Patent ID: 7531082

Claim:
An integrated hydroprocessing method having at least two stages, each stage further comprising at least one reaction zone which comprises hydroprocessing catalyst, said method comprising the following steps: (a) combining an oil feed with a hydrogen-rich gas stream to form a feedstock; (b) passing the feedstock of step (a) to a reaction zone of the first stage, which is maintained at conditions sufficient to effect a boiling range conversion, and contacting it with hydroprocessing catalyst, thereby creating a hydroprocessed effluent, which is reduced in pressure, then heated to a constant temperature before proceeding to step (c); (c) passing the effluent of step (b) to a very hot separator maintained at high pressure, where it is separated into an overhead fraction and a bottoms fraction; (d) passing the overhead fraction of step (c) to a distillate upgrader which contains at least one zone of hydroprocessing catalyst and is maintained at conditions sufficient to effect a boiling range conversion, thereby creating an upgraded effluent; (e) passing the bottoms fraction of step (c) to a reaction zone of the second stage, which is maintained at conditions sufficient to effect a boiling range conversion, and contacting it with hydroprocessing catalyst thereby creating a second hydroprocessed effluent; (f) combining the upgraded effluent of step (d) with the second hydroprocessed effluent of step (e), the combined stream then entering a hot separator maintained at high pressure, in which the combined stream is separated into an overhead fraction and a bottoms fraction, the bottoms fraction proceeding to fractionation; (g) passing the overhead fraction of step (f) to a cold separator maintained at high pressure, where it is separated into an overhead fraction comprising hydrogen and light gases, and a bottoms fraction comprising sour water.