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

Claim 17:
18. A system for upgrading crude oil, the system comprising:
a supercritical water (SCW) unit, where:
the SCW unit is operable to upgrade a mixture comprising crude oil and feed water having 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;

a first gas-water-oil separator disposed downstream of the SCW unit and operable to separate a first upgraded output to produce a first gas effluent, a first water effluent, and a first oil effluent;
a first water treatment unit disposed downstream of the first gas-water-oil separator operable to separate the first water effluent to produce
a rejected water stream having salinity defined by a conductivity from 10 to 1500 μS/cm, and
a recycle water stream having salinity defined by a conductivity less than 2 μS/cm;

a nearcritical water (NCW) unit operable to upgrade a mixture comprising the first oil effluent and the rejected water stream; where the NCW unit operates at a pressure of higher than 22 MPa and a temperature of 200 to 370° C.