Applied Research Associates, Inc.

A process and system for reducing contaminants contained in a contaminated feedstock comprising mixing the contaminated feedstock with water and at least one of metal scavengers or reactants, to form a feedstock-water-reactant mixture, feeding the mixture under pressure into a hydrothermal purification reactor, wherein the mixture is subject to heat, pressure, and turbulent flow conditions to cause rapid reaction of the inorganic contaminants with the metal scavengers or reactants to form inorganic salts that partition into an aqueous phase and maintaining the temperature, pressure, and turbulent flow conditions of the feedstock-water-reactant mixture for a predetermined space time to prevent the organic portion of the feedstock in the mixture from undergoing a conversion reaction and to form a hydrothermal reactor effluent; and separating the effluent into the aqueous phase containing salts of the inorganic contaminants and an organic phase that contains a lower concentration of inorganic contaminants than the contaminated feedstock.

A process and system for upgrading an organic feedstock including providing an organic feedstock and water mixture, feeding the mixture into a high-rate, hydrothermal reactor, wherein the mixture is rapidly heated, subjected to heat, pressure, and turbulent flow, maintaining the heat and pressure of the mixture for a residence time of less than three minutes to cause the organic components of the mixture to undergo conversion reactions resulting in increased yields of distillate fuels, higher-quality kerosene and diesel fuels, and the formation of high octane naphtha compounds. Hydrocarbon products are cooled at a rate sufficient to inhibit additional reaction and recover of process heat, and depressurizing the hydrocarbon products, and separating the hydrocarbon products for further processing. The process and system can include devices to convert olefinic hydrocarbons into paraffinic hydrocarbons and convert olefinic byproduct gas to additional high-octane naphtha and/or heavier hydrocarbons by one of hydrogenation, alkylation, or oligomerization.

A process and system for upgrading an organic feedstock including providing an organic feedstock and water mixture, feeding the mixture into a high-rate, hydrothermal reactor, wherein the mixture is rapidly heated, subjected to heat, pressure, and turbulent flow, maintaining the heat and pressure of the mixture for a residence time of less than three minutes to cause the organic components of the mixture to undergo conversion reactions resulting in increased yields of distillate fuels, higher-quality kerosene and diesel fuels, and the formation of high octane naphtha compounds. Hydrocarbon products are cooled at a rate sufficient to inhibit additional reaction and recover of process heat, and depressurizing the hydrocarbon products, and separating the hydrocarbon products for further processing. The process and system can include devices to convert olefinic hydrocarbons into paraffinic hydrocarbons and convert olefinic byproduct gas to additional high-octane naphtha and/or heavier hydrocarbons by one of hydrogenations, alkylation, or oligomerization.

A process and system for upgrading an organic feedstock including providing an organic feedstock and water mixture, feeding the mixture into a high-rate, hydrothermal reactor, wherein the mixture is rapidly heated, subjected to heat, pressure, and turbulent flow, maintaining the heat and pressure of the mixture for a residence time of less than three minutes to cause the organic components of the mixture to undergo conversion reactions resulting in increased yields of distillate fuels, higher-quality kerosene and diesel fuels, and the formation of high octane naphtha compounds. Hydrocarbon products are cooled at a rate sufficient to inhibit additional reaction and recover of process heat, and depressurizing the hydrocarbon products, and separating the hydrocarbon products for further processing. The process and system can include devices to convert olefinic hydrocarbons into paraffinic hydrocarbons and convert olefinic byproduct gas to additional high-octane naphtha and/or heavier hydrocarbons by one of hydrogenation, alkylation, or oligomerization.

A process and system for reducing contaminants contained in a contaminated feedstock comprising mixing the contaminated feedstock with water and at least one of metal scavengers or reactants, to form a feedstock-water-reactant mixture, feeding the mixture under pressure into a hydrothermal purification reactor, wherein the mixture is subject to heat, pressure, and turbulent flow conditions to cause rapid reaction of the inorganic contaminants with the metal scavengers or reactants to form inorganic salts that partition into an aqueous phase and maintaining the temperature, pressure, and turbulent flow conditions of the feedstock-water-reactant mixture for a predetermined space time to prevent the organic portion of the feedstock in the mixture from undergoing a conversion reaction and to form a hydrothermal reactor effluent; and separating the effluent into the aqueous phase containing salts of the inorganic contaminants and an organic phase that contains a lower concentration of inorganic contaminants than the contaminated feedstock.

A process and system for reducing contaminants contained in a contaminated feedstock comprising mixing the contaminated feedstock with water and at least one of metal scavengers or reactants, to form a feedstock-water-reactant mixture, feeding the mixture under pressure into a hydrothermal purification reactor, wherein the mixture is subject to heat, pressure, and turbulent flow conditions to cause rapid reaction of the inorganic contaminants with the metal scavengers or reactants to form inorganic salts that partition into an aqueous phase and maintaining the temperature, pressure, and turbulent flow conditions of the feedstock-water-reactant mixture for a predetermined space time to prevent the organic portion of the feedstock in the mixture from undergoing a conversion reaction and to form a hydrothermal reactor effluent; and separating the effluent into the aqueous phase containing salts of the inorganic contaminants and an organic phase that contains a lower concentration of inorganic contaminants than the contaminated feedstock.

A process and system for reducing contaminants contained in a contaminated feedstock comprising mixing the contaminated feedstock with water and at least one of metal scavengers or reactants, to form a feedstock-water-reactant mixture, feeding the mixture under pressure into a hydrothermal purification reactor, wherein the mixture is subject to heat, pressure, and turbulent flow conditions to cause rapid reaction of the inorganic contaminants with the metal scavengers or reactants to form inorganic salts that partition into an aqueous phase and maintaining the temperature, pressure, and turbulent flow conditions of the feedstock-water-reactant mixture for a predetermined space time to prevent the organic portion of the feedstock in the mixture from undergoing a conversion reaction and to form a hydrothermal reactor effluent; and separating the effluent into the aqueous phase containing salts of the inorganic contaminants and an organic phase that contains a lower concentration of inorganic contaminants than the contaminated feedstock.

A process and system for converting a high-pour-point organic feedstock to an upgraded product that exhibits good low-temperature properties (cloud point, pour point, and viscosity) and improved transportability. The high-efficiency process includes a continuous-flow, high-rate hydrothermal reactor system and integrated separation systems that result in low complexity, small footprint, high energy efficiency, and high yields of high-quality upgraded product. The system is specifically desirable for use in converting waxy feedstocks, such as yellow and black wax petroleum crudes and wax from the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process, into upgraded crude that exhibits a high diesel fraction and, correspondingly, low vacuum gas oil (VGO) fraction.