Changing Refinery Configuration for Heavy and Synthetic Crude Processing Gary Brierley UOP LLC 2006 UOP LLC. All rights reserved. UOP 4525A-01
Why Should I Even Think About Running Synthetics? Oil sands deposits in Western Canada are huge 1.7 trillion barrels total oil in place 174 billion barrels of recoverable oil with existing technology Cumulative production since 1967 only 4 billion barrels Recoverable reserves could increase dramatically with improved technology UOP 4525A-02
Bitumen-derived Crudes Replacing Declining Conventional Crudes Thousands of Barrels per Day 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 1990 1995 from Western Canada Upgraded Bitumen/SCO Non-Upgraded Bitumen Conventional Heavy Conventional Light 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Source: Purvin & Gertz,, 2005 UOP 4525A-04
Synthetic Crudes and Bitumen Blends Available in Market Condensate Refining Heavy SCO DilBit SynDilBit Heavy Crude Refineries Bitumen Production (Mining or In-Situ) Source: Purvin & Gertz,, 2004 Upgrading Light SCO Light Synthetic Crude Oil (SCO) SynBit Medium Crude Refineries Light Crude Refineries UOP 4525A-05
Diluent Shortages will Make SynBits the Dominant Heavy Crude from Western Canada 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 1995 1995 2000 2000 2001 2001 2002 2002 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006 2007 2007 2008 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 0 SynBit DilBit Conventional Heavy Thousands of Barrels per Day Thousands of Barrels per Day 2015 2015 2020 2020 Source: Purvin & Gertz,, 2005 UOP 4525A-06
Western Canadian Select (WCS) Will Become a New Benchmark Crude Became available in January 2005 Currently at 350 KBPD Expected to reach 500 KBPD by 2008 Each batch contains: Condensate Hydrotreated synthetic crude Heavy conventional crude Medium conventional crude Cold Lake bitumen Athabasca bitumen UOP 4525A-07
Bitumen-derived Crude Composition Different from Conventional Crudes 100% 80% vol-% 60% 40% 20% 0% WTI Arab Light ANS Lloyd Blend Bow River DilBit WCS SCO Resid Vacuum Gas Oil Distillate Naphtha/LPG UOP 4525A-08
Processing Bitumen-derived Crudes Affects All Areas of the Refinery Bitumen Blends High resid content Coking or SDA required High contaminant level High-severity hydrotreating High VGO content after resid conversion Synthetic Crudes No resid content Blending with other heavy crudes Low-quality distillate High-severity hydrotreating Large volume of low- quality VGO FCC feed pretreatment UOP 4525A-09
Processing Bitumen-derived Crudes Affects All Areas of the Refinery Bitumen Blends Synthetic Crudes High resid content No resid content Coking or SDA Blending with other required heavy crudes High contaminant Low-quality distillate level High-severity High-severity hydrotreating hydrotreating Large volume of low- High VGO content quality VGO after resid conversion FCC feed pretreatment Additional VGO Conversion Required! UOP 4525A-09
Increasing Distillate Demand Will Change Refinery Product Slate Ratio (Volumetric Basis) 2.40 2.00 1.60 1.20 USA G:D Ratio Forecast 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 Year Source: Purvin and Gertz 2005 GPMO Distillate demand growing faster than gasoline demand Increased dieselization of U.S. vehicle fleet VGO conversion will shift from FCC to hydrocracking for distillate production UOP 4525A-03
Adding 25% Synthetic VGO Reduces FCC Yields 80% 70% LPG Gasoline LCO CSO 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Brent Brent + Sweet Blend Brent + Sour Blend Crude Blend UOP 4525A-10
Bitumen-derived VGOs are Hydrogen Lean and Contaminant Rich Property Lt. Arabian Cold Lake Athabasca Coker VGO VGO VGO HGO Gravity, API 22.7 16.3 14.2 11.4 Sulfur, wt-% 2.10 3.10 3.77 4.99 Nitrogen, wppm 820 1380 1854 4032 Hydrogen, wt-% 12.47 11.38 10.80 10.43 Total Aromatics, vol-% 58 60 69 76 UOP 4525A-13
Integration of Hydroprocessing and FCC Operation is the Key to Processing Bitumen-derived Crudes Diesel HDS FCC Gasoline FCC Feed Hydrogen Content Must be Optimized UOP 4525A-11
Gasoline Yield, Vol-% 72 68 64 60 56 52 48 What is the Right Hydrogen Content for FCC Feed? Vacuum Gas Oil Ebullated-bed bed Hydrocracker Gas Oil Bottoms Coker Gas Oil 11.4 11.6 11.8 12 12.2 12.4 12.6 12.8 13 13.2 13.4 13.6 13.8 Hydrogen Content, Wt-% UOP 4525A-12
FCC Feed Pretreat Economics Improve as Feed Quality Worsens 700 600 500 400 300 200 Inc Op Costs, $MM/yr ISBL Costs, $MM NPV, $MM Tougher Tougher Feeds Feeds - Higher Higher NPV NPV 100 0 Brent Brent + Sweet Syn. Blend Brent + Sour Syn. Blend Arab Light Arab + Sweet Syn. Blend Arab + Sour Syn. Blend UOP 4525A-14
FCC Feed Pretreating is Not Always the Right Solution FCC capacity still limited by high VGO content of bitumen-derived crudes High-quality distillate fuels cannot be produced in an FCC unit UOP 4525A-15
Hydrocracking Required to Convert Incremental VGO and Produce Right Product Mix Diesel Unionfining FCC Gasoline Gasoline Unicracking Diesel FCC Gasoline UOP 4525A-16
Is the Once-through Unicracking Process the Right Choice? Higher yields of naphtha and distillate Higher quality FCC feedstock Flexibility to adjust conversion for seasonal demand UOP 4525A-17
Once-through Unicracking Process Produces FCC Feed with High Hydrogen Content R-1 60 61.5 R-2 H 2 5 Naphtha 64 12 Kerosene 16 mm Smoke Point 17 Heavy Diesel 45 Cetane No. 30 FCC Feed Feed UOP 4525A-18
Increased Conversion Produces Higher-quality Fuels 30 80 Smoke Smoke Point Point 25 20 Cetane Cetane Index Index 15 10 70 60 50 5 40 0 0 20 40 Conventional VGO Feed 40 60 80 100 Conversion, wt-% 30 Kerosene Smoke Point, mm Kerosene Smoke Point, mm Diesel Cetane Index Diesel Cetane Index UOP 4525A-19
Separate-hydrotreat Configuration Provides Flexibility 30 R-2 H 2 11 Naphtha R-1 60 95 16 Kerosene 23 mm Smoke Point 8 Heavy Diesel 57 Cetane No. 30 30 FCC Feed Feed Independent Control of Distillate and FCC Feed Qualities UOP 4525A-20
Advanced Partial-conversion Unicracking (APCU) Integrates FCC Feed Pretreatment with ULSD Production VGO Feed Co-feed H 2 HT Rx PT Rx AMINE Fractionation HC Rx E HS SEP Enhanced Hot Separator ULSD FCC Feed UOP 4525A-21
Unicracking Process is the Right Choice for Converting Incremental VGO Optimizes FCC feed hydrogen content Produces high-quality distillate fuels to meet growing demand Diesel produced can meet all ULSD specs Product slate can be seasonally adjusted Small incremental capital cost to upgrade from FCC feed pretreating to Unicracking process UOP 4525A-22
Summary Bitumen-derived crudes will be an increasing crude component for northern US refiner Significant processing implications will prompt both resid and VGO hydroprocessing conversion Intelligent hydroprocessing solutions will be required to cost effectively accomplish the upgrading of synthetic crudes. UOP 4525A-23
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