REFINING

AQUACONVERSIONTM PROCESS

The Aquaconversion process is a residue catalytic REFINERY APPLICATION

hydrovisbreaking technology offered jointly by UOP, In the refinery application, the Aquaconversion process
Foster Wheeler USA Corporation, and PDVSA-Intevep. can replace or modify conventional visbreaking. The
Aquaconversion process’s ability to reduce the viscosity
The Aquaconversion process significantly extends
of the heavier compo-
the traditional visbreaking process, while retaining its
nents of the refinery’s
low-investment advantages (Figure 1). As with vis-
fuel oil pool allows
breaking, the residue is heated to high temperatures
the refiner to benefit
where it thermally cracks. However, unlike traditional
from increased fuel
thermal cracking processes in which polymerization
oil production at min-
reactions decrease the yield of distillates and increase
imal incremental
the quantity of asphaltenes, the Aquaconversion process
investment. In addi-
suppresses condensation reactions through mild hydro-
tion, the process
genation of the free radicals formed concurrently with
enables the refiner to
the thermal cracking. This hydrogenation is achieved by
profit from the addi-
a unique catalyst-activated transfer of hydrogen from a
tional yields of distil-
small amount of water added to the feed. The mild
late and lighter
hydrogenation allows significantly higher conversion to
products produced at
be achieved without precipitation of asphaltenes.
conversion levels sig-
The Aquaconversion process has a refinery application nificantly higher than those attainable with conventional
and a wellhead application. visbreaking technologies (Figure 2). These benefits are
higher when processing heavy crude residues compared
to light crude residues.

Figure 1
Aquaconversion Process Figure 2
Fractionator Gas + Gasoline
Comparison of Aquaconversion
Soaker
(Optional) Distillate
Stripper
and Visbreaking Processes
Heater
50,000
47,500 Cutter
Steam 43,700 Resid
Feed 40,000
Fuel Oil Yield, BPD

Light Gas Oil 17,500 37,000

14,300
Steam
9,700
Additive
30,000
Make-up Additive
Recovery Resid
20,000 30,000 29,400
27,300
Quench

10,000

0
Raw Visbreaker Aquaconversion
Crude
WELLHEAD APPLICATION COMMERCIAL DEMONSTRATION
The Aquaconversion process can also upgrade extra In addition to several years of pilot plant demonstration
heavy crude oil to produce a lighter synthetic crude. work at capacities of 1 BBl/day and 10 BBl/day, the
Significant accumulations of these extra heavy crudes in Aquaconversion chemistry has been successfully demon-
Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt and other areas of the world are strated on the commercial scale. In December 1996 and
very difficult to bring to market. The traditional method July 1997, UOP, Foster Wheeler USA and PDVSA-
has been to use a diluent to create acceptable properties Intevep participated in two Aquaconversion process test
of viscosity and °API for transportation. However, in runs on an existing 38,000 Bbl/day soaker visbreaker
many cases these diluents are not available in sufficient located at the ISLA refinery in Curacao, NA.
quantities near the wellhead. Even where they are avail-
able, the significant differential in value between the dilu- ECONOMICS
ent and the final crude product hurts the economics of
Economic studies have shown simple paybacks between
this approach. The Aquaconversion process is able to con-
12 and 18 months for the revamp of an existing visbreak-
vert these extra heavy crudes to an acceptable synthetic
er. These economics can be more favorable if existing
crude without expensive diluents or capital-intensive bot-
equipment can be utilized for the catalyst addition and
tom of the barrel upgrading technology to move the crude
recovery system, or if differentials between fuel oil and
to market (Table 1).
distillates are favorable.

Table 1 Economics of the wellhead application have shown a 7%

Crude Upgrading improvement in ROI over more conventional upgrading
schemes. This improvement is attributed to the lower
Properties Crude SCO capital investment of the Aquaconversion process and the
Gravity, °API 8.2 15.0 elimination of capital and operating costs associated with
Viscosity, cSt @ 100°F 140,000 82 providing large quantities of diluent.
Sulfur, wt-% 3.69 2.95
TAN, mg KOH/g 3.3 <0.2
Concarbon, wt-% 14.5 13.0
Volumetric yield, vol-% 100.0 102.3

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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For more information, contact your UOP representative or
UOP at:

Phone: 847-391-2000
Fax: 847-391-2253
PDVSA E-mail: [email protected]
INTEVEP

© 2001 UOP LLC. All rights reserved.

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patented invention without a license. It is offered solely for your consideration.
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