Patent ID: 7744743
Filing Date: 2010-06-29
Classification: C10G

Abstract:
1. A process comprising: (i) contacting a composition comprising tar and a solvent in a solvent deasphalter; (ii) mixing said tar with said solvent in said solvent deasphalter to produce a mixture comprising a first fraction comprising solvent and at least a portion of the tar that is relatively soluble in said solvent, and a second fraction comprising heavy tar that is relatively insoluble in said solvent; (iii) passing at least a portion of said first fraction to a solvent recovery apparatus which comprises a pipestill including a flash zone separated from a zone comprising distillation trays by at least one annular entrainment ring and separating said first fraction into a solvent fraction and a deasphalted tar fraction in said solvent recovery apparatus; (iv) recovering said second fraction, said solvent fraction, and said deasphalted tar fraction, wherein the solvent fraction is obtained as overheads from the pipestill and a sidestream taken above said at least one annular entrainment ring provides the tar fraction deasphalted to contain from 0 to 100 ppm asphaltenes; wherein said solvent is characterized as producing a product comprising tar and light olefins selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, butenes, and mixtures thereof when steam cracked under suitable conditions.