Patent ID: 8105482

Claim:
A method of upgrading a heavy hydrocarbon feedstock to yield greater than 60 vol. % of a transportable liquid feedstock comprising: i) providing a particulate heat carrier to an upflow reactor; ii) introducing said heavy hydrocarbon feedstock in a preheated state into said upflow reactor at least one location above that of the particulate heat carrier so that a loading ratio of said particulate heat carrier to said heavy hydrocarbon feedstock is from about 10:1 to about 200:1, and the temperature is from about 480° C. to about 620° C.; iii) allowing said heavy hydrocarbon feedstock to interact with said heat carrier with a residence time of less than about 5 seconds, wherein the processing temperature is about 480° C. to about 590° C., to produce a mixed product stream; iv) separating a first product stream from said mixed product stream resulting in a residue stream comprising primarily the particulate heat carrier; v) separating said first product stream into a lighter fraction and a heavier fraction; vi) recycling said heavier fraction back into said upflow reactor, optionally along with unprocessed heavy hydrocarbon feedstock, for further processing at about 530° C. to about 620° C.; vii) allowing said recycled heavier fraction to interact with particulate heat carrier, that is at a temperature at about, or above, that used in step ii) above, and with a residence time that is the same as, or longer than, the residence time used in step iii) above, to produce a second product stream; viii) regenerating said residue stream; ix) combining said residue stream with said provided particulate heat carrier at or near said upflow reactor, wherein said particulate heat carrier from said regenerated residue stream and said provided particulate heat carrier comprise greater than 95% silica; and x) collecting said transportable liquid feedstock from said light fraction and second product stream at a yield greater than 60% by volume, wherein said transportable liquid feedstock has a viscosity at 40° C. of from about 15 to about 300 cSt.