Refinery, shale oil

A flow diagram for a proposed shale oil refinery is shown in Figure 5. An FCC unit is used as the primary cracking process. This refinery produces high-octane gasoline and diesel fuel. Jet fuel also could be produced by severely hydrogenating a kerosene cut (10) from the whole-oil hydrotreater or by using a hydrocracker in place of the FCC. The... 

Phenol has been detected in the effluent discharges of a variety of industries. It was found in petroleum refinery waste water at concentrations of 33.5 ppm (Pfeffer 1979) and 100 ppb (Paterson et al. 1996), in the treated and untreated effluent from a coal conversion plant at 4 and 4,780 ppm, respectively (Parkhurst et al. 1979), and in shale oil waste water at a maximum of 4.5 ppm (Hawthorne and Sievers 1984). It has also been detected in the effluent from a chemical specialties manufacturing plant at 0.01-0.30 ppm (Jungclaus et al. 1978), in effluent from paper mills at 5-8 ppb (Keith 1976 Paterson et al. 1996), and at 0.3 ppm in a 24-hour composite sample from a plant on the Delaware River, 2 and 4 miles downriver from a sewage treatment plant (Sheldon and Hites 1979). 

Energy demand, the implementation of sulfur oxide pollution controls, and the future commercialization of coal gasification and liquefaction have increased the potential for the development of considerable supplies of sulfur and sulfuric acid as a result of abatement, desulfurization and conversion processes. Lesser potential sources include shale oil, domestic tar sands and heavy oil, and unconventional sources of natural gas. Current supply sources of saleable sulfur values include refineries, sour natural gas processing and smelting operations. To this, Frasch sulfur production must be added. 

One of the primary problems to be encountered in energy conversion facilities will be the variability of the feedstock. A coal or oil shale facility will probably see greater variability, day-by-day, than experienced in planned changes in oil refinery crude runs. Even with extensive blending in the feed stockpile, the variation in feed characteristics will be significant. 

Jet fuel - [PETROLEUM - REFINERY PROCESSES, SURVEY] (Vol 18) -biocide for [DISINFECTANTS AND ANTISEPTICS] (Vol 8) -centrifugal separation of [SEPARATION - CENTRIFUGALSEPARATION] (Vol21) -from oil shale [OIL SHALE] (Vol 17)... 

Hydrogenation tests made on the 600°-1000°F heavy gas oil from in situ crude shale oil showed that a nickel-molybdenum-on-ahimina catalyst was superior to either cobalt-molybdenum-on-alumina or nickel-tungsten-on-alumina catalysts for removing nitrpgen from shale oil fractions. This nickel-molybdenum-on-alumina catalyst was used in the preparation of the synthetic crude oil. A high yield of premium refinery feedstock whose properties compared favorably with those of a syncrude described by the NPC was attained by hydrogenating the naphtha, light... 

Although the first major use of coal liquids will be as boiler fuels, it is clear that in order to make the largest impact on the U.S. liquid fuel demand, products from direct liquefaction have to be upgraded to quality liquid fuels for both transportation and home heating oil uses. The products coming from the all-distillate coal liquefaction processes such as H-Coal Syncrude, SRC-II and Donor Solvent, along with shale oil production will be candidates for use as refinery feedstock. 

Hydrotreated shale oil has an advantage as a refinery feed. In contrast to most petroleum crude oils, it contains essentially no residuum. Properties of the hydrotreated product from whole shale oil are similar to those of distillate fractions from waxy petroleum Arabian or Sumatran crudes. An exception is the sulfur content which is much lower for hydrotreated shale oil than for most crudes. 

The 650°F+ fraction of the hydrotreated shale oil was processed in in FCC pilot plant, and the results show that it is an excellent feed for a conventional refinery. The resulting FCC yields, activity, and product qualities are quite similar to those derived from normal petroleum gas oils. 

The results of this study are, therefore, quite encouraging. Shale oil appears to be an attractive feed for processing in existing refineries that have appropriate hydrotreating facilities. 

In a 1977 test run in Chevron U.S.A. s Salt Lake Refinery, hydro-treating facilities were adequate stable products were produced by coking a mixture of in situ shale oil and crude oil residua (3). 

Figure 5. Flow diagram of proposed hydrotreating/FCC refinery for Paraho shale oil. Ch is butanes and lighter use for H2 plant feed, gasoline blending, and refinery fuel Foul gas and water are treated to recover NHS ana sulfur. Low-pressure catalytic reformer uses bimetallic catalyst.

The following summarizes the yields estimated in this way for Paraho shale oil (in wt % ) olefins (ethylene, propylene, butadiene, 12.2 BTX, 23.5 fuels (including methane), 39.8 coke, 18.3 and hydrogen consumption (net), 0.9. No internal fuel requirements are reflected in these yields. The 36% yield to olefins and BTX could probably be increased significantly by further work, especially on steam pyrolysis to olefins. A bench mark is given in Ref. 8 for a hypothetical petrochemical refinery operated to obtain a 60% yield of BTX and olefins from petroleum. 

The concentration of arsenic in shale oil is higher than other crude oils (3). However, this will have to be removed before refining because it might poison the catalysts used in most modem refinery processes. 

H2-demand in refineries is increasing strongly with the working up of heavier crude and in the future oil shale, oil sands and coal oils (compensation of the H/C ratio)... 

Nitrogen-containing compounds always pose problems for oil refinery industry via catalyst poisoning (1). Their combustion products also cause great concern in air pollution (2). Due to higher nitrogen content in shale oil and coal liquid (1-2%) than in crude oil (<0.5%), it is essential to lower the nitrogen content in shale oil before any refinery processes are performed. 

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