The process of claim 31, wherein the ISF operates in partial ISF mode.