Processes herein may be used to thermally crack various hydrocarbon feeds, and may eliminate the refinery altogether while making the crude to chemicals process very flexible in terms of crude. In embodiments herein, crude is progressively separated into at least light and heavy fractions. Depending on the quality of the light and heavy fractions, these are routed to one of three upgrading operations, including a fixed bed hydroconversion unit, a fluidized catalytic conversion unit, or a residue hydrocracking unit that may utilize an ebullated bed reactor. Products from the upgrading operations may be used as feed to a steam cracker.

Processes herein may be used to thermally crack various hydrocarbon feeds, and may eliminate the refinery altogether while making the crude to chemicals process very flexible in terms of crude. In embodiments herein, crude is progressively separated into at least light and heavy fractions. Depending on the quality of the light and heavy fractions, these are routed to one of three upgrading operations, including a fixed bed hydroconversion unit, a fluidized catalytic conversion unit, or a residue hydrocracking unit that may utilize an ebullated bed reactor. Products from the upgrading operations may be used as feed to a steam cracker.

Processes herein may be used to thermally crack various hydrocarbon feeds, and may eliminate the refinery altogether while making the crude to chemicals process very flexible in terms of crude. In embodiments herein, crude is progressively separated into at least light and heavy fractions. Depending on the quality of the light and heavy fractions, these are routed to one of three upgrading operations, including a fixed bed hydroconversion unit, a fluidized catalytic conversion unit, or a residue hydrocracking unit that may utilize an ebullated bed reactor. Products from the upgrading operations may be used as feed to a steam cracker.

A method for upgrading mixed pyrolysis oil may include contacting the mixed pyrolysis oil with hydrogen in the presence of a mixed metal oxide catalyst at reaction conditions to produce a reaction effluent including light aromatic compounds. The mixed pyrolysis oil includes multi-ring aromatic compounds and is formed from light pyrolysis oil and heavy pyrolysis oil at a ratio of 10:90 to 40:60 with light pyrolysis oil representing a bottom stream of a gas steam cracker and heavy pyrolysis oil representing a bottom stream of a naphtha steam cracker. The mixed metal oxide catalyst includes a plurality of catalyst particles with each catalyst particles including a plurality of metal oxides. An associated system for upgrading mixed pyrolysis oil may include a pyrolysis upgrading unit housing the mixed metal oxide catalyst and a separation unit operable to separate used mixed metal oxide catalyst from the reaction effluent.

A method is provided involving altering the viscosity of bio-derived paraffins to produce a paraffinic fluid, where the altering step includes oligomerizing the bio-derived paraffins to produce an oligomerized product; the bio-derived paraffins include a hydrodeoxygenated product produced by hydrodeoxygenating a bio-based feed where the bio-based feed includes bio-derived fatty acids, fatty acid esters, or a combination thereof; the bio-derived paraffins include n-paraffins; and the n-paraffins have a biodegradability of at least 40% after about 23 days of exposure to microorganisms. Also provided are methods of protecting and/or cleaning a substance by applying the paraffinic fluid.

A method is provided involving altering the viscosity of bio-derived paraffins to produce a paraffinic fluid, where the altering step includes oligomerizing the bio-derived paraffins to produce an oligomerized product; the bio-derived paraffins include a hydrodeoxygenated product produced by hydrodeoxygenating a bio-based feed where the bio-based feed includes bio-derived fatty acids, fatty acid esters, or a combination thereof; the bio-derived paraffins include n-paraffins; and the n-paraffins have a biodegradability of at least 40% after about 23 days of exposure to microorganisms. Also provided are methods of protecting and/or cleaning a substance by applying the paraffinic fluid.

The invention is directed to a process for producing carbon nanofibers and/or carbon nanotubes, which process comprises pyrolyzing a particulate cellulosic and/or carbohydrate substrate that has been impregnated with a compound of an element or elements, the metal or alloy, respectively, of which is capable of forming carbides, in a substantially oxygen free, volatile silicon compound containing atmosphere, optionally in the presence of a carbon compound.

The invention is directed to a process for producing carbon nanofibers and/or carbon nanotubes, which process comprises pyrolyzing a particulate cellulosic and/or carbohydrate substrate that has been impregnated with a compound of an element or elements, the metal or alloy, respectively, of which is capable of forming carbides, in a substantially oxygen free, volatile silicon compound containing atmosphere, optionally in the presence of a carbon compound.

Asphaltene may be effectively broken into smaller molecules by first elucidating the structure of the asphaltene and then developing a catalyst system based on the elucidated structure. The structure may be determined based on a series of analytical techniques including NMR, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and LDI. The most probable structure is determined using computational methods based on quantum mechanics and classical molecular dynamics and the catalyst system is developed for the most probable structure.

A regenerated spent hydroprocessing catalyst treated with a chelating agent and having incorporated therein a polar additive.