Impacts of Refining Partially Upgraded Bitumen: Vacuum Gas Oil Hydrotreating

• Published in: Energy & fuels 2024-05, Vol.38 (11), p.9477-9485
• Main Authors: Alvarez-Majmutov, Anton, Xing, Tingyong, Zhang, Yi, Gieleciak, Rafal, Ali, Mohamed, Chen, Jinwen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Traditional Fossil Fuels
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c01116

This study investigates the hydrotreating characteristics of the vacuum gas oil (VGO) fraction of partially upgraded bitumen (PUB), an alternative refinery feedstock from Canadian oil sand bitumen with processability requirements that are yet to be understood. Hydrotreating experiments were conducted in a continuous hydroprocessing pilot plant using VGOs from PUB prepared in-house via thermal cracking and solvent deasphalting, as well as VGOs from unprocessed bitumen and light crude oil as points of comparison. Blends of VGOs from PUB and light crude oil were also tested. The VGOs from PUB were higher in sulfur, nitrogen, aromatics and resins combined, and contained olefins. The hydrotreating experiments were designed to determine the working temperature to desulfurize and denitrogenate a given VGO feed to levels that would be acceptable for further processing in a refining scheme with fluid catalytic cracking and/or hydrocracking units. Hydrotreating the VGOs from PUB proved more difficult than the VGOs from unprocessed bitumen and light crude oil, requiring a 5–15 °C rise in reaction temperature with respect to the reference VGOs to reach the desired sulfur (