Lee E. Brecher

Development of the Write Process for Pipeline-Ready Heavy Oil

Work completed under this program advances the goal of demonstrating Western Research Institutes (WRIs) WRITE{trademark} process for upgrading heavy oil at field scale. MEG Energy Corporation (MEG) located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada supported efforts at WRI to develop the WRITE{trademark} process as an oil sands, field-upgrading technology through this Task 51 Jointly Sponsored Research project. The project consisted of 6 tasks: (1) optimization of the distillate recovery unit (DRU), (2) demonstration and design of a continuous coker, (3) conceptual design and cost estimate for a commercial facility, (4) design of a WRITE{trademark} pilot plant, (5) hydrotreating studies, and (6) establish a petroleum analysis laboratory. WRITE{trademark} is a heavy oil and bitumen upgrading process that produces residuum-free, pipeline ready oil from heavy material with undiluted density and viscosity that exceed prevailing pipeline specifications. WRITE{trademark} uses two processing stages to achieve low and high temperature conversion of heavy oil or bitumen. The first stage DRU operates at mild thermal cracking conditions, yielding a light overhead product and a heavy residuum or bottoms material. These bottoms flow to the second stage continuous coker that operates at severe pyrolysis conditions, yielding light pyrolyzate and coke. The combined pyrolyzate and mildly cracked overhead streams form WRITE{trademark}s synthetic crude oil (SCO) production. The main objectives of this project were to (1) complete testing and analysis at bench scale with the DRU and continuous coker reactors and provide results to MEG for process evaluation and scale-up determinations and (2) complete a technical and economic assessment of WRITE{trademark} technology to determine its viability. The DRU test program was completed and a processing envelope developed. These results were used for process assessment and for scaleup. Tests in the continuous coker were intended to determine the throughput capability of the coker so a scaled design could be developed that maximized feed rate for a given size of reactor. These tests were only partially successful because of equipment problems. A redesigned coker, which addressed the problems, has been build but not operated. A preliminary economic analysis conducted by MEG and an their engineering consultant concluded that the WRITE{trademark} process is a technically feasible method for upgrading bitumen and that it produces SCO that meets pipeline specifications for density. When compared to delayed coking, the industry benchmark for thermal upgrading of bitumen, WRITE{trademark} produced more SCO, less coke, less CO{sub 2} per barrel of bitumen fed, and had lower capital and operating costs. On the other hand, WRITE{trademark}s lower processing severity yielded crude with higher density and a different product distribution for naphtha, light gas oil and vacuum oil that, taken together, might reduce the value of the SCO. These issues plus the completion of more detailed process evaluation and economics need to be resolved before WRITE{trademark} is deployed as a field-scale pilot.

FIELD TESTING OF THE TABORR (TANK BOTTOM RECOVERY AND REMEDIATION) PROCESS USING THE ASPHALT AND DRY BOTTOMS CONFIGURATIONS

The TaBoRR{reg_sign} (Tank Bottom Recovery and Remediation) process being developed at Western Research Institute (WRI) offers an alternative to current disposal methods. The TaBoRR process is designed to: (1) process these wastes, (2) provide a cost saving, and (3) limit or reduce the environmental liability of the producers. This process removes the water through evaporation, eliminating water disposal costs, creates a salable crude oil that has been valued at or above the current market price for sweet West-Texas intermediate crude, and reduces the solids to a benign state for disposal at a landfill. This report presents the background information associated with this program, a detailed description of the process, and the work that has been completed during the first year of this program. The plant assembly, unit operations, product analyses of the materials created during operations, the pyrolyzer design, and permitting of the process in Wyoming are described. Also discussed in the report is the future work required to take this process to commercialization. Future work discussed includes shakedown and operation of the pyrolyzer, control systems and plant automation, integrated operations, equipment reliability, effluent sample analysis, and long-term testing of the process.