A device is configured to increase the portion of low-boiling fractions of a liquid, particularly mineral oil. A device includes a pressure wave generator for generating a pressure wave having a first frequency, in which the pressure wave generator is arranged to subject the liquid to the pressure waves in a region of application, at least one pipe which is arranged through which treated liquid flows after the region of application, and means for exciting the at least one pipe through which such treated liquid flows to oscillations of a second frequency, which is the resonance frequency of the excited system.

A system for crude oil desalting and dehydration includes a separation vessel defining a cavity extending along a central axis having a substantially-vertical orientation. The separation vessel comprises a first distributor configured to distribute a mixture within the cavity of the separation vessel, and a second distributor configured to distribute a wash fluid within the cavity of the separation vessel. The mixture comprises crude oil, water, dissolved salts, free salts, or combinations thereof, and the wash fluid comprises an aqueous fluid. The first distributor is disposed within the cavity below the second distributor, and an interface level controller is configured to detect an interface between an oil phase and an aqueous phase and to maintain the interface within a predetermined range within the cavity.

Compositions may include those of the formula: (I) wherein R1 is an alkyl chain having a carbon number in the range of greater than 40 to 200, R2 is a multiester, R3 is hydrogen, an ion, or an alkyl chain having a carbon number in the range of 1 to 200, m is an integer selected from 0 to 4, and n is an integer selected from the range of 0 to 4, wherein the sum of m and n is 1 or greater. Compositions may include a reaction product of a polyisobutylene-substituted succinic anhydride and a hydroxy-functional dendrimer, wherein the molar ratio of polyisobutylene-substituted succinic anhydride to hydroxy-functional dendrimer is within the range of 10:1 to 30:1. ##STR00001##

A crude oil desalter unit includes a settler, an inlet manifold fluidly coupled to the settler, and one or more inlet distributors extending from the inlet manifold to discharge a water-in-oil emulsion into the settler. Each inlet distributor includes a riser having a first end, a second end, and an inner flowpath extending between the first and second ends, wherein the riser is coupled to the inlet manifold at the first end, one or more outlet nozzles provided at the second end and in fluid communication with the inner flowpath, and a static mixer positioned within the inner flowpath and defining one or more helical pathways operable to induce rotational flow to a fluid flowing within the inner flowpath.

Methods are provided to prepare a low sulfur fuel from hydrocarbon sources, such as light tight oil and high sulfur fuel oil, often less desired by conventional refiners, who split crude into a wide range of differing products and may prefer presence of wide ranges (C3 or C5 to C20 or higher) of hydrocarbons. These fuels can be produced by separating feeds into untreated and treated streams, and then recombining them. Such fuels can also be formulated by combinations of light, middle and heavy range constituents in a selected manner as claimed. Not only low in sulfur, the fuels of this invention are also low in nitrogen and essentially metals free. Fuel use applications include on-board large marine transport vessels but also on-shore for large land based combustion gas turbines, boilers, fired heaters and transport vehicles and trains.

A method and apparatus for separating production fluids using a system designed to minimize the heating requirements through thermodynamic efficiency and reduce equipment costs.

Systems and methods for providing steam to crude prior to the crude reaching a gas oil separation plant (GOSP). The steam can help separate water and/or salt from the crude by breaking emulsions.

A porous material including alumina, the alumina including alpha-alumina, the porous material including one or more metals selected from Co, Mo, Ni, W and combinations thereof, and the porous material having a BET-surface area of 1-110 m2/g, a total pore volume of 0.50-0.80 ml/g, as measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry, and a pore size distribution (PSD) with at least 30 vol% of the total pore volume being in pores with a radius ≥ 400 Å, suitably pores with a radius ≥ 500 Å, A process for removing impurities such as phosphorous (P) from a feedstock by contacting the feedstock with a guard bed including the above porous material. A guard bed for a hydrotreatment system including the porous material, a hydrotreatment system including a guard bed which includes the porous material and a downstream hydrotreatment section including at least one hydrotreatment catalyst.

According to embodiments described herein, a method of processing a whole crude oil feed stream may include passing a whole crude oil feed stream into a fluid catalytic cracking unit and contacting the whole crude oil feed stream with an adsorbent material and a cracking catalyst. The adsorbent material may adsorb at least a portion of the sulfur of the whole crude oil feed stream and at least a portion of the whole crude oil feed stream may be catalytically cracked to produce coke disposed on the cracking catalyst. The method may further include passing the adsorbent material and the cracking catalyst to a regenerator, wherein the adsorbent material and the cracking catalyst contact an oxygen-containing gas at a temperature sufficient to remove at least a portion of the sulfur on the adsorbent material and combust at least a portion of the coke on the catalyst.

Systems and methods for monitoring a crude oil blending process use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensors which investigate properties of a plurality of crude oil streams that are mixed together to form a crude oil blend. An NMR sensor is also used to investigate the properties of the crude oil blend. The investigated properties may include viscosity. Resulting determinations may be used to control the input streams so that the output stream meets desired criteria. Additional sensors such as spectroscopy sensors, viscometers, and densitometers may be used in conjunction with the NMR sensors.