Disclosed are processes for extracting deasphalted crude oil from oil sand. Deasphalted crude oil can be extracted using a hydrocarbon recycle solvent stream having specified Hansen blend parameters, with the oil sand being contacted with the hydrocarbon recycle solvent stream in a contact zone of a vessel to separate not greater than 80 wt % of the bitumen present on the oil sand. The separated bitumen is considered a deasphalted crude oil stream, since it has an asphaltenes content substantially lower than that of the total bitumen initially present on the oil sand. The deasphalted crude oil stream can be treated using a hydrotreating catalyst or catalytic cracking catalyst to produce transportation fuel.

A method of recovering one or more insoluble oils from a liquid source using one or more membrane or membrane contactors, comprising the steps of: pumping the liquid source comprising the one or more oils to the membranes or membrane contactors, contacting the liquid source with a first surface of the membrane or membrane contactors, coalescing the one or more oils within the liquid source onto the first surface of the membrane contactors, pumping one or more recovery fluids through the membrane or membrane contactors in contact with the second surface of the membrane or membrane contactors, and removing a first stream of oil coalesced from the second surface of the membranes or membrane contactors.

Disclosed herein are methods for producing hydrocarbons from a subterranean reservoir that is penetrated by an injection well and a production well. The methods comprise operating the injection well under a set of injection parameters and operating the production well under a set of production parameters to produce a production fluid that has an API gravity that changes over time (ΔAPI) as the method is advanced towards an ultimate recovery factor (RF.sub.o,u) for the reservoir. The methods further comprises modulating the injection parameters, the production parameters, or a combination thereof to decrease or increase the API gravity of the production fluid depending on whether ΔAPI and RF.sub.o,u satisfy a set of requirements as disclosed herein.

A method for recovering base oil from waste lubricating oil by separating base oil range constituents from a waste lubricating oil mixture, thereafter separating higher quality base oil constituents and lower quality base oil constituents from the base oil recovered from the waste lubricating oil mixture and thereafter treating the lower quality base oil constituents to produce marketable base oil. The total base oil produced from a waste lubricating oil mixture by this process is greater than the quantity producible by previous processes using only base oil separation from the waste lubricating oil mixture or processes which use only treatment of the base oil recovered from the waste lubricating oil mixture to produce the product base oil.

A method for producing oil, comprising injecting water and a solvent into a formation; producing a mixture comprising water, solvent, oil, and gas from the formation; separating the mixture into a first stream comprising oil, water, and a first portion of the solvent, and a second stream comprising gas and a second portion of the solvent, and exposing the second stream to water to remove the second portion of the solvent from the gas.

The present disclosure provides methods to transfer a pressurized slurry of plant-based biomass into a reactor vessel. The methods allow for the transfer of practical-sized pieces of biomass in a slurry pressurized to above about 300 psi.

Processes for obtaining substances from bark, especially bark high in suberin and lignin, which substances can be used for preparing biofuels are disclosed. The processes use a solvent system for dissolving the substances, which system can be recycled in the process. The solvent system comprises a base selected from tertiary aliphatic amines A composition comprising bark and the solvent system, which can be used in the processes, is also disclosed.

A renewable biofuel based on a highly efficient batch catalysis methodology for conversion of 1-butene to a new class of potential jet fuel blends. By tuning the catalyst and then using the dimer produced, the carbon use is about 95% or greater. This latter point will be particularly important in the future, where the source of raw materials (i.e., biomass/biofeedstock) is limited.

System and method for reducing mutagen levels contained within a volume of petroleum aromatic extracts. The petroleum aromatic extracts are mixed with at least one solvent. This produces a mixture. Once mixed, some of the petroleum aromatic extracts dissolve. Others settle in the mixture. The petroleum aromatic extracts that have settled on the mixture are removed from the mixture and are ready for use. The mixture is heated to evaporate the solvent from the mixture. The evaporated solvent can be recaptured and reused. The residuum of the mixture contains petroleum aromatic extracts that can be partially recovered using traditional hydroprocessing techniques.

A highly-dispersed hydrogenation catalyst, a preparation method thereof, and use thereof in the preparation of biofuel from palm oil or other oil are provided. The combination of maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MA-PP) and a silane coupling agent (SCA) is introduced into an aluminum oxide composite carrier through organic amidation to obtain a uniformly-dispersed composite carrier with regular pores. Moreover, through a multi-stage impregnation and roasting process, a particle size of an active component is greatly reduced, and the dispersion of the active component and the number of active sites are improved. A hydrogenation catalyst with high hydrothermal stability, high hydrogenation activity, and long life is prepared based on the composite carrier with regular pores and used in the preparation of biofuel from vegetable oil or other oil through hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), which has great industrial application value.