Milena Savioli Lopes

Recovery and Characterization of Petroleum Residues Through the Molecular Distillation Process

Molecular distillation process is an efficient way to separate complex residues to obtain improvement and a more complete characterization of crude oils. It presents advantages such as to generate distillation products that can be experimentally characterized, and the operation conditions of this process generate distillate cuts with an atmospheric equivalent boiling point (AEBP) above 650°C without risks of thermal degradation. The aim of this work is to carry out the separation of two vacuum residues (VR) within the process temperature range from 550 to 670°C, using the Brazilian Molecular Distillation equipment. As a result, five distillate cuts and five residues from molecular distillation processing were generated. The molecular distillation (MD) technique provided a gain in distillate yield of about 10% over the conventional methods. The efficiency of the technique was verified through the vapor pressure osmometry experiments and the extension of true boiling point (TBP) curves of petroleum. The extended TBP curves by the molecular distillation process demonstrated that this alternative method is appropriate to extend the TBP curves to temperatures above those of the conventional methods.

Development of correlation for extension of the true boiling point (TBP) and molar mass

ABSTRACT The true boiling point curve (TBP) is an important tool for the petroleum industry; it is used to obtain the behavior of petroleum during distillation. This work developed a correlation for the extension of the TBP curve by means of molecular distillation. TBP curve is well established for a temperature of 565°C in a conventional distillation. With the correlation developed, it is possible to reach values near 1,000°C. A second correlation was also developed for predicting the values of molar mass of waste petroleum. Both correlations demonstrated to be valid and represent a great advancement for the petroleum industry.

Molecular distillation of heavy petroleum fractions: Knowledge-based understanding of its hydrodynamic parameters

ABSTRACT The hydrodynamic parameters of molecular distillation (mean free path – MFP and Knudsen number – Kn) were estimated under a screening of evaporator temperature (423.15-623.15 K) and the pressure system (0.1-1.0 Pa). The modeling and simulation were based on the kinetic theory for a set of twenty-five pseudo-components in a heavy petroleum fraction (HPF). The results demonstrated that when distances from 0.02 to 0.08 m between the evaporator and condenser were considered, the Kn (0.01 – 2.0) elucidated a pattern with the characteristics of free-molecule flow (molecular flow regime). These results offer new insight into the processing of HPFs.

Extending the true boiling point curve of a heavy crude oil by means of molecular distillation and characterization of the products obtained

ABSTRACT Petroleum is evaluated by means of the true boiling point (TBP) curve, making possible to investigate the yields of the products that will be obtained in refineries, as well as establishing operating strategies and process optimization. Refineries determine TBP curves until 838 K. With molecular distillation the TBP can reach values up to 973 K. Molecular distillation shows potential in the separation, purification, and concentration of products. Eta residue is fractioned and the TBP of the whole crude oil is extended. Products of the distillation were characterized by density, SimDis (simulated distillation), and molar mass. Results showed that density and molar mass of the cuts obtained increase as the process temperature increases. These analyses confirm the efficiency of the separation method by molecular distillation.