Patent ID: 11866654
Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  B | IPC B  C

Claim 4:
5. The system of claim 1, where the supercritical water unit comprises:
a hydrocarbon pump configured to increase the pressure of the light vacuum gas oil to produce a pressurized hydrocarbon feed, where the pressure of the pressurized hydrocarbon feed is greater than the critical pressure of water;
a hydrocarbon heater fluidly connected to the hydrocarbon pump, the hydrocarbon heater configured to increase the temperature of the pressurized hydrocarbon feed to produce a hot hydrocarbon stream, where the temperature of the hot hydrocarbon stream is between 10 deg C. and 300 deg C;
a mixer fluidly connected to the hydrocarbon heater, the mixer configured to mix the hot hydrocarbon stream with a supercritical water to produce a mixed feed stream;
a supercritical reactor fluidly connected to the mixer, the supercritical reactor configured to operate such that conversion reactions produce an effluent stream from the mixed feed stream, where the temperature in the supercritical reactor is in the range between 380 deg C. and 600 deg C. and the pressure in the supercritical reactor is in the range between 3203 psig and 5150 psig, where the residence time in the supercritical reactor is in the range between 10 seconds and 60 minutes;
a cooling device fluidly connected to the supercritical reactor, the cooling device configured to reduce the temperature of the effluent stream to produce a cooled stream, where the cooled stream is at a temperature in the range between 10 deg C. and 200 deg C;
a depressurizing device fluidly connected to the cooling device, the depressurizing device configured to reduce the pressure of the cooled stream to produce a modified stream, where the pressure of modified stream is in the range between 0 psig and 300 psig;
a separator fluidly connected to the depressurizing device, the separator configured to separate the modified stream to produce a gases stream and a liquid stream; and
an oil-water separator fluidly connected to the separator, the oil-water separator configured to separate the liquid stream to produce the upgraded vacuum gas oil and a water product.