In a process for purifying fatty acid alkyl esters, particularly methyl and ethyl esters, by means of vacuum distillation in a distillation column, water or steam is introduced into the distillation column and, during distillation, brought into contact with the fatty acid alkyl esters in the gas phase. This results in a significant reduction in the sulphur content and in the acid number of the fatty acid alkyl ester.

A method of producing a low sulfur tall oil fatty acid by first esterifying the tall oil fatty acid, followed by distillation of the tall oil fatty acid ester, followed by saponification and acidulation to provide a low sulfur tall oil fatty acid. A fuel additive comprising tall oil fatty acid and a sulfur compound, wherein the sulfur compound comprises from about 0.1 to about 20 ppm of the additive. A fuel comprises a hydrocarbon fuel component and the fuel additive.

The present disclosure provides a method for separating a feed stream in a distillation tower. The method may include forming solids in a controlled freeze zone section of the distillation tower; emitting radiation from a first radiation source in the controlled freeze zone section while the controlled freeze zone section forms no solids; detecting radiation emitted by the first radiation source as a first radiation level; detecting radiation emitted by the first radiation source as a second radiation level after detecting the first radiation level; and determining whether the solids adhered to at least one of on and around a first mechanical component included in the controlled freeze zone section based on the first radiation level and the second radiation level.

The present disclosure relates to co-processing at least a fossil-based feed, pyrolysis liquid and a distillation residue from tall oil distillation in an oil refinery conversion process.

Disclosed is an apparatus and method of preparing synthetic fuel using natural gas extracted from a stranded gas field on land or at sea as a raw material through a compact GTL process or a GTL-FPSO process. A parallel-type gas purification unit for controlling a molar ratio of synthetic gas and a concentration of carbon dioxide in the synthetic gas, in which a CO.sub.2 separation device and a bypass unit are disposed in parallel, is provided and, thus, the gas purification unit may prepare the synthetic gas by a steam carbon dioxide reforming (SCR) reaction using natural gas having different CO.sub.2 contents of various stranded gas fields and then supply the synthetic gas having an optimum composition suitable for a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

A system for processing a stream including fuel oil includes an atmospheric flash column for receiving the stream as feedstock and separate the stream into an atmospheric flash distillate stream and an atmospheric flash residue stream. The system includes a vacuum flash column for receiving the atmospheric flash residue stream and separating the atmospheric flash residue stream into a vacuum flash distillate stream, a vacuum flash residue stream, and a vacuum gas oil stream. The system includes a first hydrocracking unit for receiving and processing at least a portion of the vacuum flash residue stream to produce an intermediate stream and a slurry. The system includes a second hydrocracking unit for receiving and processing the vacuum gas oil stream and the intermediate stream to produce a naphtha product and a light ends product. The system includes a pelletization unit for receiving and processing the slurry to produce a pelletized product.

A method of producing biodiesel includes reacting at least one of brown grease and FOG with at least one enzyme, alcohol, and an aqueous solution to produce a reacted feedstock and producing biodiesel from the reacted feedstock, the biodiesel having a composition of sulfur less than 15 ppm.

Subject of the invention is a process for producing a biofuel from fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) obtained by transesterification of vegetable oils, comprising the steps of (a) ethenolysis of the fatty acid methyl esters in the presence of ethylene and an ethenolysis catalyst, and (b) isomerizing metathesis in the presence of an isomerization catalyst and a metathesis catalyst.

The invention also relates to biofuels obtainable by the inventive process and to uses of ethylene for adjusting and optimizing biofuels.

The present disclosure provides a method of dehydrating a feed stream processed in a distillation tower. The method may include (a) introducing a feed stream comprising a first contaminant stream into a distillation tower; (b) forming a solid from the feed stream in a controlled freeze zone section of the distillation tower; (c) feeding a second contaminant stream into the feed stream outside the distillation tower; and (d) removing water from the feed stream with a second contaminant stream by feeding the second contaminant stream.

A process and an apparatus are disclosed for a compact processing assembly to fractionate lighter components from mixed hydrocarbon streams. The hydrocarbon stream is supplied to the processing assembly between an absorbing means and a mass transfer means. A distillation vapor stream is collected from the upper region of the absorbing means and cooled in a first heat and mass transfer means inside the processing assembly to partially condense it, forming a volatile stream and a condensed stream. The condensed stream is supplied to the absorbing means as its top feed. A distillation liquid stream is collected from the lower region of the mass transfer means and heated in a second heat and mass transfer means inside the processing assembly to strip out its volatile components, forming a relatively less volatile stream and a vaporized stream. The vaporized stream is supplied to the mass transfer means as its bottom feed.