The ROSE process is the most efficient solvent-extracting option for recovering higher value products from resids. ROSE units yield deasphalted oils that are excellent feedstocks for fluid catalytic crackers and hydrocrackers, as well as recover resins and asphaltenes that have a variety of uses. ROSE technology, whether used in the conversion of an existing solvent deasphalting unit or incorporated into a grass roots design, can help refiners succeed in today's competitive refining industry by offering product flexibility to take advantage of shifting market trends. The solvent is separated from the deasphalted oil in the downstream deasphalted oil separator, then recovered and recycled.
Solvent selection is based on the desired deasphalted oil purity and yield for a given feedstock.
The ROSE unit includes a deasphalted oil stripper and an asphaltene stripper for final recovery and recycling of dissolved solvent from the two effluent streams. The many economic benefits of the ROSE process are the result of recovering the extraction solvent as a supercritical fluid. The recovered solvent is recycled through heat exchangers to recapture the major portion of the energy necessary to achieve supercritical solvent recovery. This significantly reduces operating costs. Commercial ROSE units have demonstrated overall savings of up to 50 percent compared to conventional solvent-extraction processes that use evaporation, compression and condensation.