A coke catching apparatus for use in hydrocarbon cracking to assist in the removal of coke and the prevention of coke build up in high coking hydrocarbon processing units. The apparatus includes a grid device for preventing large pieces of coke from entering the outlet of the process refining equipment while lowing small pieces of coke to pass through and be disposed of. The coke catching apparatus can be easily disassembled to be removed from the refining process equipment and cleaned.

For the shipping industry, these fuels provide solutions to long outstanding technical problems that heretofore hindered supply of low sulfur marine fuels in quantities needed to meet worldwide sulfur reduction goals. Marine shipping use of high sulfur bunker oils is reported as largest source of world-wide transportation SOx emissions. When ships on the open seas burn cheap low grade heavy bunker oils high in sulfur, nitrogen and metals, the SOx, NOx, and metal oxides go to the environment. This invention converts essentially all of each barrel of crude feed to a single ultraclean fuel versus conventional refining where crude feed is cut into many pieces, and each piece is sent down a separate market path meeting various different product specifications. When in port, ships can use these fuels to generate and sell electricity to land based electrical grids to offset fuel cost in an environment-friendly manner.

A fluid seal system for a hydrocarbon recovery capsule includes a plurality of interconnected fluid seals each comprising an elongated sealing member clamped to a bulkhead plate and biasing a geomembrane to the bulkhead plate. A compression plate is positioned between each elongated sealing member and the bulkhead plate, thereby clamping the geomembrane to the bulkhead plate. An enclosed channel of each elongated sealing member receives a slurry. Clay amended soil surrounds and compresses the plurality of interconnected seals to provide a fluid seal that is capable of withstanding high temperatures while sealing off fluid and gas from the environment. A method of sealing a hydrocarbon recovery capsule is disclosed and described.

The invention relates to a process for producing benzene, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a hydrocracking feed stream comprising C5-C12 hydrocarbons, (b) contacting the hydrocracking feed stream in the presence of hydrogen with a hydrocracking catalyst comprising 0.01-1 wt-% hydrogenation metal in relation to the total catalyst weight and a zeolite having a pore size of 5-8 ? and a silica (SiO.sub.2) to alumina (Al.sub.2O.sub.3) molar ratio of 5-200 under process conditions including a temperature of 425-580? C., a pressure of 300-5000 kPa gauge and a Weight Hourly Space Velocity of 0.1-15 h.sup.?1 to produce a hydrocracking product stream comprising benzene, toluene and C8+ hydrocarbons, (c) separating benzene, toluene and the C8+ hydrocarbons from the hydrocracking product stream and (d) selectively recycling back at least part of the toluene from the separated products of step (c) to be included in the hydrocracking feed stream.

The present application generally relates to the introduction of a renewable fuel oil as a feedstock into refinery systems or field upgrading equipment. For example, the present application is directed to methods of introducing a liquid thermally produced from biomass into a petroleum conversion unit; for example, a refinery fluid catalytic cracker (FCC), a coker, a field upgrader system, a hydrocracker, and/or hydrotreating unit; for co-processing with petroleum fractions, petroleum fraction reactants, and/or petroleum fraction feedstocks and the products, e.g., fuels, and uses and value of the products resulting therefrom.

Configurations and related processing schemes of direct or indirect (or both) inter-plants heating systems synthesized for grassroots medium grade crude oil semi-conversion refineries to increase energy efficiency from specific portions of low grade waste heat sources are described. Configurations and related processing schemes of direct or indirect (or both) inter-plants heating systems synthesized for integrated medium grade crude oil semi-conversion refineries and aromatics complex for increasing energy efficiency from specific portions of low grade waste sources are also described.

Configurations and related processing schemes of direct or indirect inter-plants heating systems (or both) synthesized for grassroots medium grade crude oil semi-conversion refineries to increase energy efficiency from specific portions of low grade waste heat sources are described. Configurations and related processing schemes of direct or indirect inter-plants heating systems (or both) synthesized for integrated medium grade crude oil semi-conversion refineries and aromatics complex for increasing energy efficiency from specific portions of low grade waste sources are also described.

The invention relates to a process for producing benzene, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a hydrocracking feed stream comprising C5-C12 hydrocarbons, (b) contacting the hydrocracking feed stream in the presence of hydrogen with a hydrocracking catalyst comprising 0.01-1 wt-% hydrogenation metal in relation to the total catalyst weight and a zeolite having a pore size of 5-8 ? and a silica (SiO.sub.2) to alumina (Al.sub.2O.sub.3) molar ratio of 5-200 under process conditions including a temperature of 425-580? C., a pressure of 300-5000 kPa gauge and a Weight Hourly Space Velocity of 0.1-15 h.sup.?1 to produce a hydrocracking product stream comprising benzene, toluene and C8+ hydrocarbons, (c) separating benzene, toluene and the C8+ hydrocarbons from the hydrocracking product stream and (d) selectively recycling back at least part of the toluene from the separated products of step (c) to be included in the hydrocracking feed stream.

Plants and methods are presented for crude feed pre-processing before feeding the crude feed into a crude unit or vacuum unit. Pre-processing is preferably achieved with a combination of a preflash drum and a preflash column that allows for high-temperature treatment of the liquids and separate vapor phase handling, which advantageously enables retrofitting existing plants to accommodate lighter crude feeds.

The invention relates to a method for revamping a conventional refinery of mineral oils into a biorefinery, characterized by a production scheme which allows the treatment of raw materials of a biological origin (vegetable oils, animal fats, exhausted cooking oils) for the production of biofuels, prevalently high-quality biodiesel. This method allows the re-use of existing plants, allowing, in particular, the revamping of a refinery containing a system comprising two hydrodesulfurization units, U1 and U2, into a biorefinery containing a production unit of hydrocarbon fractions from mixtures of a biological origin containing fatty acid esters by means of their hydrodeoxygenation and isomerization, wherein each of the hydrodesulfurization units U1 and U2 comprises: a hydrodesulfurization reactor, (A1) for the unit U1 and (A2) for the unit U2, wherein said reactor contains a hydrodesulfurization catalyst; one or more heat exchangers between the feedstock and effluent of the reactor; a heating system of the feedstock upstream of the reactor; an acid gas treatment unit downstream of the reactor, containing an absorbent (B) for H.sub.2S, said unit being called T1 in the unit U1 and T2 in the unit U2, and wherein said method comprises: installing a line L between the units U1 and U2 which connects them in series; installing a recycling line of the product for the unit U1 and possibly for the unit U2, substituting the hydrodesulfurization catalyst in the reactor A1 with a hydrodeoxygenation catalyst; substituting the hydrodesulfurization catalyst in the reactor A2 with an isomerization catalyst; installing a by-pass line of the acid gas treatment unit T2 of the unit U2; substituting the absorbent (B) in the acid gas treatment unit T1 with a specific absorbent for CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2S. The operative configuration obtained with the method, object of the present invention, also leads to a substantial reduction in emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere, with respect to the original operative mode. The invention also relates to the transformation unit of mixtures of a biological origin obtained with said conversion method and particularly hydrodeoxygenation and isomerization processes.