Processing petroleum oils

Claim 1

PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION AND RECOVERY OF CATALYTIC CRACKING FEED STOCK FROM A REDUCED CRUDE CONTAINING ASPHALTIC AND METAL-CONTAINING CONSTITUTENTS AND AN OIL PORTION WHICH COMPRISES: (1) SOLVENT EXTRACTING THE REDUCED CRUDE WITH A LIGHT HYDROCARBON DEASPHALTING SOLVENT MADE UP OF ESSENTIALLY PROPANE TO OBTAIN A SOLVENT EXTRACT PHASE AND AN ASPHALTIC RESIDUE CONTAINING AN APPRECIABLE PORTION OF THE OIL AND A MAJOR PORTION OF THE METAL-CONTAINING CONSTITUENTS AND RECOVERING PREDOMINANTLY PROPANE-SOLUBLE CATALYTIC CRACKING FEED OIL COMPONENTS FROM THE SOLVENT EXTRACT PHASE, (2) NON-CATALYTICALLY THERMALLY CRACKING THE ASPHALTIC RESIDUE RESULTING FROM THE EXTRACTION AT A TEMPERATURE WITHIN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 400*C. TO ABOUT 500*C. FOR A PERIOD OF TIME SELECTIVELY CHOSEN WITHIN THE RANGE OF ABOUT A FEW SECONDS TO ABOUT 60 MINUTES SO THAT ONLY MILD THERMAL CRACKING CAN TAKE PLACE WITHOUT THE OCCURRENCE OF APPRECIABLE COKING, THEREBY CONVERTING THE METAL-CONTAINING COMPONENTS TO LESS OIL-SOLUBLE METAL-CONTAINING SUBSTANCES AND CRACKING THE ASPHALTIC COMPONENTS TO PRODUCE PARAFFINIC OIL COMPONENTS, (3) EXTRACTING FROM THE CRACKED PRODUCT BY MEANS OF THE ADDITION OF A LIGHT HYDROCARBON DEASPHALTING SOLVENT COMPRISING ESSENTIALLY A C4-C7 HYDROCARBON A FURTHER AMOUNT OF PROPANE-SOLUBLE COMPONENTS, AND (4) RECOVERING PREDOMINANTLY PROPANE-SOLUBLE CATALYTIC CRACKING FEED OIL COMPONENTS FROM THE RESULTING SOLVENT EXTRACT.