Patent ID: 9719025
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: B01J,C10G

Claim:
1. A process for modification of crude oil, comprising the steps of: combining crude oil with water and a catalyst to create a fluidic mixture; pumping the fluidic mixture through contractions in each of a plurality of localized zones in a flowpath in a static, multi-stage, flow-through, hydrodynamic cavitation device having a single inlet and a single outlet, wherein each of the plurality of localized zones corresponds to a separate stage; generating areas of reduced fluid pressure in the fluidic mixture as it is pumped through the contractions in each of the plurality of localized zones in the flowpath, such contractions resulting in increased flow velocity and reduced fluid pressure; creating cavitational features of volatile components in the fluidic mixture resulting from areas of reduced fluid pressure, wherein the volatile components form vapors at the reduced fluid pressure; collapsing the cavitational features in the fluidic mixture as it leaves each of the plurality of localized zones exposing components of the fluidic mixture to sudden, localized increases in temperature and pressure; mixing vapors of the volatile components with adjacent layers of less volatile components in a condensed fluidic mixture upon collapse of the cavitational features; and inducing chemical reactions between the vapors of the volatile components and less volatile components to promote molecular rearrangement of the components of the fluidic mixture and modify rheological parameters of the crude oil.