The Incompatibility Pitfall in Refining Opportunity Crude Oils

Le résumé fourni par la source

Refining light and heavy oils in different proportions seems attractive, especially in cases of geopolitical, economic, environmental, and logistical constraints. The economical attractiveness could be undermined in cases where incompatibility occurs. The current study explores a highly complex refinery performance during processing a blend consisting of 17 crude oils of which one was extra light, five were light, nine were medium, and two were heavy. A n-heptane dilution test, using centrifugation, was employed to assess the colloidal stability of crude oils. In addition, a previously established correlation to relate crude oil vacuum residue fraction Conradson carbon content to asphaltene peptizability Sa according to ASTM D 7157 was also availed for the purpose of evaluating colloidal stability. It was found that the crude desalter amperage increases with the SBNIBN ratio and Sa reduction, reaching its maximum allowable value of 180 A at the SBNIBN ratio of 1.35, and Sa of 0.64. The SBNIBN ratio was found more reliable in predicting oil compatibility than the other SBNINmax ratio used to assess colloidal stability in various research. Along with the increase in crude desalter amperage, fouling of the heat exchangers of a crude oil distillation plant was also recorded. An intercriteria analysis of process data together with crude composition data, and compatibility indices revealed that the amperage enhancement is statistically meaningfully related to an increase in the heaviest crude oil content in the process blend and the compatibility indices SBNIBN ratio and Sa, while the fouling was related only to the content of one of the light crude oils in the processed blend.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.