Process and apparatus for treating petroleum oils and solid fuels

Claim 1

A PROCESS OF TREATING A WATER-CONTAINING PARTICULATE SOLID CARBONACEOUS FUEL AND A PETROLEUM OIL HAVING A RELATIVELY LOW CONTENT OF COMPONENTS BOILING BELOW 250*C. AT NORMAL PRESSURE, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF CONTACTING SAID PETROLEUM OIL WITH SAID WATER-CONTAINING, PARTICULATE, SOLID CARBONACEOUS FUEL THE SAME BEING CAPABLE TO BE PARTIALLY CONVERTED INTO BITUMEN BY APPLICATION OF HEAT, SO AS TO FORM A MIXTURE OF SAID PETROLEUM OIL AND SAID SOLID FUEL, SUBJECTING SAID MIXTURE TO A TEMPERATURE OF ABOUT 350*C. AT AN ELEVATED PRESURE SO CHOSEN AS TO SUBSTANTIALLY PREVENT EVAPORATION OF OIL FROM SAID MIXTURE WHILE ALLOWING EVAPORATION OF WATER THEREFORM, THEREBY FORMING STEAM AND FILLING PORES OF SAID SOLID FUEL WITH PETROLEUM OIL, WITHDRAWING THE THUS FORMED STEAM, RAISING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE THUS FORMED SUBSTANTIALLY WATER-FREE MIXTURE TO ABOUT 400*C. SO AS TO CONVERT A PORTION OF SAID SOLID FUEL INTO LIQUID BITUMEN, WHILE MAINTAINING A PRESSURE SUFFICIENTLY HIGH TO SUBSTANTTIALLY PREVENT VAPORIZATION OF THE THUS FORMED LIQUID BITUMEN, SEPARATING SAID OIL-CONTAINING SOLID FUEL FROM THE REMAINDER OF THE REACTION MIXTURE, SUBJECTING SAID SEPARATED, OIL-CONTAINING SOLID FUEL TO A TEMPERATURE OF AT LEAST ABOUT 500*C. WHILE MAINTAINING A PRESSURE OF ABOUT BETWEEN 0.5 AND 5 ATMOSPHERES, SO AS TO CRACK THE OIL WITHIN THE PORES OF SAID SOLID FUEL THEREBY TRANSFORMING SAID OIL AT LEAST PARTIALLY INTO LOWER MOLECULAR HYDROCARBONS, AND SEPARATING THE THUS FORMED LOWER MOLECULAR HYDROCARBONS FROM THE SOLID FUEL, WHEREBY STEAM AT RELATIVELY HIGH PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE, A DRY SOLID CARBONACEOUS FUEL, BITUMEN AND LOWER MOLECULAR HYDROCARBONS ARE FORMED FROM SAID PETROLEUM OIL AND SAID WATER-CONTAINING CARBONACEOUS SOLID FUEL.