Low sulphur marine fuel compositions are provided. Embodiments comprise greater than 50 to 90 wt % of a residual hydrocarbon component comprising at least one of an atmospheric tower bottoms (ATB) residue and a vacuum tower bottoms residues (VTB), wherein the residual hydrocarbon component has a kinematic viscosity at 50 degrees C. of at least 100 cSt; and at least 10 and up to 50 wt % of a non-hydroprocessed hydrocarbon component comprising deasphalted oil (DAO), where the marine fuel composition has a kinematic viscosity at 50 degrees C. of at least 10 cSt. Embodiments of the marine fuel composition can have a sulphur content of about 0.1 wt % or less.

A process is disclosed for converting a particulate solid biomass material to a high quality bio-oil in high yield. The process comprises a pretreatment step and a pyrolysis step. The pretreatment comprises a step of at least partially demineralizing the solid biomass, and improving the accessibility of the solid biomass by opening the texture of the particles of the solid biomass. In a preferred embodiment the liquid pyrolysis product is separated into the bio-oil and an aqueous phase, and the aqueous phase is used as a solvent in the demineralization step and/or in the step of improving the accessibility of the solid biomass by opening the texture of the particles of the solid biomass.

A catalyst component is described for reducing the total acid number of a refinery feedstock. A solid catalyst material that is pretreated with a caustic base solution form the catalyst component effective for contacting a refinery feedstock to reduce the total acid number.

The present invention relates to crude oil processing, particularly related to conversion of crude oil containing high amount of naphthenic acid compounds to lighter hydrocarbon materials with minimum capital expenditure. The invented process utilizes a novel scheme for high TAN crude oils by employing thermal cracking process to maximize the residue conversion to valuable products, which require minimum modifications in unit metallurgies and corrosion inhibitor injection schemes in refineries.

A process is presented for the removal of contaminants like oxygenates from hydrocarbons. The contaminant oxygenates are removed from hydrocarbons that may be feed to cracking units. A crude feed stream is fed to a water wash column along with water to remove oxygenates and is subsequently treated with an adsorbent to effectively remove all the oxygenates from the crude hydrocarbon. A regenerant medium from a naphtha hydrotreating unit is used to regenerate the adsorbent.

A process for extracting fuel products from waste rubber, comprising the steps of subjecting the waste rubber to pyrolysis to produce a pyrolysis vapour, subjecting the pyrolysis vapour to a condensation step to produce a pyrolytic oil having a boiling point range of 45-400? C. and a flash point below 25? C., and then subjecting the pyrolytic oil to a vacuum steam stripping step so as to recover a fraction having a first composition having a flash point above 55? C., a boiling point range starting at 140? C. or higher, a density at 15? C. of less than 990 kg/m.sup.3, a total acid number TAN of up to 12, a styrene content of less than 3000 ppm, and an organic halogen (as Cl) content of less than 50 ppm, and a second composition having an initial boiling point not exceeding 75? C. under atmospheric pressure, a density at 15? C. of greater than 790 kg/m.sup.3, a benzene content of at least 1.25 vol %, an existent gum (washed) content greater than 10 mg/100 ml, an organic halogen (as Cl) content of less than 50 mg/kg, and a colour of less than 5.0.

A process for treating a heavy oil by heating a feedstock comprising a heavy oil in order to separate from the heavy oil a first fraction. The first fraction contains no more than 25% of the total number of acid groups of the heavy oil. A second fraction contains at least 75% of the total number of acid groups of the heavy oil. The second fraction then is treated under conditions that provide a heavy oil that has a total acid number, or TAN, that does not exceed 1.0 mg KOH/g, or is at least 50% lower than the total acid number prior to treatment, an olefin content that does not exceed 1.0 wt. %, and a p-value of at least 50% of the p-value of the heavy oil prior to treatment, or a p-value that is at least 1.5.

The invention relates to the preparation of novel bi- or tri metallic silicate micro-porous and/or meso-porous materials based on cerium, nickel, copper and/or zinc on a porous silicate framework matrix to use its molecular sieve effect to target preferentially the acidic organic molecules present in hydrocarbon feedstocks like crude oil, bitumen, VGO and the like. The chosen metals are selected based on their ability to activate steam and transfer oxygen for completing the oxidation of carboxylic compounds or decarboxylating them. These composite materials can be prepared under hydrothermal synthesis conditions in order to produce suitable porous solids where the metals are well dispersed and preferentially distributed inside the channels of the silicate framework where they can interact only with the molecules that can go inside the channels. According to the invention, the metallo-silicate materials are prepared under hydrothermal synthesis conditions Modification of the physical-chemical properties of the porous silicate materials can be accomplished by partial replacement of the silicon atoms by cerium, nickel, copper and/or zinc atoms in the material by isomorphous substitutions of these elements in a synthesis gel or by post-synthesis modifications like ion-exchange or impregnation/deposition. The materials can be used as prepared catalysts for the steam catalytic reduction of the total acid number (TAN) in acidic crude oil feedstocks and in the presence of steam and/or CO.sub.2 as oxidizing agent to complete decarboxylation and to keep the metal oxide active sites from reducing and deactivating as well as other partial upgrading reactions.

The invention relates to the preparation of novel bi- or tri-metallic silicate micro-porous and/or meso-porous materials based on cerium, nickel, copper and/or zinc on a porous silicate framework matrix to use its molecular sieve effect to target preferentially the acidic organic molecules present in hydrocarbon feedstocks like crude oil, bitumen, VGO and the like. The chosen metals are selected based on their ability to activate steam and transfer oxygen for completing the oxidation of carboxylic compounds or decarboxylating them. These composite materials can be prepared under hydrothermal synthesis conditions in order to produce suitable porous solids where the metals are well dispersed and preferentially distributed inside the channels of the silicate framework where they can interact only with the molecules that can go inside the channels. According to the invention, the metallo-silicate materials are prepared under hydrothermal synthesis conditions Modification of the physical-chemical properties of the porous silicate materials can be accomplished by partial replacement of the silicon atoms by cerium, nickel, copper and/or zinc atoms in the material by isomorphous substitutions of these elements in a synthesis gel or by post-synthesis modifications like ion-exchange or impregnation/deposition. The materials can be used as prepared catalysts for the steam catalytic reduction of the total acid number (TAN) in acidic crude oil feedstocks and in the presence of steam and/or CO.sub.2 as oxidizing agent to complete decarboxylation and to keep the metal oxide active sites from reducing and deactivating as well as other partial upgrading reactions.

Disclosed is a method of removing organic acids from crude oil using a gas hydrate inhibitor and a catalyst in crude oil production facilities or oil-refining facilities, in which organic acids can be removed from crude oil by reacting the crude oil with mono-ethylene glycol (MEG), di-ethylene glycol (DEG), tri-ethylene glycol (TEG), methanol or derivatives thereof, as a gas hydrate inhibitor in the presence of a tungstophosphoric acid (TPA) catalyst, whereby the acidity of the crude oil can be lowered by 93% or more, and no catalyst deactivation occurs because magnesium (Mg)-based catalysts are not used. Furthermore, a continuous process is achieved in such a manner that the gas hydrate inhibitor and the catalyst are not discarded but are collected from the crude oil from which organic acids have been removed, and are thus recycled, thereby realizing environmentally friendly, economical and efficient removal of organic acids from crude oil.