Patent ID: 9574142
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: C01B,C10G,C10J

Claim:
1. A method of upgrading a hydrocarbon feedstock, the method comprising the steps of: supplying the hydrocarbon feedstock to an oxidation reactor, the hydrocarbon feedstock comprising sulfur compounds; contacting the hydrocarbon feedstock with an oxidant in the presence of a catalyst in the oxidation reactor under conditions sufficient to selectively oxidize sulfur compounds present in the hydrocarbon feedstock to produce an oxidized hydrocarbon stream that comprises hydrocarbons and oxidized sulfur compounds; separating the hydrocarbons and the oxidized sulfur compounds in the oxidized hydrocarbon stream by solvent extraction with a non-acidic polar organic solvent, the non-acidic polar organic solvent being dimethylformamide, to produce an extracted hydrocarbon stream and a mixed stream, the mixed stream comprising the non-acidic polar organic solvent and the oxidized sulfur compounds, wherein the extracted hydrocarbon stream has a lower concentration of sulfur compounds than the hydrocarbon feedstock; separating the mixed stream using a distillation column into a first recovered non-acidic polar organic solvent stream and a first residue stream; supplying the first residue stream to a gasifier to produce a syngas stream and a hydrogen sulfide stream; supplying the extracted hydrocarbon stream to a stripper to produce a second recovered non-acidic polar organic solvent stream and a stripped oil stream; and recycling the first recovered non-acidic polar organic solvent stream and the second non-acidic polar organic solvent stream to an extraction vessel for the step of separating the hydrocarbons and the oxidized sulfur compounds in the oxidized hydrocarbon stream.