Patent ID: 8323479

Claim:
A process for upgrading a water-containing crude oil comprising the steps of: (a) sonicating the water-containing crude oil in an energy range sufficient to create an aqueous phase from water in the water-containing crude oil; (b) removing substantially all of the aqueous phase from the water-containing crude oil in order to produce a crude oil feed; (c) mixing the crude oil feed with a catalyst in a mixer to produce a dispersion stream, the dispersion stream being characterized by a dispersion of particles of the catalyst distributed substantially throughout the crude oil feed, the particles defining a particle size range; (d) feeding the dispersion stream to a filtration cavitation system having a cavitation reactor and a filter; (e) cavitating and filtering the dispersion stream in the presence of hydrogen gas to produce a mixed stream, (f) controlling cavitation pressure and cavitation temperature during the cavitating and filtering step such that the cavitation pressure is maintained substantially within a pre-defined pressure range and the cavitation temperature is maintained substantially within a pre-defined temperature range, the cavitating and filtering step being performed during a pre-determined residence time sufficient to reduce a substantial amount of sulfur in the crude oil; (g) separating the mixed stream into a spent catalyst stream and a product stream, the spent catalyst stream comprising catalyst-sulfided particles, the product stream having a substantially reduced sulfur content in comparison with sulfur content of the crude oil feed; (h) hydrotreating the product stream using hydrogen gas to produce a hydrotreated-product stream; and (i) feeding the hydrotreated-product stream to an equilibrium separator for separating gaseous sulfur products from the hydrotreated-product stream to produce a usable product.