Patent ID: 11866653
Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
Field: Basic materials chemistry (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C | IPC C

Claim 0:
1. A process for upgrading crude oil, the process comprising:
upgrading crude oil and feed water in a supercritical water (SCW) unit to produce a first upgraded output, wherein
the feed water having a salinity defined by a conductivity of less than 1 microsiemens (μS)/centimeters (cm); and
the SCW unit operates at a pressure greater than a critical pressure of water and a temperature greater than a critical temperature of water;

separating the first upgraded output in a first gas-water-oil separator to produce
a first gas effluent,
a first water effluent, and
a first oil effluent;

separating the first water effluent in a first water treatment unit to produce
a rejected water stream having a salinity defined by a conductivity from 10 to 1500 μS/cm, and
a recycle water stream having a salinity defined by a conductivity less than 2 μS/cm;

upgrading the first oil effluent and the rejected water stream in a nearcritical water (NCW) unit to produce a second upgraded output, where the NCW unit operates at a pressure above 22 MPa and a temperature of 200 to 370° C.; and
recycling at least a portion of the recycle water stream for introduction into the SCW unit.