Gasification of hydrocarbon feedstocks

Claim 1

A method of producing a pipeline gas having a heating value of about 1,000 BTU/SCF from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquid volatiles resulting from coking of coal, liquefied coal resulting from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen, aromatic hydrocarbons, naphtha, gas oils, crude oil distillates, and crude oil residues and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the hydrocarbon feedstock preheated to about 700° F. in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature in excess of 750° F. to produce a feedstream of hydrocarbon feedstock vapors and excess hydrogen; injecting said feedstream into an adiabatic gasification vessel maintained at a pressure in excess of 75 psig and a temperature in excess of 1,550° F. wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock vapors are gasified to form essentially methane and aromatic compounds, together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and with minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide in an effluent containing excess hydrogen; cooling the effluent to recover waste heat and condensing a major portion of the aromatic fraction of said gasifier effluent; separating out said condensed aromatic fraction from said effluent; removing non-condensible residual aromatics and hydrogen sulfide from said effluent in a purification zone; separating the hydrogen from the methane and other light hydrocarbons in the effluent to produce a product gas consisting essentially of methane; returning the hydrogen separated from the effluent to the vaporization and gasification units of the process; and discharging said product gas into a product receiving device.

Claim 2

A method of producing a pipeline gas having a heating value of about 1,000 BTU/SCF from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquid volatiles resulting from coking of coal, liquefied coal resulting from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen, aromatic hydrocarbons, naphtha, gas oils, crude oil distillates, and crude oil residues and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the hydrocarbon feedstock preheated to about 700° F. in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature in excess of 750° F. to produce a feedstream of hydrocarbon feedstock vapors and excess hydrogen; injecting said feedstream into an adiabatic gasification vessel maintained at a pressure in excess of 75 psig and a temperature in excess of 1,550° F. wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock vapors are gasified to form essentially methane and aromatic compounds, together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and with minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide in an effluent containing excess hydrogen; cooling the effluent to recover waste heat and condensing a major portion of the aromatic fraction of said gasifier effluent; separating out said condensed aromatic fraction from said effluent; removing non-condensible residual aromatics and hydrogen sulfide from said effluent in a purification zone; separating the hydrogen from the methane and other light hydrocarbons in the effluent to produce a product gas consisting essentially of methane; returning the hydrogen separated from the effluent to the vaporization and gasification units of the process; and discharging said product gas into a product receiving device.

Claim 10

A method of producing a pipeline gas having a heating value of about 1,000 BTU/SCF from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquid volatiles resulting from coking of coal, liquefied coal resulting from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen, aromatic hydrocarbons, naphtha, gas oils, crude oil distillates, crude oil residues and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the hydrocarbon feedstock preheated to about 700° F. in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature in excess of 750° F. to produce a feedstream of hydrocarbon feedstock vapors and excess hydrogen; injecting said feedstream into an adiabatic gasification vessel maintained at a pressure in excess of 75 psig and a temperature in excess of 1550° F. wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock vapors are gasified to form essentially methane and aromatic compounds together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and with minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide in an effluent containing excess hydrogen; cooling the effluent to recover waste heat and condensing a major portion of the aromatic fraction of said gasifier effluent; separating out said condensed aromatic fraction from said effluent; removing residual aromatics and hydrogen sulfide from said effluent in a purification zone; revaporizing and recycling said residual aromatics and condensed aromatic fraction to said gasifier and said vaporizer; separating the hydrogen from the methane and other light hydrocarbons in the effluent to produce a product gas consisting essentially of methane; returning the hydrogen separated from the effluent to the vaporization and gasification units of the process; and discharging said product gas into a product receiving device.

Claim 11

A method of producing a pipeline gas having a heating value of about 1,000 BTU/SCF from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquid volatiles resulting from coking of coal, liquefied coal resulting from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen, aromatic hydrocarbons, naphtha, gas oils, crude oil distillates, crude oil residues and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the hydrocarbon feedstock preheated to about 700° F. in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature in excess of 750° F. to produce a feedstream of hydrocarbon feedstock vapors and excess hydrogen; injecting said feedstream into an adiabatic gasification vessel maintained at a pressure in excess of 75 psig and a temperature in excess of 1550° F. wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock vapors are gasified to form essentially methane and aromatic compounds together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and with minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide in an effluent containing excess hydrogen; cooling the effluent to recover waste heat and condensing a major portion of the aromatic fraction of said gasifier effluent; separating out said condensed aromatic fraction from said effluent; removing residual aromatics and hydrogen sulfide from said effluent in a purification zone; revaporizing and recycling said residual aromatics and condensed aromatic fraction to said gasifier and said vaporizer; separating the hydrogen from the methane and other light hydrocarbons in the effluent to produce a product gas consisting essentially of methane; returning the hydrogen separated from the effluent to the vaporization and gasification units of the process; and discharging said product gas into a product receiving device.

Claim 12

A method of producing a pipeline gas having a heating value of about 1,000 BTU/SCF from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquid volatiles resulting from coking of coal, liquefied coal resulting from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen, aromatic hydrocarbons, naphtha, gas oils, crude oil distillates, crude oil residues and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the hydrocarbon feedstock preheated to about 700° F. in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature in excess of 750° F. in a vaporization vessel which contains a pool of the residual hydrocarbon feedstock to produce a feedstream of hydrocarbon feedstock vapors and excess hydrogen; withdrawing residual feedstock from the vaporization vessel pool and using said residual feedstock to produce process hydrogen by the partial oxidation process; injecting said feedstream into an adiabatic gasification vessel maintained at a pressure in excess of 75 psig and a temperature in excess of 1550° F. wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock vapors are gasified to form essentially methane and aromatic compounds together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and with minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide in an effluent containing excess hydrogen; cooling the effluent to recover waste heat and condensing a major portion of the aromatic fraction of said gasifier effluent, separating out said condensed aromatic fraction from said effluent and revaporizing and recycling said aromatic fraction to said gasifier and said vaporizer; removing residual aromatics and hydrogen sulfide from said effluent in a purification zone; separating the hydrogen from the methane and other light hydrocarbons in the effluent to produce a product gas consisting essentially of methane; returning the hydrogen separated from the effluent to the vaporization and gasification units of the process; and discharging said product gas into a product receiving device.

Claim 13

A method of producing a pipeline gas having a heating value of about 1,000 BTU/SCF from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquid volatiles resulting from coking of coal, liquefied coal resulting from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen, aromatic hydrocarbons, naphtha, gas oils, crude oil distillates, crude oil residues and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the hydrocarbon feedstock preheated to about 700° F. in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature in excess of 750° F. in a vaporization vessel which contains a pool of the residual hydrocarbon feedstock to produce a feedstream of hydrocarbon feedstock vapors and excess hydrogen; withdrawing residual feedstock from the vaporization vessel pool and using said residual feedstock to produce process hydrogen by the partial oxidation process; injecting said feedstream into an adiabatic gasification vessel maintained at a pressure in excess of 75 psig and a temperature in excess of 1550° F. wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock vapors are gasified to form essentially methane and aromatic compounds together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and with minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide in an effluent containing excess hydrogen; cooling the effluent to recover waste heat and condensing a major portion of the aromatic fraction of said gasifier effluent, separating out said condensed aromatic fraction from said effluent and revaporizing and recycling said aromatic fraction to said gasifier and said vaporizer; removing residual aromatics and hydrogen sulfide from said effluent in a purification zone; separating the hydrogen from the methane and other light hydrocarbons in the effluent to produce a product gas consisting essentially of methane; returning the hydrogen separated from the effluent to the vaporization and gasification units of the process; and discharging said product gas into a product receiving device.

Claim 14

A method of producing an effluent stream consisting essentially of methane and an aromatic fraction consisting essentially of benzene from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, crude oil fractions, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquids resulting from the pyrolysis of coal, liquefied coal produced from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen, and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the feedstock by heating the feedstock in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature below 1000° F. and at a pressure greater than 75 psig; and rapidly heating the feedstock vapors and hydrogen to a temperature in excess of 1550° F. and at a pressure greater than 75 psig and maintaining said feedstock at a temperature and pressure for a time sufficient to cause said feedstock vapors to react with said hydrogen to form an effluent consisting essentially of methane, an aromatic fraction containing primarily benzene, unreacted hydrogen, together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide.

Claim 15

A method of producing an effluent stream consisting essentially of methane and an aromatic fraction consisting essentially of benzene from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, crude oil fractions, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquids resulting from the pyrolysis of coal, liquefied coal produced from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen, and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the feedstock by heating the feedstock in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature below 1000° F. and at a pressure greater than 75 psig; and rapidly heating the feedstock vapors and hydrogen to a temperature in excess of 1550° F. and at a pressure greater than 75 psig and maintaining said feedstock at a temperature and pressure for a time sufficient to cause said feedstock vapors to react with said hydrogen to form an effluent consisting essentially of methane, an aromatic fraction containing primarily benzene, unreacted hydrogen, together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide.

Claim 22

A method of producing substantially pure hydrogen from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, crude oil fractions, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquids resulting from the pyrolysis of coal, liquefied coal produced from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the feedstock by heating the feedstock in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature below 1000° F. and at a pressure greater than 75 psig; rapidly heating the feedstock vapors and hydrogen to a temperature in excess of 1550° F. and at a pressure greater than 75 psig and maintaining said feedstock vapors at temperature and pressure for a time sufficient to cause said feedstock vapors to react with said hydrogen to form an effluent consisting essentially of methane, an aromatic fraction containing primarily benzene, unreacted hydrogen together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide; cooling said effluent to recover heat thus condensing and removing a major portion of the aromatic fraction from said effluent; passing said effluent through a purification zone to remove said hydrogen sulfide and residual uncondensed aromatic fractions thus producing a product stream consisting essentially of methane and hydrogen; introducing said methane and hydrogen product stream into a steam reformer wherein said methane is catalytically reformed in the presence of steam to produce a gas consisting essentially of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide; passing said gas through a shift reactor to convert the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and hydrogen; removing said carbon dioxide from said gas thus producing a gas as an end product which is substantially pure hydrogen.

Claim 23

A method of producing substantially pure hydrogen from a hydrocarbon feedstock selected from the group consisting of crude oil, crude oil fractions, bitumen from tar sands, shale oil, liquids resulting from the pyrolysis of coal, liquefied coal produced from solvating coal with a solvent and hydrogen and mixtures thereof comprising the steps of: vaporizing the feedstock by heating the feedstock in the presence of hydrogen at a temperature below 1000° F. and at a pressure greater than 75 psig; rapidly heating the feedstock vapors and hydrogen to a temperature in excess of 1550° F. and at a pressure greater than 75 psig and maintaining said feedstock vapors at temperature and pressure for a time sufficient to cause said feedstock vapors to react with said hydrogen to form an effluent consisting essentially of methane, an aromatic fraction containing primarily benzene, unreacted hydrogen together with less than 5 mole percent ethane and minor amounts of ethylene, propane, propylene and hydrogen sulfide; cooling said effluent to recover heat thus condensing and removing a major portion of the aromatic fraction from said effluent; passing said effluent through a purification zone to remove said hydrogen sulfide and residual uncondensed aromatic fractions thus producing a product stream consisting essentially of methane and hydrogen; introducing said methane and hydrogen product stream into a steam reformer wherein said methane is catalytically reformed in the presence of steam to produce a gas consisting essentially of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide; passing said gas through a shift reactor to convert the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and hydrogen; removing said carbon dioxide from said gas thus producing a gas as an end product which is substantially pure hydrogen.