Patent ID: 7625481

Claim:
A method of producing a crude product, comprising: contacting a crude feed with a hydrogen source in the presence of an inorganic salt catalyst to produce a total product that includes the crude product, wherein the crude product is a liquid mixture at 25° C. and 0.101 MPa, the crude feed has a residue content of at least 0.2 grams of residue per gram of crude feed, the inorganic salt catalyst comprises alkali metal salts, alkaline-earth metal salts, or mixtures thereof; controlling contacting conditions such that the crude product has a residue content of at most 30% of the residue content of the crude feed, wherein residue content is as determined by ASTM Method D5307; separating the total product from the crude feed; heating a mixture of used inorganic salt catalyst and residual crude feed comprised of unreacted crude feed, residue, and coke to a temperature of at least 800° C. in the presence of a reactive gas to produce a gas stream and/or a liquid stream from the mixture of residual crude feed and used inorganic salt catalyst.