Optimization of a deasphalting process with the aim of producing a feed for a carbon black unit

Abstract

A process for producing a composition as a feed for producing carbon black starting from an atmospheric residue, in which said atmospheric residue is vacuum distilled in order to produce at least one vacuum distillate fraction and at least one vacuum residue fraction, said vacuum distillate fraction being treated in accordance with at least the following two steps in succession: a step 1) for fluid catalytic cracking, producing a FCC residue, a step 2) for filtration of the fine solid particles contained in said FCC residue obtained from cracking step 1), resulting in a filtrate containing less than 300 ppm of particles below 10 microns,
and in which, said vacuum residue fraction is supplied to a deasphalting step, resulting in a deasphalted vacuum residue fraction, at least a portion thereof being mixed with at least a portion of said filtrate from the filtration step 2) to form said composition.

Claims

1. A process for the production of a composition suitable for use as a feed for the production of carbon black, comprising vacuum distilling an atmospheric residue in order to produce at least one vacuum distillate fraction and at least one vacuum residue fraction, subjecting said vacuum distillate fraction to at least the following two steps in succession: 1) fluid catalytic cracking, producing a FCC residue, 2) filtration of fine solid particles contained in said FCC residue obtained from cracking 1), resulting in a filtrate containing less than 300 ppm of particles below 10 microns; deasphalting said vacuum residue fraction without hydrotreatment, resulting in a deasphalted vacuum residue fraction, at least a portion thereof being mixed with at least a portion of said filtrate obtained in the filtration 2) in order to form said composition.

2. The production process as claimed in claim 1, in which said composition comprises less than 20% by weight of deasphalted vacuum residue.

3. The production process as claimed in claim 2, in which said composition comprises less than 10% by weight of deasphalted vacuum residue.

4. The production process as claimed in claim 3, in which said composition comprises less than 5% by weight of deasphalted vacuum residue.

5. The production process as claimed in claim 1, in which said deasphalting is operated at an extraction temperature of 30 C. to 350 C. and at a pressure of 0.1 MPa to 6 MPa.

6. The production process as claimed in claim 1, in which said deasphalting is operated with a ratio of the volume of solvent or mixture of solvents to the mass of feed of 1/1 to 10/1, expressed in liters per kilogram.

7. The production process as claimed in claim 1, in which said deasphalting is operated with a solvent comprising at least one saturated hydrocarbon containing 2 to 15 carbon atoms.

8. The production process as claimed in claim 7, in which said solvent further comprises one or more cycloalkanes, one or more light naphtha type oil cuts and/or one or more aromatic compounds.

9. The production process as claimed in claim 8, in which said aromatic compound is a monoaromatic compound or a diaromatic compound.

10. The production process as claimed in claim 9, in which said monoaromatic compound is benzene, toluene or a xylene, used alone or as a mixture.

11. The production process as claimed in claim 1, in which said deasphalting is operated with two solvents and two distinct extractors.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 represents the overall layout of the process in accordance with the invention. A feed (1) firstly undergoes a vacuum distillation (A) from which the vacuum residue (3) is supplied to a deasphalting unit (E) in order to produce a deasphalted vacuum residue fraction (7). The vacuum distillate (2) is supplied to a fluid catalytic cracking unit (C). The residue from the FCC step (5, 360+ slurry) is filtered at (D), then the filtrate (6) and the deasphalted vacuum residue (7) are combined in order to form the composition (8) in accordance with the invention, which is to be used as the feed for a step for the production of carbon black, not shown in the FIGURE. An optional step for hydrotreatment (B) may be carried out on the vacuum distillate (2). A portion of the vacuum residue (3) may be added to the vacuum distillate (2). A portion of the filtrate (6) may be added to the vacuum residue (3).

(2) Without further elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the art can, using the preceding description, utilize the present invention to its fullest extent. The preceding preferred specific embodiments are, therefore, to be construed as merely illustrative, and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever.

(3) In the foregoing and in the examples, all temperatures are set forth uncorrected in degrees Celsius and, all parts and percentages are by weight, unless otherwise indicated.

(4) The entire disclosures of all applications, patents and publications, cited herein and of corresponding French application No. 15/61.558, filed Nov. 30, 2015 is incorporated by reference herein.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Composition Comprising a Filtered FCC Residue and a Non-Deasphalted Vacuum Residue (Not in Accordance with the Invention)

(5) Example 1 is not in accordance with the invention because the vacuum residue does not undergo deasphalting.

(6) A Middle Eastern type atmospheric residue was vacuum distilled in order to produce a vacuum distillate and a vacuum residue with the aim of obtaining separation at 540 C.

(7) The vacuum distillate represented 37% by weight of the atmospheric residue and the vacuum residue represented 63% by weight of the atmospheric residue.

(8) The physico-chemical characteristics of the vacuum distillate and the vacuum residue are recorded in Table 1 below.

(9) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Vacuum Vacuum distillate residue Aromatic carbon (% by weight) 22 30 Density (kg .Math. m.sup.3) 0.9439 1.026 T50 ( C.) 487 650 Sulphur (% by weight) 3.0 4.9 [Ni + V] (ppm) 4 195 BMCI 54 82
The BMCI (Bureau of Mines Correlation Index) is defined in accordance with the following formula, in which the abbreviation VABP designates the volumetric average temperature expressed in degrees Rankine and the abbreviation Sp.Gr designates the density.

(10) $BMCI=\frac{87552}{VABP\left(R\right)}+473.7\mathrm{Sp}.\mathrm{Gr}.-456.8$

(11) The vacuum distillate was sent for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC). The operating conditions for FCC are recorded in Table 2. The term C/O corresponds to the ratio of the flow rate of catalyst (C) over the flow rate of feed (O); the term ROT corresponds to the riser outlet temperature, and the term TRG corresponds to the temperature of the regenerator.

(12) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Catalyst Silica-alumina C/O 6.4 ROT ( C.) 540 TRG ( C.) 720

(13) The yields for the various cuts obtained from FCC, expressed as the percentage by weight, are given in Table 3 below.

(14) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 HCO/ Dry Naphtha- Kerosene LCO slurry Cut gases LPG 180 180-220 220-360 Coke 360+ Yield 3.9 14.1 40.5 5.6 17.7 6.5 11.7 (% by weight)

(15) The 360+ slurry cut was filtered by passage over an electrostatic filter.

(16) The physico-chemical characteristics of the FCC residue termed the 360+ slurry cut after filtration are recorded in Table 4 below.

(17) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Aromatic carbon (% by weight) 70 Density (kg .Math. m.sup.3) 1.117 T50 ( C.) 400 Sulphur (% by weight) 5.5 [Ni + V] (ppm) <1 BMCI 144

(18) The filtered 360+ slurry and the vacuum residue obtained during vacuum distillation of the atmospheric residue were mixed to form a 97/3 by weight composition with the physico-chemical characteristics recorded in Table 5 below.

(19) TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Aromatic carbon (% by weight) 68.8 Density (kg .Math. m.sup.3) 1.114 T50 ( C.) 408 Sulphur (% by weight) 5.4 [Ni + V] (ppm) 6 BMCI 142

(20) This composition comprised a large quantity of sulphur and metals, which produced a poor quality carbon black product.

Example 2: Hydrotreated Composition Comprising a Filtered FCC Residue and a Non-Deasphalted Vacuum Residue (Not in Accordance with the Invention)

(21) Example 2 was not in accordance with the invention, because the vacuum residue did not undergo deasphalting. In addition, Example 2 was not in accordance with the invention because the composition had been hydrotreated.

(22) The composition obtained in Example 1 was treated in a hydrotreatment unit under the operating conditions recorded in Table 6 below.

(23) TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 HSV (h.sup.1) 0.5 Pressure (MPa) 8 Temperature ( C.) 380 Volume ratio, hydrodemetallization 1/5 catalyst/hydrodesulphurization catalyst

(24) The physico-chemical characteristics of the effluents produced at the outlet from the hydrotreatment unit are indicated in Table 7 below.

(25) TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 Aromatic carbon (% by weight) 50 Density (kg .Math. m.sup.3) 1.094 T50 ( C.) 378 Sulphur (% by weight) 0.14 [Ni + V] (ppm) 5.4 BMCI 136

(26) The hydrotreatment allowed the quantity of sulphur to be substantially reduced and the quantity of metals to be moderately reduced. However, the effect of the hydrotreatment was to considerably reduce the quantity of aromatic carbon, which implied that the quantity of carbon black which could be obtained was also considerably reduced.

Example 3: Composition Comprising a Filtered FCC Residue and a Deasphalted Vacuum Residue (in Accordance with the Invention)

(27) The vacuum residue obtained in Example 1 was sent to a two-step deasphalting unit.

(28) The first step was carried out with pentane at a total pressure of 4 MPa, an average temperature of 170 C. and with a volume ratio of solvent to the mass of feed, V.sub.solvent/m.sub.feed, of 6/1 L/kg.

(29) The second step was carried out with propane, at a total pressure of 4 MPa, an average temperature of 60 C. and with a volume ratio of solvent to the mass of feed, V.sub.solvent/m.sub.feed, of 8/1 L/kg.

(30) The physico-chemical characteristics of the deasphalted vacuum residue are recorded in Table 8 below.

(31) TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 8 Aromatic carbon (% by weight) 65 Density (kg .Math. m.sup.3) 1.002 T50 ( C.) 620 Sulphur (% by weight) 4.2 [Ni + V] (ppm) 73 BMCI 72

(32) The filtered 360+ slurry obtained in Example 1 and the deasphalted vacuum residue were mixed in order to form a 97/3 by weight composition with the physico-chemical characteristics which are recorded in Table 9 below.

(33) TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 9 Aromatic carbon (% by weight) 69.9 Density (kg .Math. m.sup.3) 1.113 T50 ( C.) 404 Sulphur (% by weight) 5.4 [Ni + V] (ppm) 2 BMCI 142

(34) The proportion of aromatic carbon was higher in the composition obtained in Example 3 in accordance with the invention than in Examples 1 and 2 which were not in accordance with the invention. Thus, introducing a deasphalting step meant that the proportion of aromatic carbon in the composition for use as a feed for a step for the production of carbon black could be increased.

(35) In addition, although the quantity of sulphur was not reduced by deasphalting, the quantity of metals was lower in the composition obtained in Example 3 in accordance with the invention. Thus, the carbon black obtained will be purer when the composition obtained in Example 3 is used as the feed than when the composition obtained in Example 1 is used as the feed.

(36) The deasphalting step can be used to obtain an optimized feed for the production of carbon black by dispensing with the hydrotreatment step and increasing the quantity of aromatic carbon while maintaining a good BMCI level.

(37) The preceding examples can be repeated with similar success by substituting the generically or specifically described reactants and/or operating conditions of this invention for those used in the preceding examples.

(38) From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention and, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions.