HEAVY OIL UPGRADING APPARATUS AND HEAVY OIL UPGRADING METHOD

摘要

A heavy oil upgrading apparatus and upgrading method areprovided in which the advance degree of thermal cracking ofthe heavy oil can be controlled when the heavy oil is upgradedby using supercritical water. A reactor 1 is maintained ata temperature and a pressure equal to or higher than criticalpoints of water. In the reactor, a heavy oil and supercriticalwater are brought into contact with each other and the heavyoil is separated into a first phase composed of a heavy residualoil fraction obtained by thermal cracking and supercriticalwater dissolved in the heavy residual oil fraction and a secondphase composed of the supercritical water and a light oilfraction extracted into the supercritical water, whileadvancing thermal cracking of the heavy oil. An interfacedetection unit 75 detects a height position of an interfacebetween the first phase and the second phase in the reactor.A control unit 7 controls the withdrawn amount of the mixedfluid of the heavy residual oil fraction and the supercriticalwater on the basis of the volume of the first phase found fromthe height position of the interface, so that a residence timeof the mixed fluid of the heavy residual oil fraction and thesupercritical water dissolved in the heavy residual oilfraction becomes a first residence time that has been set inadvance.