The invention relates to a composition formed of bitumen bases which comprises at least from 70% to 99% by weight of at least one bitumen base having a penetrability at 25 C. of less than or equal to 220.10-1 mm and a softening point of greater than or equal to 35 C. and from 1% to 30% by weight of at least one slurry residue resulting from a slurry-phase hydroconversion process. The slurry residue may have a penetrability at 25 C. of less than or equal to 50.10-1 mm and a softening point of greater than or equal to 50 C. Embodiments of the invention make it possible to upgrade a final vacuum residue slurry for use in the manufacture of a road bitumen.

A method for reducing sulfur and lowering viscosity in bunker oil by the steps of passing bunker oil over a core that ionizes the bunker oil with an electrostatic charge. The core consists of a metal bar being made of an alloy comprising, by weight, 40-70% copper, 10-32% nickel, 15-40% zinc, 2-20% tin and 0.05-10% silver. The metal bar of the core comprises a plurality of grooves, which allows the bunker oil to be agitated as it comes in contact with the core, activating an electrostatic charge. The electrostatic charge of the core creates a magnetic catalytic reaction that causes: (1) a molecular separation molecular chains within the bunker oil thereby lowering the viscosity of the bunker oil and (2) sulfur to merge with metals and create metal sulfides in the bunker oil thereby reducing the sulfur in the bunker oil.

Method to improve or maintain stability and/or compatibility of a residual hydrocarbon fuel comprising: (a) blending at least 5-95% m/m of a residual hydrocarbon component with at least 5-80% m/m of a fatty acids alkyl esters component or (b) blending at least 5-80% m/m of a fatty acids alkyl esters component with a stable residual fuel composition comprising (i) at least 5-95% m/m of a residual hydrocarbon component and (ii) up to 90% m/m of a non-hydroprocessed hydrocarbon, a hydroprocessed hydrocarbon or any combination thereof; wherein the fatty acids alkyl esters component is blended with the stable residual fuel composition before at least one other fuel composition that decreases the asphaltenes solvency power of the residual fuel composition is added thereto.

Processes for converting methane and/or other hydrocarbons to synthesis gas (i.e., a gaseous mixture comprising H.sub.2 and CO) are disclosed, in which at least a portion of the hydrocarbon(s) is reacted with CO.sub.2. At least a second portion of the methane may be reacted with H.sub.2O (steam), thereby improving overall thermodynamics of the process, in terms of reducing endothermicity (H) and the required energy input, compared to pure dry reforming in which no H.sub.2O is present. Such dry reforming (reaction with CO.sub.2 only) or CO.sub.2-steam reforming (reaction with both CO.sub.2 and steam) processes are advantageously integrated with Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to yield liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Further integration may involve the use of a downstream finishing stage involving hydroisomerization to remove FT wax. Yet other integration options involve the use of combined CO.sub.2-steam reforming and FT synthesis stages (optionally with finishing) for producing liquid fuels from gas streams generated in a number of possible processes, including the hydropyrolysis of biomass.

The invention relates to the field of petroleum processing, in particular to processes allowing the production of valuable products from heavy residues. A method for processing heavy petroleum feedstock is proposed, the method comprising hydrocracking a feedstock in a slurry phase (SPH) followed by separation into a stream of an SPH-subjected feedstock and a heavy residue stream, wherein the heavy residue stream is a slurry of an unconverted high-boiling residue and an exhausted coal additive; hydrocracking the SPH-subjected feedstock in gas phase, followed by fractionation of hydrocracking products; separating the exhausted coal additive and the unconverted high-boiling residue by using a solvent; supplying the mixture of the unconverted high-boiling residue and the solvent after the separation step to a vacuum column to obtain a separated heavy residue; evaporating at least part of the separated heavy residue in a thin-film evaporator to obtain a concentrated hydrocracking residue and a heavy vacuum gas oil (HVOG); and using at least a part of the HVOG to obtain the solvent. The technical result resides in ensuring the possibility of obtaining valuable products from difficult-to-utilize products, and in ensuring the stabilization of hydrocracking processes of heavy petroleum feedstock.

Processes for converting methane and/or other hydrocarbons to synthesis gas (i.e., a gaseous mixture comprising H.sub.2 and CO) are disclosed, in which at least a portion of the hydrocarbon(s) is reacted with CO.sub.2. At least a second portion of the methane may be reacted with H.sub.2O (steam), thereby improving overall thermodynamics of the process, in terms of reducing endothermicity (H) and the required energy input, compared to pure dry reforming in which no H.sub.2O is present. Such dry reforming (reaction with CO.sub.2 only) or CO.sub.2-steam reforming (reaction with both CO.sub.2 and steam) processes are advantageously integrated with Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to yield liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Further integration may involve the use of a downstream finishing stage involving hydroisomerization to remove FT wax. Yet other integration options involve the use of combined CO.sub.2-steam reforming and FT synthesis stages (optionally with finishing) for producing liquid fuels from gas streams generated in a number of possible processes, including the hydropyrolysis of biomass.