Residuum and heavy oil upgrading with the CANMET hydrocracking process

The advantages of the CANMET hydrocracking process are: Feed Flexibility - high levels of the main feed contaminants, sulfur, nitrogen and metals do not have a deleterious effect on the process. Hence, a wide range of feedstocks can be upgraded by this process including residuum from conventional crudes; Operability - extended runs indicate that the process will operate continuously with little sensitivity to operational problems even with difficult feedstocks such as Cold Lake and Boscan heavy oil. During extended operation nearly constant pitch conversion and product yields and qualities are obtained; High Distillate Yields - the CANMET Process can produce over 100 vol % distillate, compared to 83 vol % for coking process; Flexibility of Operation - the amount of pitch converted can easily be controlled by adjusting reactor temperature and liquid feed rate. Thus, the required product slate can be obtained by simply changing the operating conditions; Thermal Stability - because the process does not employ an active catalyst, the potential for thermal run-away and development of hot spots is considerably reduced; High Pitch Conversion - the CANMET additive permits sustained controlled and repeatable operation at pitch conversions higher than 90 wt % on a wide range of feedstocks;more » Reduced Operating Pressure - the action of the additive as a processing aid allows substantial reduction in operating pressure below that for competitive commercial technology; and Efficient Hydrogen Utilization - Since CANMET does not employ an active desulfurizing catalyst, overall hydrogen consumption for a given conversion is low. Almost all of the hydrogen goes to distillate product.« less