Patent ID: 8920631

Claim:
A method for upgrading crude oil, the method comprising: (a) contacting a crude oil feedstock with hydrogen gas to produce a hydrogen gas crude oil mixture; (b) contacting the hydrogen gas crude oil mixture with a hydroconversion catalyst in a first reactor maintained at a temperature of between about 400° C. and 450° C. to produce an effluent having an asphaltene content of less than 5%; by weight, wherein said hydroconversion catalyst comprises a bimodal support material and further comprises a base metal selected from the group consisting of a group VB metal, a group VIB metal and a group VIIIB metal and wherein said bimodal support material comprises a first pore size having an average diameter of between about 6000 and 10000 Angstroms and a second pore size having an average diameter of between about 80 and 150 Angstroms; (c) contacting the effluent from the first reactor with hydrogen gas to produce an effluent hydrogen gas mixture; (d) contacting the effluent hydrogen gas mixture with a desulfurization catalyst in a second reactor to produce an upgraded crude oil product having a reduced sulfur content and an increased API gravity, wherein said second reactor is maintained at a temperature that is less than the temperature that is maintained in the first reactor.