Patent ID: 7407571

Claim:
An apparatus for producing sweet synthetic crude from a heavy hydrocarbon feed comprising: a) an upgrader for receiving said heavy hydrocarbon feed and producing a distillate fraction including sour products, and high-carbon content by-products; b) a gasifier for receiving said high-carbon content by-products and producing synthetic fuel gas and sour by-products; c) a hydroprocessing unit for receiving said sour by-products and hydrogen gas, thereby producing gas and said sweet crude; and d) a hydrogen recovery unit for receiving said synthetic fuel gas and producing further hydrogen gas and hydrogen-depleted synthetic fuel gas, said further hydrogen gas being supplied to said hydroprocessing unit; wherein said gasifier gasifies said high-carbon by-products in the presence of oxygen and produces ash and a gas mixture, and said apparatus further comprises: e) a scrubber which receives said gas mixture and water and produces sour water and a clean sour gas mixture; and f) a first gas processor which receives said clean sour gas mixture and produces a sweet synthetic fuel gas g) a second gas processor which receives a portion of said clean sour gas mixture and produces a processed gas mixture; and h) a system for producing hydrogen-enriched gas mixture from a synthetic fuel gas; wherein said system comprises a membrane.