Patent ID: 9428700
Filing Date: 2016-08-30
CPC Classification: C10G

Claim Text:
1. A process for reducing the viscosity of a liquid hydrocarbon feedstock into lower molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds in a hydrovisbreaking reaction zone comprising: a. mixing the liquid hydrocarbon feedstock and an excess of hydrogen gas in a mixing zone to dissolve a portion of the hydrogen gas in the liquid hydrocarbon feedstock and produce a two-phase mixture of a hydrogen-enriched liquid hydrocarbon feedstock and the remaining excess hydrogen gas; b. introducing the mixture of hydrogen gas and the hydrogen-enriched liquid hydrocarbon feedstock into a flashing zone under predetermined conditions to separate the undissolved excess hydrogen gas and optimize the amount of hydrogen dissolved in the hydrogen-enhanced liquid hydrocarbon feedstock, and recovering a single-phase hydrogen-enriched liquid hydrocarbon feedstock; c. conveying the single-phase hydrogen-enriched liquid hydrocarbon feedstock under conditions that maximize the amount of dissolved hydrogen in the hydrocarbon feedstock into a hydrovisbreaking reaction zone in the presence of steam to crack the feedstock into relatively smaller molecules; and d. recovering converted hydrocarbon products of reduced viscosity from the hydrovisbreaking reaction zone.