Patent ID: 7879223

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 one or more alkali metal salts and one or more alkaline-earth metal salts, wherein one of the alkali metal salts is an alkali metal carbonate, wherein the alkali metals have an atomic number of at least 11, and where the inorganic salt catalyst contains, per gram of inorganic salt catalyst, from about 0 grams to about 0.1 grams of Lewis acids and/or Bronsted-Lowry acids; and 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.