Petroleum hydroconversion using acid precipitation of preasphaltenes in resid recycle

摘要

A process for catalytic hydroconversion of heavy petroleum feedstocks containing preasphaltenes to produce lower-boiling hydrocarbon liquid products. In the process, an inorganic acid is added to the reactor effluent residual fraction boiling above about 950° F. to produce substantial precipitation of the preasphaltene materials. The clarified overhead fraction is recycled to the reaction zone, and the precipitated preasphaltene material is passed to further processing, such as coking to recover additional light oils. The reactor can advantageously be an upflow ebullated catalytic bed type and may use fine size catalyst for increased hydroconversion.