Systems and methods are provided for improving the processing of heavy or challenged feeds in a refinery based on integrated use of deasphalting, coking, and hydroprocessing. An optional fluid catalytic cracking unit can be included in the integrated system to allow for further improvements. The improved processing can be facilitated based on a process configuration where the vacuum resid fractions and/or other difficult fractions are deasphalted to generate a deasphalted oil and a deasphalter residue or rock fraction. The deasphalted oil can be passed into a hydroprocessing unit for further processing. The rock fraction can be used as the feed to a coking unit. Although deasphalter residue or rock is typically a feed with a high content of micro carbon residue, a high lift deasphalting process can allow a portion of the micro carbon residue in the initial feed to remain with the deasphalted oil. The portion of micro carbon residue that remains in the deasphalted oil can then be upgraded during hydroprocessing and/or during subsequent processing of the feed. By reducing the amount of micro carbon residue passed into a coker for a given initial feed source, the overall capacity for a reaction system to handle heavy feeds can be increased relative to the rate of coke production from the reaction system.

Processes and systems for upgrading resid hydrocarbon feeds are disclosed. The process system may operate in two different operating modes, maximum conversion and maximum quality effluent. The process system may be reversibly transitioned between the different operating modes. The system has the ability to reversibly transition between the two modes without shutting down the system or losing production.

Settling unconverted pitch from a SHC reactor effluent before fractionation improves efficiency of fractionation of slurry hydrocracked products. The recycle of soft pitch to the SHC reactor results in improved reactor operation by avoiding the recycle of lighter products which vaporize in the reactor to occupy reactor space and the recycle of hard pitch which will not convert. The settling step facilitated by mixing with a solvent can achieve a separation between soft pitch and hard pitch not achievable in a fractionation column.

Methods and systems of producing chemical feedstocks from crude oil can include: introducing a fraction of crude oil into a catalytic hydrovisbreaker reactor, wherein the crude oil fraction is dealkylated after introduction; introducing a product stream from the catalytic hydrovisbreaker reactor and a solvent into a solvent de-asphalter unit; and introducing de-asphalted oil from the unit into a two-stage hydrocracker to produce the chemical feedstocks. The crude oil fraction can be atmospheric residue or vacuum residue. The chemical feedstocks can include C.sub.3.sup. gases, C.sub.4-C.sub.5 gases, naphtha, BTX, and gas oil. The chemical feedstocks can be used to produce olefins and polymers.

The invention relates to processes for producing anode grade coke from whole crude oil. The invention is accomplished by first deasphalting a feedstock, followed by processing resulting DAO and asphalt fractions. The DAO fraction is hydrotreated or hydrocracked, resulting in removal of sulfur and hydrocarbons, which boil at temperatures over 370 C., and gasifying the asphalt portion in one embodiment. This embodiment includes subjecting hydrotreated and/or unconverted DAO fractions to delayed coking. In an alternate embodiment, rather than gasifying the asphalt portion, it is subjected to delayed coking in a separate reaction chamber. Any coke produced via delayed coking can be gasified.

Fuels and/or fuel blending components can be formed from hydroprocessing of high lift deasphalted oil. The high lift deasphalting can correspond to solvent deasphalting to produce a yield of deasphalted oil of at least 50 wt %, or at least 65 wt %, or at least 75 wt %. The resulting fuels and/or fuel blending components formed by hydroprocessing of the deasphalted oil can have unexpectedly high naphthene content and/or density. Additionally or alternately, deasphalted oil generated from high lift deasphalting represents a disadvantaged feed that can be converted into a fuel and/or fuel blending components with unexpected compositions. Additionally or alternately, the resulting fuels and/or fuel blending components can have unexpectedly beneficial cold flow properties, such as cloud point, pour point, and/or freeze point.

The invention is an integrated process for treating residual oil of a hydrocarbon feedstock. The oil is first subjected to solvent deasphalting then gas phase oxidative desulfurization. Additional, optional steps including hydrodesulfurization, and hydrocracking, may also be incorporated into the integrated process.

Deasphalter rock from high lift deasphalting can be combined with a flux to form a fuel oil blending component. The high lift deasphalting can correspond to solvent deasphalting to produce a yield of deasphalted oil of at least 50 wt %, or at least 65 wt %, or at least 75 wt %. The feed used for the solvent deasphalting can be a resid-containing feed. The resulting fuel oil blendstock made by fluxing of high lift deasphalter rock can have unexpectedly beneficial properties when used as a blendstock.

An integrated process for increasing olefin production is described through which heavy cracker residues of fluid catalytic cracking unit and steam cracking unit are completely mixed, and mixed stream is properly recycled and further combined with atmospheric tower bottoms. Combined stream is deasphalted and hydrotreated to produce a proper feedstock for steam cracking unit for manufacturing light olefin compounds. The integrated process produces higher amount of light olefins than a substantially similar process without processing the heavy cracker residues.

An integrated process and associated system for conversion of crude oil to value added petrochemicals. The process includes separating crude oil into light and heavy crude fractions and processing the heavy fraction in a solvent deasphalting unit and a delayed coker unit, and then providing the light fraction and selected effluents of the solvent deasphalting unit and the delayed coker unit to a hydrotreater. The process further includes separating the effluent of the hydrotreater to generate a C1 fraction passed to a methane cracker, a C2 fraction passed to an ethane steam cracker, a C3-C4 fraction passed to a dehydrogenation reactor, a hydrotreated light fraction passed to an aromatization unit, and a hydrotreated heavy fraction passed to a steam enhanced catalytic cracking unit. The process further includes separating effluents of the various unit operations into product streams including a BTX stream and a light olefin stream.