A process for upgrading a heavy oil includes passing heavy oil and disulfide oil to a thermal cracking system that includes a thermal cracking unit and a cracker effluent separation system downstream of the thermal cracking unit and thermally cracking at least a portion of the heavy oil in the presence of the disulfide oil in the thermal cracking unit to produce solid coke and a cracking effluent comprising reaction products. The reaction products include one or more liquid reaction products, one or more gaseous reaction products, or both. The presence of the disulfide oil in the thermal cracking unit promotes conversion of hydrocarbons from the heavy oil to the liquid reaction products, the gaseous reaction products, or both relative to the production of the solid coke.

A catalytic upgrading process includes introducing a feed comprising crude oil to a steam cracking unit, thereby producing pyrolysis fuel oil (PFO). The PFO is introduced to a first catalytic depolyaromatization reactor to remove polyaromatics from the feed, thereby producing polyaromatics adsorbed to the catalyst and depolyaromatized PFO. The depolyaromatized PFO is introduced to a hydrocracking unit. The resulting benzene-toluene-xylenes (BTX) and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) are separated, and the BTX is introduced to a BTX complex to produce refined BTX. The LPG can then be introduced to the steam cracking unit. After depolyaromatization, a wash solvent is introduced into the first catalytic depolyaromatization reactor to remove the polyaromatics, regenerate the catalyst, and produce a mixture comprising the wash solvent and the polyaromatics. The wash solvent is separated from the polyaromatics.

Methods are provided for processing deasphalted gas oils derived from thermally cracked resid fractions to form Group I, Group II, and/or Group III lubricant base oils. The yield of lubricant base oils (optionally also referred to as base stocks) can be increased by thermally cracking a resid fraction at an intermediate level of single pass severity relative to conventional methods. By performing thermal cracking to a partial level of conversion, compounds within a resid fraction that are beneficial for increasing both the viscosity and the viscosity index of a lubricant base oil can be retained, thus allowing for an improved yield of higher viscosity lubricant base oils from a thermally cracked resid fraction.

Methods are provided for processing deasphalted gas oils derived from thermally cracked resid fractions to form Group I, Group II, and/or Group III lubricant base oils. The yield of lubricant base oils (optionally also referred to as base stocks) can be increased by thermally cracking a resid fraction at an intermediate level of single pass severity relative to conventional methods. By performing thermal cracking to a partial level of conversion, compounds within a resid fraction that are beneficial for increasing both the viscosity and the viscosity index of a lubricant base oil can be retained, thus allowing for an improved yield of higher viscosity lubricant base oils from a thermally cracked resid fraction.

Disclosed are process and system for making an asphalt product and an olefin product from an asphaltenes-rich feed without using a vacuum distillation column. The feed is first deep stripped in a first stripping column using a stripping vapor such as steam and/or a C2-C3 paraffins-rich stream to obtain a bottoms liquid effluent having a high cutpoint and an overheads effluent comprising gas oil, lighter hydrocarbons, and the stripping vapor. The high-boiling point bottoms liquids effluent, with optional additional separation and/or treatment, can be used as asphalt products. The overheads effluent, with optional additional separation, can be fed into a pyrolysis furnace cracker, where it is converted into a cracker product mixture comprising olefins, lighter hydrocarbons, hydrogen, and the like, which can be recovered in a products recovery subsystem.

Disclosed are process and system for making an asphalt product and an olefin product from an asphaltenes-rich feed without using a vacuum distillation column. The feed is first deep stripped in a first stripping column using a stripping vapor such as steam and/or a C2-C3 paraffins-rich stream to obtain a bottoms liquid effluent having a high cutpoint and an overheads effluent comprising gas oil, lighter hydrocarbons, and the stripping vapor. The high-boiling point bottoms liquids effluent, with optional additional separation and/or treatment, can be used as asphalt products. The overheads effluent, with optional additional separation, can be fed into a pyrolysis furnace cracker, where it is converted into a cracker product mixture comprising olefins, lighter hydrocarbons, hydrogen, and the like, which can be recovered in a products recovery subsystem.

A process for upgrading a heavy oil, the process comprising the steps of introducing a heavy oil feed to a partial oxidation unit; introducing a water feed to a partial oxidation unit; introducing an oxidant feed to a partial oxidation unit, where the oxidant feed comprises an oxidant; processing the heavy oil feed, the water feed, and the oxidant feed in the partial oxidation unit to produce a liquid oxidation product, where the liquid oxidation product comprises oxygenates; introducing the liquid oxidation product to a supercritical water unit; introducing a water stream to the supercritical water unit; and processing the liquid oxidation product and the water stream in the supercritical water unit to produce an upgraded product stream, the upgraded product stream comprising upgraded hydrocarbons relative to the heavy oil feed.

A process for upgrading a heavy oil, the process comprising the steps of introducing a heavy oil feed to a partial oxidation unit; introducing a water feed to a partial oxidation unit; introducing an oxidant feed to a partial oxidation unit, where the oxidant feed comprises an oxidant; processing the heavy oil feed, the water feed, and the oxidant feed in the partial oxidation unit to produce a liquid oxidation product, where the liquid oxidation product comprises oxygenates; introducing the liquid oxidation product to a supercritical water unit; introducing a water stream to the supercritical water unit; and processing the liquid oxidation product and the water stream in the supercritical water unit to produce an upgraded product stream, the upgraded product stream comprising upgraded hydrocarbons relative to the heavy oil feed.

Processes for preparing a low particulate liquid hydrocarbon product are provided and include blending a tar stream containing particles with a fluid and heating to a temperature of 250° C. or greater to produce a fluid-feed mixture that contains tar, the particles, and the fluid. The fluid-feed mixture contains about 20 wt % or greater of the fluid, based on a combined weight of the tar stream and the fluid. Also, about 25 wt % to about 99 wt % of the particles in the tar stream are dissolved or decomposed when producing the fluid-feed mixture.

Processes for preparing a low particulate liquid hydrocarbon product are provided and include blending a tar stream containing particles with a fluid and heating to a temperature of 250° C. or greater to produce a fluid-feed mixture that contains tar, the particles, and the fluid. The fluid-feed mixture contains about 20 wt % or greater of the fluid, based on a combined weight of the tar stream and the fluid. Also, about 25 wt % to about 99 wt % of the particles in the tar stream are dissolved or decomposed when producing the fluid-feed mixture.