System, Method and Apparatuses for Zero-Emission Micro Oil Refinery

Abstract

A system and process for refining crude oil to produce higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels with reduced emissions. The crude oil may be treated with viscosity-reductant additives, which reduces viscosity by up to 50% and increases API gravity by more than 2 points. The method of spray-cracking and vacuum-flashing of crude oil separates light end chains and heavy end chains inside the reactor. The vapor is condensed into designer fuels like bunker, diesel, jet/kerosene fuel, naphtha and gasoline fuel using multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate-condenser. The GVF centrifuges are configured to separate targeted fuels of desired density value as per their ideal fuel densities, which carry out centrifugal polishing to generate targeted fuel products of desired density and hydrocarbon molecules of desired purity values. These designer fuels are further treated with desulfurization additive. A method for automating daily selection of designer fuels and chemical-rich residuum from the process is disclosed.

Claims

1. A system for refining crude oil to produce high purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels in a micro-crude oil refinery with zero refining emissions, the system comprising a crude section; a vapor section; and a condensate section, wherein the crude section comprising: a crude oil stock tank, the crude oil feedstock tank stores the crude oil feedstock; a plurality of heat exchangers, each of the heat exchangers heats the crude oil coming from the crude oil stock tank to optimum temperature range; a chemical additive tank, the chemical additive tank stores a viscosity-reductant additive, the viscosity-reductant additive is contacted with the crude oil to breakdown heavy chain hydrocarbons in the crude oil to light chain hydrocarbon; a plurality of centrifugal pump or a positive displacement pump, each of the centrifugal pumps or positive displacement pump is configured to properly mix the crude oil with the viscosity-reductant additive; a plurality of valves, each of the valves controls the flow of crude oil; a reactor, the reactor is designed for spray cracking and vacuum flashing of the crude oil to separate out the heavy chain hydrocarbon, the light chain hydrocarbon and by-products; the condensate section comprising: a multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser, the light chain hydrocarbon from the reactor enters into the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser in the form of vapor, the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser configured to comprise at least three stages or compartments cooled separately at different specific temperatures to condense the vapor into targeted fuel products that condense at those specific temperatures; a plurality of cooling equipment, each of the cooling equipment is connected to each of the stages or compartments of the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser to condense the vapor into targeted fuel products; a plurality of fuel stock tanks, each of fuel stock tanks collects the targeted fuel products coming from the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser; a plurality of gas void fraction (GVF) centrifuges, each of the GVF centrifuges configured to operate by density differentials to separate targeted fuels of desired density value as per the ideal fuel densities, the GVF centrifuges carries out centrifugal polishing to generate targeted fuel products of desired density and hydrocarbon molecules of desired purity values; a plurality of output storage tanks, each of the output storage tank stores the designer fuels and the by-products, the designer fuels and the by-products are sent for sale from the plurality of output storage tanks, the vapor section comprising: a vapor trap tank, the vapor and gases that are not condensed in the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser are collected into the vapor trap tank; a plurality of blowers, each of the blowers configured to increase velocity and pressure of the gases and vapor released from the vapor trap tank; a plurality of process heaters, each of the process heaters configured to burn the gases extracted from processed crude oil; and a separator, the separator removes any entrapped non-condensable gases before passing the gases into the plurality of process heaters.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the designer fuels are selected from a diesel fuel, a bunker fuel, a jet/kerosene fuel, a naphtha fuel and a gasoline fuel, a grade 2 diesel fuel (#2 diesel), a grade 4 diesel fuel (#4 diesel).

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system is a closed-loop system with zero crude oil refining emissions, the system recycles the crude oil to extract all components separated and released from the crude oil and the gases extracted from processed crude oil are used to burn the process heaters.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the by-products are selected from asphalt, paraffin, chemical-rich residuum.

5. The system as claimed in 1, wherein the ideal fuel densities of the designer fuels at temperature of 15° C. are in the range from 0.7 kg/m.sup.3to 1010 kg/m.sup.3.

6. A process for refining crude oil to produce higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels with zero refining emissions in a micro-crude oil refinery, the process comprises: a crude stage; a vapor stage; a condensate stage; and a residuum stage, wherein the crude stage comprising: flowing of the crude oil from a crude oil stock tank with an ambient temperature of 120-200° F. and an ambient pressure of 100-200 psi through a centrifugal or positive displacement pump; raising the pressure of the crude oil to 200-1000 psi by the centrifugal or positive displacement pump; passing the crude oil from the centrifugal or positive displacement pump to either a bunker fuel stock tank or to a pre-heat heat exchanger controlled by a plurality of valves; contacting the crude oil with a viscosity-reductant additive from a viscosity-reductant additive storage tank injected into the bunker fuel stock tank, and mixing of the crude oil with the viscosity-reductant additive by the centrifugal pump or positive displacement pumps; or pre-heating the crude oil to a temperature of 200-500° F. in the preheat heat exchanger from a first stage of a multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser; passing the crude oil from the preheat heat exchanger into a reactor either through a pair of electric heaters or through each of a plurality of heat exchangers controlled by a plurality of valves to raise the temperature of crude oil to optimal temperature of 200-600° F., entering of the crude oil into a reactor, the pressure inside the reactor is in a range of less than 15-inch vacuum to 20 psi; passing the crude oil through a plurality of nozzles and process devices to reduce the size of the crude oil to 10-120 microns to form atomized crude particles; spraying the atomized crude particles into vacuum condition, the pressure of the atomized crude particles is in range from 200-1000 psi and temperature range of atomized crude particles is 200-600° F. results in spray-cracking and vacuum-flashing of the atomized crude particles; separating the atomized crude particles into a light end chains and a heavy end chains by the spray-cracking and the vacuum flashing, the light end chains passes through a separator inside the reactor and enters into the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser in the form of vapor and the heavy end chains falls through sides of the reactor and collected into a sump of the reactor as a residuum; the vapor stage comprising: recovering the light end chains in form of vapor from the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser into a vapor trap tank; passing gases collected in the vapor trap tank through a vapor recovery unit (VRU) into a process heater or passing the gases to a pair of main blowers and sent into the reactor, passing the gases using the small blower to a vapor recovery unit (VRU) and into a process heater through a separator, the small blower draws the vapor from the vapor trap tank to remove non condensable gases, or passing the gases from the vapor trap tank to a pair of methane heaters using the pair of main blowers and enters into the reactor, the pair of methane heaters raises the temperature of the gases equal to the temperature inside the reactor; passing the gases from the methane heater into the reactor through a plurality of nozzles and process devices; carrying the atomized crude particles with the gases, the gases carries the atomized crude particles at a carrying velocity range from 3-12 feet per second to the separator inside the reactor, the light end chains in form of vapor passes through the separator inside the reactor and the heavy end chains are collected into the sump of the reactor; the condensate stage comprising: passing of the vapor from the reactor into the multi-stage/compartment horizontal reverse condensate condenser, the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser comprises of at least three stages to convert the vapor into designer fuels, the designer fuels are a bunker fuel, a diesel fuel, a jet or kerosene fuel, a naphtha fuel and gasoline fuel; condensing the vapor into the diesel fuel in a first stage of the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser, by taking inlet temperature of the vapor in range from 200-600° F. and reducing the temperature of the vapor to optimum temperature range from 200-150° F. using a cooling medium from the pre-heat heat exchanger to obtain the diesel fuel; condensing the vapor into the jet or kerosene fuel in a second stage of the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser, by taking the inlet temperature of the vapor in the range from 200-150° F. from the first stage and reducing the temperature of vapor to optimum temperature range from 170-50° F. using a fin fan or similar cooling equipment to obtain the jet or kerosene fuel; condensing the vapor into naphtha fuel or gasoline fuel in a third stage or compartment of the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser, by taking the inlet temperature of the vapor in range 170-50° F. from the second stage and reducing the temperature of the vapor to optimum temperature range from 60-20° F. using chillers or similar cooling equipment to obtain the naphtha fuel or gasoline fuel; collecting the vapor from the first stage of the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser as the diesel fuel into a diesel fuel stock tank; collecting the vapor from the second stage of the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser as the jet or kerosene fuel into a jet or kerosene fuel stock tank; collecting the vapor from the third stage of the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser as the naphtha fuel or gasoline fuel into a naphtha or gasoline stock tanks; extracting the bunker fuel from the reactor and collecting into a bunker fuel stock tank; extracting asphalt from the reactor and collecting into an asphalt stock tank; passing the designer fuels through plurality of gas void fraction (GVF) centrifuges, each of the GVF centrifuges operates by density differentials to separate out designer fuels of desired density value based on ideal densities of the designer fuels, the GVF centrifuges carries out centrifugal polishing to generate designer fuels of desired density and hydrocarbon molecules of desired purity values; re-circulating the designer fuels from the GVF centrifuge back into the diesel fuel stock tank, the jet or kerosene fuel stock tank, the naphtha or gasoline stock tank, the bunker fuel stock tank respectively using each of the plurality of valves; sending the designer fuels from the GVF centrifuges into a fraction sulphur reducer (FSR), where the produced designer fuel comes in contact with a desulfurization ester additive in the FSR; collecting the diesel fuel from the FSR into a diesel fuel output storage tank; collecting the bunker fuel from the FSR into a bunker fuel output storage tank; collecting the jet or kerosene fuel from FSR into a jet or kerosene fuel output storage tank; separating the naphtha fuel and gasoline fuel, removing the unwanted carbon chains and pollutants from the naphtha fuel to obtain the gasoline fuel; collecting the naphtha fuel from the FSR into a naphtha fuel output storage tank; and collecting the gasoline fuel from the FSR into a gasoline fuel output storage tank; the residuum stage comprising: collecting the residuum in the sump of the reactor; re-circulating the residuum collected in the sump back into the reactor; sending the residuum for a primary processing to obtain a first residuum, the primary processing is performed by re-circulating the residuum throughout the process, sending the residuum from the sump of the reactor through the plurality of centrifugal or positive displacement pumps and plurality of heat exchanger for re-circulation; sending the first residuum for a secondary processing, the first residuum is re-circulated through the process in the secondary processing to obtain a chemical-rich residuum; extracting asphalt from the chemical-rich residuum and collecting into an asphalt output storage tank; recovering paraffins in liquid form from the chemical-rich residuum; and sending the bunker fuel collected in the sump of the reactor to the bunker storage tank.

7. The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein the viscosity-reductant additive is selected from the Surfsol solvent and/or other surfactants, emulsions, solvents or combinations thereof, whereby the viscosity-reductant additive chemically breaks the bonds of the asphaltenes and paraffins in the crude oil to reduce viscosity of the crude oil by up to 50% and increase American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity by more than 2-points.

8. The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein the desulfurization ester additive comprises an ester solvent, the ester solvent being selected from the group of methyl octanoate, methyl laurate, trimethylolpropanetrilaurate, pentaeythritoltetralaurate and dipentaerythritolhexaheptanoate.

9. The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein the desulfurization ester additive is added to the designer fuel at a ratio of 1 ounce of the desulfurization ester additive to 10 gallons of the designer fuel.

10. The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein the desulfurization ester additive reduces the emissions comprising SOx by up to 40% and NOx by up to 10% from combustion of the designer fuels.

11. The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein the process heaters are heated with utility-grade natural gas, when there is a shortage in the gases extracted from processed crude oil.

12. The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein the process of production of the designer fuels is based on input density of the crude oil and output density of the designer fuels.

13. The process as claimed in 6, wherein the ideal fuel densities of the designer fuels at the temperature of 15° C. are in the range from 0.7 kg/m.sup.3to 1010 kg/m.sup.3.

14. The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein the process is a closed-loop process with zero crude oil refining emissions, the system recycles the crude oil to extract all components separated and released from the crude oil and the gases extracted from processed crude oil are used to burn the process heaters.

15. The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein a method for automating daily selection of the designer fuels and the chemical-rich residuum from the process, wherein the method comprising: electronic-tracking of a crude oil feedstock delivered into the micro-crude oil refinery; analyzing physical and chemical characteristics of the crude oil feedstock; determining current market value for the sale of each of the bunker fuel, jet fuel, diesel fuel, naphtha fuel, gasoline fuel and chemical-rich residuum; determining most valuable designer fuels and the chemical-rich residuum obtained from the crude oil feedstock based on the physical and chemical characteristics; determining the amount of a first residuum to be subjected to a secondary processing; determining the amount of the chemical-rich residuum obtained after the secondary processing; determining the amount of asphalt and the paraffins to be extracted from the chemical-rich residuum; changing output from the process to produce most valuable designer fuels and the chemical-rich residuum; determining output ratios of the designer fuels and the chemical-rich residuum by volume on each day according to highest values; metering of the process and sale of the designer fuels and the chemical rich residuum, the metering of the process is performed by recording weights and volumes of inputs of crude oil feedstocks, inputs of the viscosity-reductant additive and the desulfurization ester additive, electrical and thermal energy inputs, and corresponding outputs of the designer fuels and the chemical-rich residuum.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the physical and chemical characteristics of the crude oil feedstock is selected from the group of Viscosity, API Gravity, density, Sulfur-content, Paraffin-content, Asphaltene-content, Aromatics-content, Water-content, Sediment-content, vanadium-content, nickel-content.

17. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the method is performed using a production auditing or accounting control system operated with a software program, the production auditing or accounting control system calculates profitable ratios of the most in-demand designer fuels based on the physical and chemical characteristics of the input crude oil feedstock on a daily basis.

18. A reactor apparatus for spray-cracking and vacuum-flashing of crude oil in a system for refining crude oil to produce high purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels with zero refining emissions, wherein the reactor apparatus comprises: a plurality of nozzles, the plurality of nozzles designed to reduce the molecular size of the crude oil to form atomized crude particles, the atomized crude particles are sprayed into vacuum conditions inside the reactor, resulting in the spray-cracking and vacuum-flashing of the atomized crude particles; a first input from a first main blower, the first input configured to receive gases and vapor from the first main blower; a second input from a second main blower, the second input configured to receive gases and vapor from the second main blower; the gases and vapor from the first input and the second input carries the atomized crude particles at a carrying velocity; a separator, the separator designed to separate light chain hydrocarbon and heavy chain hydrocarbon from the crude oil, the light chain hydrocarbons passes through the separator and the heavy chain hydrocarbon are forced to fall through the sides of the reactor; a sump of the reactor, the sump designed to collect the heavy chain hydrocarbon from the crude oil; a plurality of pumps, each pump is connected to the sump of the reactor, the heavy chain hydrocarbon from the sump is re-circulated back into the reactor using a recirculation pump to further extract the designer fuels and by-products, the plurality of pumps arranged to separate the designer fuels and the by-products; and a plurality of output storage tank, the plurality of output storage tank connected to the sump of the reactor, each of the output storage tank stores the designer fuels and the by-products obtained from the reactor.

19. The reactor apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the pressure inside the reactor is in the range from 15 inch of vacuum to 20 psi.

20. The reactor apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the atomized crude particles with the molecular size from 10-120 microns are sprayed at a pressure range from 200-1000 psi and a temperature range from 200-600° F.

21. The reactor apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the atomized crude particles are carried with the gases and vapor at the carrying velocity range from 3-12 feet per second.

22. A horizontal reverse condensate condenser apparatus in a system for refining crude oil to produce high purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels with zero refining emissions, wherein the horizontal reverse condensate condenser apparatus comprises of at least three stage or fuel compartments to separate the crude oil into targeted fuel products, each of the stages or the compartments are connected to each of the plurality of cooling equipment, each of the cooling equipment sends a cooling medium to each of the fuel compartment or the stages to condense vapor of the crude oil into the targeted fuel products, the horizontal reverse condensate condenser apparatus configured to direct the flow of the vapor in a horizontal direction to condensed the vapor at different temperatures in separate fuel compartments or the stages, each of the targeted fuel products are collected at the bottom of each of the fuel compartments or the stages.

23. The horizontal reverse condensate condenser apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein the cooling equipment is selected from a fin fan, a chiller, a heat exchanger and similar cooling devices.

24. The horizontal reverse condensate condenser apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein the horizontal reverse condensate condenser apparatus comprises three or more stages or compartments, the temperature of the vapor in a range from 200-600° F. is reduced to an optimum temperature range from 200-150° F. to form a diesel fuel in a first stage or compartment, a second stage or compartment takes vapor with the temperature of 200-150° F. from the first stage and reduces the temperature to optimum temperature range of 170-50° F. to obtain a jet fuel or kerosene fuel, a third stage or compartment takes the inlet temperature of the vapor in range 170-50° F. from the second stage and reduces the temperature to optimum temperature range from 60-20° F. to obtain a naphtha fuel or a gasoline fuel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0039] FIG. 1A is a process flow diagram illustrating the section of initial crude flow through the process.

[0040] FIG. 1B is a process flow diagram illustrating the reactor section and outputs of the bunker fuel and asphalt from the reactor.

[0041] FIG. 1C is a process flow diagram illustrating the multi-stage horizontal reverse condenser section and corresponding outputs from each stage.

[0042] FIG. 1D is a process flow diagram illustrating outputs of designer fuels through the gas void fraction (GVF) centrifuges and Fraction sulphur reducer (FSR) into respective output storage tank.

[0043] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the reactor used in the crude oil refining process according to an embodiment herein.

[0044] FIG. 3 is a flow chart that illustrates the method of automating daily selection of the designer fuels and chemical-rich residuum from the process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0045] The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

[0046] The embodiments herein achieve this by providing a system and process of refining the crude oil feedstock into high purity, high burning efficiency designer fuels namely Jet fuel/Kerosene fuel, diesel fuel (#2 diesel fuel), gasoline fuel, naphtha, bunker fuel (#4 diesel fuel) and chemical-rich residuum with zero crude oil refining emissions.

[0047] The FIG. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D represents each section of the process (100) for refining crude oil to produce higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels in a micro-crude oil refinery.

[0048] The FIG. 1A is a process flow diagram which illustrates the initial flow of crude oil through the process (100). The crude oil coming from the crude oil stock tanks (102) with ambient temperature of 120-200° F. and pressure of 100-200 psi goes into the centrifugal pump or a positive displacement pump (110) where pressure is raised to 200-1000 psi. The crude oil from the centrifugal pump or positive displacement pump (110) may either flow to a pair of electrical heaters (106a & 106b) for thermal cracking or to a heat exchanger (104) in which the movement of crude oil is controlled by a plurality of valves. When the crude oil passes through the preheat heat exchanger (104), it is preheated from the first stage of the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser (112) to 200-500° F. Then, the hot crude oil may either pass through a first path or the second path to raise the temperature to 200-600° F. When the crude takes the first path, it passes through the first electric heater (106a) and the second electric heater (106b) controlled by a plurality of valves and passes through the heat exchanger (104) and reaches the reactor (108). When, the crude takes the second path, it passes directly through another heat exchanger (104), heated using thermal fluids, and enters into the reactor (108).

[0049] The FIG. 1B is a process flow diagram illustrating the reactor section and outputs of the bunker fuel and asphalt from the reactor. The crude oil from the crude oil stock tanks (102) may pass through the centrifugal pump or positive displacement pump (110) to a bunker fuel stock tank (136), where the crude oil comes in contact with a Surfsol solvent injected from the Surfsol solvent tank (152). The hot crude with a temperature range from 200-600° F. enters the reactor (108) through plurality nozzles and devices which reduces the molecular size of the crude to 10-120 microns. The pressure inside the reactor (108) is at a range from less than 15 psi vacuum to 20 psi. The atomized crude particles inside the reactor (108) is sprayed into the vacuum condition at the pressure of 200-1000 psi and temperature of 200-600° F. results in spray-cracking and vacuum-flashing of the crude oil. This technique of spray-cracking and vacuum-flashing breaks the complex molecules or the heavy chain hydrocarbons into simpler or light chain molecules. The vacuum flashing of the crude drops the boiling point of the crude so the temperature of the crude reaches 300-80° C. at this stage. The lighter chains are carried out of the reactor (108) through the separator (122a) into the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser (112) and the heavier carbon chain are forced to drop to the sump (108a) of the reactor (108). The residuum is collected into the sump (108a) containing heavier carbon chain compounds, which are re-circulated back into the reactor using the re-circulating centrifugal or positive displacement pump (110) to further extract the lighter chains from the crude. The residuum collected in the sump (108a) of the reactor is sent for a primary processing. The residuum is sent out from the sump (108a) of the reactor through the centrifugal or positive displacement pump (110) and heat exchanger (104). The primary processing involves recirculation of residuum throughout the process to further extract the desired components from the crude oil. Further, the first residuum is sent for a secondary processing by again re-circulating the first residuum to obtain a chemical-rich residuum. The secondary processing yields a highly concentrated chemical-rich residuum from which many chemicals, industrial and consumer petroleum products may be derived. The heavier end chains collected in the sump (108a) of the reactor after the recycling process are pumped as bunker fuel (#4 diesel) and collects into the bunker fuel stock tank (136). The asphalt may also be extracted from the chemical-rich residuum, which are collected into the asphalt output storage tank (154). Other by-products like paraffins can be separated in liquid form and may be added with designer fuels like Bunker fuel, Jet fuel, Diesel fuel and Gasoline fuel to impart beneficial characteristics to the fuels.

[0050] The FIG. 1C illustrates a process flow diagram illustrating the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser section and corresponding outputs from each stage. The vapor leaves from the reactor (108) and enters the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser (112) containing at least three stages to separate the crude oil into targeted designer fuels. The vapor containing C.sub.1-C.sub.4 carbon chain does not condense in the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser and these lighter chains may be recovered into the vapor trap tank (114). The vapor from the vapor trap tank (114) is drawn by the small blower (120c) through a separator (122b) to remove any entrapped gases. The small blower (120c) sends the gases from the vapor trap tank (114) into a vapor recovery unit (VRU) (126) to be burned by the process heaters (128). The methane and other vapor are circulated from the vapor trap tank (114) by the main blowers (120a,120b).The pair of main blowers (120a,120b) increases the velocity and pressure of the gases which is passed through the pair of methane heaters (124a,124b) which uses thermal fluids, in order to raise the temperature of the gases equal to the temperature inside the reactor (108). The exhaust containing harmless gases which are released from the pair of methane heaters (124a, 124b) are opened into the atmosphere. This step will not result in cooling of the reactor. The heated gases from the methane heaters (124a, 124b) enter into the reactor (108) through plurality of nozzles from the sides of the reactor (108). These gases pass through the reactor carrying the atomized crude particles along with them at the velocity range from 3-12 feet per second and reach a separator (122a) inside the reactor. The shorter carbon chain molecules are easily passed through the separator (122a), while longer carbon chain molecules hit the separator (122a) and fall into the sump (108a) of the reactor (108).

[0051] The vapor from the reactor (108) enters into the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser (112). The multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser (112) may have three to four stages according to the targeted designer fuels that are to be produced. The multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate-condenser condenses side-ways flowing vapors through the condenser tube, such that the targeted low temperature of the condenser condenses the remaining vapor and drops them into the bottom section compartments of the condenser corresponding to the different fuel fractions contained in the crude oil. The conventional distillation towers heat up the boiled crude oil vapor to rise up in the vertical distillation towers, which condenses to produce various vapor fractions of petroleum fuels. On the other hand, in a reverse condensate condenser, the heated crude oil droplets are cooled in separate compartments, so that they fall down and condense at targeted temperatures to produce targeted fuel products that can be collected in separate storage tanks. Since hot crude is cooled down as it crosses the condenser, compared to conventional oil refinery distillation columns that condense fuel as it rises, the Micro Crude Oil Refinery in the present invention uses a multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser.

[0052] All the stages in the present invention as shown in FIG. 1C are targeted with the first stage taking the inlet temperature of the vapor from the reactor (200-600° F.) and condenses the vapor to a temperature range of 200-150° F. to produce diesel fuel (#2 diesel fuel) from the first stage of multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser (112) which gets collected into the diesel stock tank (134). The cooling medium is obtained from the heat exchanger (104). The second stage takes the temperature 200-150° F. from first stage and uses a fin fan (116) or similar products to condense the vapor to 170-50° F. to obtain kerosene or jet fuel which gets collected into a Kerosene/Jet fuel stock tank (132). Further, the third stage uses chillers (118) or similar products to reduce the temperature from second stage (170-50° F.) to 60-20° F. to produce naphtha or gasoline fuel which is collected into a naphtha/gasoline stock tank (130). The targeted vapor that is condensed in respective stages collects into respective stock tanks are then pumped into targeted storage tanks.

[0053] The FIG. 1D is a process flow diagram illustrating outputs of designer fuels through the Gas Void Fraction (GVF) (138) centrifuges and Fraction Sulphur Reducer (FSR) (140) into respective output storage tank of the process (100). The four to five fuel products extracted in the process are pumped from respective stock tanks using centrifugal or positive displacement pumps (110) into the GVF (138) density separator/centrifuge. The GVF is used as a polishing agent that targets final fuel molecule configurations by density—effectively ejecting and removing all unwanted densities of impurities and contaminants which are attached to the targeted fuel-molecules, which impurities/contaminants may degrade fuel performance and increase combustion emissions. The centrifuge polishing removes these unwanted attachments from hydrocarbon fuel molecules, thereby preventing them from being combusted to release toxic emissions into the atmosphere. When light crude oil is used as crude oil feedstock, the process will generate #4 diesel fuel, #2 diesel fuel, kerosene/jet fuel, Naphtha and gasoline fuel. These fuel products from the respective stock tanks are pumped through the gas void fraction (GVF) (138) centrifuges and may be re-circulated back into their respective stock tanks controlled through valves. The GVF (138) centrifuges removes unwanted carbon chain impurities based on the desired density of the fuel. The fuel products come in contact with desulfurization ester additives in the FSR (140) to remove unwanted pollutants. The additives reduce SOx emissions by up to 40% and reduce NOx emissions by up to 10%. The bunker fuel from the bunker fuel stock tank (136) is pumped through the GVF (138) and re-circulated to remove unwanted pollutants with C20 carbon chain and below carbon chain and also C.sub.50 and above carbon chains and then passed through FSR (140) and stored in bunker (#4 diesel) fuel output storage tank (150). The diesel fuel (#2 diesel fuel) from the diesel stock tank (134) is pumped through the GVF (138) and re-circulated to remove unwanted pollutants with C.sub.16 and below carbon chains and also C.sub.20 and above carbon chains which then passed through FSR (140) and stored in diesel output storage tank (148). The Jet fuel or kerosene fuel from the Jet fuel/kerosene stock tank (132) is pumped through the GVF (138) and re-circulated to remove unwanted pollutants with Cio and below carbon chain and also C.sub.16 and above carbon chains which then passed through FSR (140) and stored in Jet fuel/Kerosene output storage tank (146). Naphtha or gasoline fuel from the naphtha or gasoline stock tank (130) is pumped through the GVF (138), followed by FSR (140) and further sent into two separate storage tank, one is gasoline output storage tank (144) and the other is naphtha output storage tank (142). The gasoline output storage tank (144) will remove the unwanted pollutants with C.sub.4 and below carbon chains and also C.sub.9 and above carbon chain which is sent to naphtha output storage tank (142). These designer fuel products may be directly pumped through the GVF (138) and FSR (140) to a truck for sale or may be stored in respective storage tanks to be used for various applications. These designer fuels pumped through the GVF (138) passes through a fraction sulphur reducer (FSR) (140) to remove most of the sulphur in the fuel product and are stored in respective storage tanks which may be sent for sale to wholesale market and retail customers. These higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels with increased gas mileage burns cleaner, cooler with reduced per-gallon emissions of SOx, NOx and other unwanted gases.

[0054] The FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of the reactor (108) used in the crude oil refining process (100) to separate out designer fuels according to an embodiment herein. The hot crude oil from the crude stage enters into the reactor (108) through plurality of nozzles and other devices, where the pressure inside the reactor is 15-inch vacuum to 20 psi, and gets converted into atomized crude droplets of particle sizes of 10-120 microns. The vapor from the vapor trap tank (114) enters into the reactor (108) through the pair of main blowers (120a, 120b). The vapor carries the atomized crude particles at a velocity of 3-12 feet per second to the separator (122a) located inside the reactor (108), where the atomized crude particles and the vapor are forced to fall into vacuum condition at the pressure of 200-1000 psi, which results in spray-cracking and vacuum-flashing at a pressure of 1000 psi. The spray-cracking and vacuum-flashing technique reduces hydrocarbon molecule sizes more efficiently and uses less energy than conventional refineries to crack hydrocarbons. The light short chains pass through the separator (122a) and are further passed into the multi-stage horizontal reverse condensate condenser (112). The separator (122a) forces the heavy long chain carbon to fall through the sides of the reactor and get collected into the sump (108a) of the reactor. The long chain carbon compounds collected in the sump (108a) are re-circulated back into the reactor using a centrifugal or positive displacement pump (110) for further recovery of the light chain ends. After the recycling step, the bunker fuel (#4 diesel fuel) and the asphalt are finally extracted.

[0055] The present invention discloses a process which is a combination of chemical, kinetic and heat-based energy efficient crude oil separation into higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels with zero emissions. The chemical process mixes viscosity-reductant additives, like the solvent, “Surfsol”, with crude oil to separate out long-chain hydrocarbon-bonds that connect heavy asphaltenes, paraffin crystals, aromatic “contaminants” to the crude oil carbon chains. This treatment reduces the processing load by returning the lighter-end hydrocarbons into solution for further processing by subsequent kinetic and heat-based crude oil separation into shorter-chain hydrocarbon fuels. The kinetic process of Surfsol treatment is achieved by centrifugal or positive displacement circulating pumps which mix the input crude oil with the chemical additives and the crude oil, causing the aromatics to drop out the impurities from the lighter-ends, producing high-purity, high-value shorter-chain hydrocarbon fuels that burn cooler and more efficiently. Using Surfsol solvent as the crude oil viscosity-reductant additive is one of the cheapest ways to treat asphaltenes and paraffins, compared to conventional energy-intensive refineries that require ultra-high temperatures and pressures. The insertion of GVF centrifuges cause centrifugal polishing of the designer fuels to only contain shorter carbon chains C.sub.1-C.sub.5 and removes longer >C.sub.24 carbon chains and other undesired impurities attached to the hydrocarbon molecules. The advanced centrifuges operate by density differentials. It may have dial-in control panel in the GVF centrifuges to produce output fuel with desired density values by knocking out every molecule in the stream that does not have the density of the desired molecules. The post treatment with ester additives removes SOx, NOx and other remaining contaminants. The heat-based process in the present invention takes place at a temperature less than 550° F. and <20-psi operating pressure flashes off the last remaining gaseous hydrocarbon fractions from the heavy oil residuum into higher-purity fuels at lower-pressures and temperatures than conventional high-pressure >900-psi and high-temperature >1100° F. crude oil refinery using fractionation distillation methods.

[0056] The crude oil molecules generally require electrons to be in a state of equilibrium. The conditioned Surfsol chemical additive is usually made with surfactants and conditioned water, where the conditioned fluid acts as the carrier-fluid. The Surfsol solvent mechanically receives electrons from electric current generated in real-time by the movement of the fluid through the mechanical conditioner. The Surfsol conditioned-solvent converts hydrophilic oil attached to water molecules into hydrophobic oil that prevents oil molecules from bonding with water. In cases when the water molecules in conditioned fluids are overcharged with electrons, the fluid molecules will give off or donate to other deficient water molecules or go to ground, such that the fluid's molecular electrons attain a state of equilibrium. On the other hand, when water molecules in Surfsol solvent are electron-deficient, the water will absorb electrons from ground; such that the water's molecular electron state can be in equilibrium. The harmonic balance of water electrons allows water-molecules to shrink to small and round size, which enables the water molecules to carry more Surfsol chemical additives and increase contact with the crude oil molecules. The harmonic balance of water electrons in Surfsol solvent breaks the emulsion of water-surrounding oil molecules, so that the surfactant can penetrate and break the hydrocarbon bonds holding onto the asphaltenes, paraffin and aromatic molecules, releasing these molecules from the surrounding water molecules at ambient temperature without any costly heat expenditure to condense the water from the oil. The conditioned water penetrates the emulsion surrounding the crude and breaks off the paraffin and asphaltene molecules producing higher-purity hydrocarbon molecules in the process.

[0057] The process produces high purity designer fuel based on the input density of crude oil and the desired output densities of the designer fuels. The process may manipulate the densities of each of the fluids passing through the process beginning from the input crude oil densities to the desired preferred output fuel densities in order to obtain high-purity commercial fuels in the industry with low-price of production.

[0058] The entire crude oil refining process of producing higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels from the crude oil does not release any harmful emissions into the atmosphere. The lighter-end C.sub.1-C.sub.4 aromatic gases recovered in the process are used as cleaner-burning fuel to burn the process's own heaters, whose combustion exhaust gases are vented to the atmosphere. The methane or Utility-grade natural gas-fired process-heater is the only component in the process that vents its combusted exhaust gas to the atmosphere (less than 7 ppm NOx),In the situation when there is no sufficient amounts of aromatics contained in the crude oil to extract, then to make up for such short-fall, the process may open valves for utility-delivered natural gas to run the heater. The aromatics may then be added to the utility gas at a higher pressure. Thus, this process has an excellent gas recycling step than other conventional methods, which enables efficient utilisation of energy.

[0059] The FIG. 3 is a flowchart that illustrates the automation method (200) using a production auditing or accounting control system operated with a software program that measures, records and counts the crude oil and additive volumes entering the facility and the output of the higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels. The first step is electronic tracking of the delivered crude oil feedstock into the stock tanks of the refinery (202). The next step is analysing the physical and chemical characteristics of the crude oil feedstock (204). The physical and chemical characteristics of the crude oil feedstock includes Viscosity, API Gravity, Sulfur-content, Paraffin-content, Asphaltene-content, Aromatics-content, Water-content, Sediment-content, vanadium-content, nickel-content. Based on these characteristics, the automation process determines the constituent contents which may be removed from the crude oil and determines the amount of higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels and its composition that can be produced. Further, determining the amount of heavy oil residuum and unwanted crude oil impurities and contaminants left-over after the production of these designer fuels. These characteristics also assist in calculating the heat and pressure requirement for the process, the thicker crude oil generally requires more heat and pressure to move through the pipes. It is followed by determining the current market value and the price trends of each of the targeted fuel products and chemical-rich residuum (206). The next step is calculating the most valuable fuel products that could be made from crude oil feedstock based on the analysed characteristics of crude oil feedstock and price trends (208). By cross-checking the real-time commodity price of each of the fuels, which may be bunker, jet, diesel, gasoline fuel to determine which fuel has the best price for the refinery to make the maximum sales revenue by producing the most in-demand highest-value fuel of the day. Further, it determines the amount of first residuum to be subjected to secondary processing (210) and followed by determining amount of the chemical-rich residuum obtained after the secondary processing (212). It calculates amount of the asphaltenes and paraffins to be extracted from the chemical-rich residuum (214). The next step is changing the output from the crude oil refinery to produce the highest valuable fuel product and the chemical-rich residuum which is calculated in percentage ranges (216). The output ratios of the fuel products and chemical-rich residuum by volume are measured each day according to the highest valuable fuel product that generates the maximum sale for the day (218). Finally, metering the processing and sale of higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels and chemical rich residuum (220) is carried out by recording the weights and/or volumes of crude oil inputs, Surfsol solvent additive inputs, desulfurization ester additive inputs, electrical and thermal energy inputs and corresponding fuel product and chemical by-product outputs. The identification is done using dye color or components for online purchases of the designer fuels which is to be barrelled. The designer fuels may be sold to wholesale markets or retail customers. The fuels may also be sold in online market of speculators who wants the fuel as collateral or may be sold to actual customers who are anxious about oil and gas supplies being interrupted during an emergency and wants to use corporate fleet service to bring lower-cost wholesale gas prices to retail store customers.

[0060] Moreover, the automation process calculates the amount of high value fuel and chemical-rich residuum that is generated in the process by following steps: initially testing the mass, volume make-up and the characteristics of the input crude oil feedstock. It is then followed by calculating the total volume of finished output fuels producible from the given amount of input crude oil. Then, subtracting the aggregated volume and weight totals of components comprising the output designer fuels. The next step is equating the volume and weight of all the left-over chemicals and carbon chains in the heavy oil waste residuum. The primary processing of the heavy oil residuum is carried by recycling, where the lighter ends are further removed by retreatment with crude oil, emulsion, and aromatics. Then, based on the amount of chemical left-overs in the residuum, the process calculates the amount of higher-value finished fuels that can be produced by secondary processing of the residuum. The secondary processing of the heavy ends completely releases and extracts as much recoverable light-ends and carbon chain fuels that are present in the first residuum. Thus, the secondary processing yields more finished fuels and highly-concentrated chemical-rich residuum which can be used as hot or cold road asphalt.

[0061] In addition, the process calculates the amount of the left over asphaltenes that can be obtained from the chemical-rich residuum. It also calculates the amount of left-over paraffin that may be obtained from the heavy oil residuum and may use this paraffin in liquid form in order to add beneficial characteristics to the fuels like bunker, jet, gasoline and diesel fuel. The final processing for extraction of remaining light-ends, paraffin and asphaltenes from the first residuum of processed crude oil produces a more highly-concentrated and higher-density secondary residuum containing higher-value chemicals that can be extracted by third-parties using tertiary residuum separation processes.

[0062] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

WORKING EXAMPLES

[0063] Example 1: The table as shown below is an example, that illustrates the breakdown of the higher-purity, cleaner-burning designer fuels (in %) which may be produced from the process, when light crude oil having >27 API gravity is used as the input crude oil feedstock. The ratio amounts of different fuels produced in the process is completely based upon the characteristics of the input crude oil, including viscosity, gravity, sulfur content, asphaltene content, paraffin content. Based on these parameters, the automation process calculates the most optimal mix of output fuel depending on the real-time price and demands of the fuels. If the input crude oil has an API of <15-gravity, which Isa very heavy and thick crude oil, that would produce >60% of its volume as Asphalt and <40% for fuels. If the Crude oil has an API of >25 gravity, which is light crude oil, then that will produce a wide range of fuels as shown in table below. This table may be used for determining profits and the amounts of ester additives to be added into the finished fuels.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Annual fuel production ratios from the process ANNUAL FUELS PRODUCTION RATIOS % of Output Finished Fuel Gal. Produced  5% Residuum 7,560,000 Bitumen/Asphalt 3,600,000 Barrels 10% Bunker Fuel 15,120,000 of Input Crude Oil Red Diesel 35% #2 Diesel 52,920,000 151,200,000 Heating Oil Gallons of 30% Jet Fuel A/B 45,360,000 Bunker/Jet/ Naptha Diesel/Gasoline Fuels Output 20% Gasoline 30,240,000 % of Production 100%  Total Gal. 151,200,000 Produced

[0064] Example 2: The table 2 as shown below discloses the density ranges of the designer fuels and the by-products that may be produced in the process from the given input of crude oil feedstock based on the physical and chemical characteristics of the input crude oil. The separated hydrocarbon fuel product is considered to be “pure” if the recovered hydrocarbon components have the same or substantially the same density range defining that component. As shown in the table 2, the gasoline having a density range of 45-49 lb/ft.sup.3 or 715-780 kg/m.sup.3 is therefore considered to be a “pure” fuel product. The high purity output fuels produced in the process are produced by using the centrifuge settings to separate out the hydrocarbon-chains having the dialed-in or preferred density value that defines a high-purity bunker, jet, diesel and gasoline fuel with little or no contaminants attached to the hydrocarbon molecules.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Density ranges of the designer fuels and the by-products produced in the process Density@15° C. Specific Volume Fuel (kg/m.sup.3) (lb/ft.sup.3) (m.sup.3/1000 kg) (ft.sup.3 per ton) Butane (gas) 2.5 0.16 400 14100 Coke 375-500 23.5-31  2.0-2.7 72-95 Diesel 1D 875 54.6 1.14 40.4 Diesel 2D 849 53 1.18 41.6 Diesel 4D 959 59.9 1.04 36.8 EN 590 Diesel 820-845 51-53 1.18-1.22 42-43 Fuel Oil No. 1 790-850 47-53 1.2-1.3 42-47 Fuel Oil No. 2 810-940 51-59 1.1-1.2 38-44 Gas oil 825-900 51-56 1.1-1.2 36-43 Gasoline 715-780 45-49 1.3-1.4 45-49 Heavy fuel oil  800-1010 50-63 1.0-1.3 35-44 Kerosene 775-840 48-52 1.2-1.3 42-46 Natural gas (gas) 0.7-0.9 0.04-0.06 1110-1430 39200-50400 Propane (gas) 1.7 0.11 590 20800 indicates data missing or illegible when filed