Techniques are described for producing a bitumen product and recovering solvent from a solvent-diluted heavy hydrocarbon stream, which can have configurations and operation of an indirect heat exchanger to enhance performance. The system can have three solvent recovery stages. The indirect heat exchanger can have a location and operation to mitigate risks associated with exchanger failures. The solvent-diluted hydrocarbon stream can be preheated with a downstream solvent-depleted stream, and the pressure of the latter can be higher than that of the former to avoid solvent leaking into the hydrocarbon-enriched stream. The heat exchanger can be located in between the second and third stages, so that solvent leaked into the second stage output can be removed in the third stage so that the final product hydrocarbon stream can remain at low solvent contents.

A method for producing mesophase pitch includes the steps of flushing a vessel with an at least substantially inert gas to remove air and oxygen from the vessel; charging the vessel with a hydrocarbon feed; pressurizing the vessel to an initial increased pressure; heating the vessel to a pre-determined temperature; and maintaining the vessel at the pre-determined temperature for an amount of time operable to upgrade the hydrocarbon feed to a product comprising mesophase pitch.

A method for producing mesophase pitch includes the steps of flushing a vessel with an at least substantially inert gas to remove air and oxygen from the vessel; charging the vessel with a hydrocarbon feed; pressurizing the vessel to an initial increased pressure; heating the vessel to a pre-determined temperature; and maintaining the vessel at the pre-determined temperature for an amount of time operable to upgrade the hydrocarbon feed to a product comprising mesophase pitch.

Methods are provided to prepare a low sulfur fuel from hydrocarbon sources, such as light tight oil and high sulfur fuel oil, often less desired by conventional refiners, who split crude into a wide range of differing products and may prefer presence of wide ranges (C3 or C5 to C20 or higher) of hydrocarbons. These fuels can be produced by separating feeds into untreated and treated streams, and then recombining them. Such fuels can also be formulated by combinations of light, middle and heavy range constituents in a selected manner as claimed. Not only low in sulfur, the fuels of this invention are also low in nitrogen and essentially metals free. Fuel use applications include on-board large marine transport vessels but also on-shore for large land based combustion gas turbines, boilers, fired heaters and transport vehicles and trains.

A method and apparatus are provided for processing hydrocarbon coal slurry feeds. The method and apparatus enhance the conversion of the coal feeds into useful conversion products, such as high melting and high carbon containing pitch products. In particular, the present techniques utilize a specially designed self-cleaning and wall-catalyzed preheater-reactor systems.

A method of transporting non-volatile bituminous materials from a first location to a second location involves carrying a plurality of irregular bricks formed by the bituminous material in transport chambers carried by vehicles. Bricks are defined by a plurality of non-planar surface, which create gaps between adjacent bricks, and can further include polymer skeletons and other features that help them float. The bricks can travel by land, sea, air, or rail and need not be heated while in transit. Transport chambers have active or preferably passive environmental control systems to circulate cooling air, water, or other substances through the transport chamber and the gaps between adjacent bricks. In a preferred embodiment, ambient air circulates among the bricks during travel by land and ambient water circulates among the bricks during marine travel. The vehicles carrying the transport chambers can be low-emissions or zero-emission vehicles including fuel-cell powered trains and ships.

Processes are described for producing mesophase pitch. The processes generally comprise providing a feedstock having a T5 400 F. (204 C.) and a T95 1,400 F. (760 C.) and heating the feedstock at a temperature ranging from about 420 C. to about 520 C. to produce a heat treated product including isotropic pitch. Generally, the heating is conducted under conditions sufficient to satisfy the relationship [X*Y]20,000 seconds, wherein X is the equivalent reaction time of the heating, and wherein Y is the bromine number of the feedstock as measured in accordance with ASTM D1159. The processes generally further comprise contacting the isotropic pitch with a solvent having a Solubility Blending number (S.sub.BN) of at least about 10 SU under conditions sufficient to produce a solvent fraction comprising the solvent and an insoluble fraction comprising mesophase pitch, and recovering the mesophase pitch.

A process and apparatus for the continuous conversion of isotropic carbonaceous materials into anisotropic mesophase pitch is disclosed. The invention disclosed herein addresses the need for lower production costs compared with traditional batch mesophase conversion of isotropic pitch. A unique thermal processing and in-process separation of reacted mesophase from the continuous matrix of fresh or partially reacted isotropic pitch is provided. Potential uses are for further continuous processing into carbon fibers or carbon form densification.

A method and device for controlling viscosity of asphalt rubber based on a current variation are provided. The method includes processing asphalt rubber raw materials with a first preset proportion, and shearing the processed asphalt rubber; obtaining a shearing current, pumping and discharging the sheared asphalt rubber; obtaining a discharging current, and obtaining the viscosity of the pumped asphalt rubber according to the discharging current and the viscosity-discharging current correlation relationship. The method includes comparing the viscosity with a preset viscosity; outputting the pumped asphalt rubber as finished asphalt rubber when the viscosity is equal to the preset viscosity. The method includes adjusting the viscosity according to the discharging current. Double-current control is adopted, so that the whole-process control of the processing viscosity of the asphalt rubber is realized, and the control accuracy of the viscosity is improved.

A method and device for controlling viscosity of asphalt rubber based on a current variation are provided. The method includes processing asphalt rubber raw materials with a first preset proportion, and shearing the processed asphalt rubber; obtaining a shearing current, pumping and discharging the sheared asphalt rubber; obtaining a discharging current, and obtaining the viscosity of the pumped asphalt rubber according to the discharging current and the viscosity-discharging current correlation relationship. The method includes comparing the viscosity with a preset viscosity; outputting the pumped asphalt rubber as finished asphalt rubber when the viscosity is equal to the preset viscosity. The method includes adjusting the viscosity according to the discharging current. Double-current control is adopted, so that the whole-process control of the processing viscosity of the asphalt rubber is realized, and the control accuracy of the viscosity is improved.