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7 Solvent Deasphalting

H.D. Sloan

1 PURPOSE
Solvent deasphalting is a physical separation process wherein the components of the feed are recovered in their original state. Typically, a parafnic solvent is used to separate the components in the petroleum resid feed by molecular size. Prior to the introduction of supercritical solvent recovery in the late 1970s, solvent deasphalting was mainly reserved for the production of high-value lubricating oils. With the commercialization of supercritical solvent recovery, and its inherent energy efciency and low operating cost, the use of solvent deasphalting has now also found many applications in fuels reneries for the production of high-quality conversion unit (uid catalytic cracking and hydrocracking) feedstocks. This solvent deasphalting process is exible enough to enable the processing of both long and short residue into typically two products with solvent selected to achieve the desired product yield and quality. Typical uses for the deasphalted oil (DAO) product include lube bright stock, lube hydrocracker feed, fuels hydrocracker feed, uid catalytic cracker (FCC) feed or fuel oil blending. Depending on the operation, the asphaltene product may be

suitable for use as a blending component for various grades of asphalt, as a fuel oil blending component, or as feedstock to a heavy oil conversion unit such as a coker or ebullated bed resid hydrocracker.

PROCESS CHEMISTRY

Solvent deasphalting is an extraction process wherein the charge is separated by the solubility of more desirable DAO and less desirable asphaltene materials by a solvent. Typically, light parafnic solvents such as propane, isobutane, butane and pentane are used in the solvent deasphalting process. The solvent may also include olens. The solvent composition, operating temperature and solvent-to-oil ratio are selected to achieve the desired split between the lighter DAO and heavy asphaltene products. As the molecular weight of the solvent increases, so does the solubility of the charge. Therefore, the solvent most often used for production of lube oil bright stock is propane or a blend of propane and isobutane. For applications where the DAO is sent to conversion processes such as uid catalytic cracking, the solvent is more likely to be butane or pentane, or a mixture of these materials.

Edited by Alan G. Lucas. Published on behalf of the Institute of Petroleum. Modern Petroleum Technology 2000 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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