CA2993546C - High conversion partial upgrading process - Google Patents

Abstract

The described invention discloses an innovative hydroconversion-processing configuration for converting bitumen or heavy oils to produce a transportable synthetic crude oil (SCO). The innovative processing scheme disclosed herein maximizes the synthetic crude oil yield at a minimal investment compared to currently known methods.

Description

I
HIGH CONVERSION PARTIAL UPGRADING PROCESS
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The described invention discloses an innovative hydroconversion processing configuration for converting bitumen or heavy oils to produce a transportable synthetic crude oil (SCO). The innovative processing scheme disclosed herein maximizes the SCO yield at a minimal investment compared to currently known methods. SCO is the primary product from a bitumen/extra heavy oil upgrader facility and is typically associated with oil sands production. SCO can also be the output from an oil shale extraction process. The properties of the synthetic crude depend to a large extent on the feedstock quality and on the processes used in the upgrading. Relative to the ao feedstock, SCO is lower in sulfur, has API gravity in the range of 20 to 35 , and is also known as "upgraded crude".
The invention results in a high yield of specification SCO, no undesirable bottoms or coke product and is accomplished with minimal investment and operating costs.
Unlike much of the SCO commercially produced, the invention SCO will contain both straight is run and conversion vacuum residue. The SCO will be stable as a result of the selection of optimal operating conditions in the ebullated-bed conversion unit and the proper blending technique to combine the bypassed bitumen/heavy oil AR and the conversion products.

The world's higher quality light natural crude oils are those generally having an API
gravity greater than 30 with sulfur content less than 0.5 percent. These high quality light natural crudes cost the least to refine into a variety of highest value end products including petrochemicals and therefore command a price premium. More important,

2 5 however, world refinery capacity is geared to a high proportion of light natural crude oils with an API of 300 or higher.
It is generally accepted that world supplies of light crude oils recoverable by the conventional means of drilling wells into reservoirs and the use of nature's pressure, or by pumping to recover the oil, will be diminished to the extent that in the coming decades these supplies will no longer be capable of meeting the world demand.
To find relief from oil supply shortage it will be necessary to substantially increase processing of the vast world reserves of coal and viscous oil, bitumens in tar sands and kerogens in oil shale. These sources of crude oil remain largely unexploited today although recovery of oil from tar sands is in practice in Canada. The development of technology for the production of synthetic oil as an alternative to the light crude oil found in nature continues to be plagued by the large capital investments required in recovery and production facilities and a long wait for return on investment. In addition, large 2.0 expenditures are required to construct or retrofit refineries for synthetic oils recovered from heavy oils and bitumens. In addition, present synthetic oil plants for processing heavy oils, or bitumens from tar sands, have focused more on the development of systems for recovery and production than on energy efficiency, maximization of yield and high environmental processing standards. Except for South Africa's Sasol process, which benefits from low cost labor used in coal mining, straight coal liquefaction is not yet cost competitive with synthetic oil produced from tar sands bitumen or heavy oils.
It is therefore of considerable importance that methods are found to produce synthetic crudes to replace the rapidly depleting reserves of light natural crudes available from conventional sources and at a cost at least approaching these crudes and competitive with the crudes being recovered at higher cost from under the sea or from frontier areas such as the extreme north with its rigorous climate. It is also important that synthetic crudes are comprised in desired proportions of a mixture of aromatic, naphthenic and paraffinic components as these three families of compounds comprise essential feedstock to refinery capacity producing today's transportation fuels and feedstocks for the petrochemical industry.

- 3 -SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, applicants have disclosed an invention which is an innovative hydroconversion processing configuration for converting these heavy oils and/or bitumens to produce a transportable synthetic crude oil.
An objective of the invention is to provide an innovative processing configuration for maximizing feedstock capacity and liquid SCO yield at minimal required investment.
Another objective of the invention to allow the processing of bitumen or heavy oil with no net bottoms product (residue, coke) which can present a disposal problem. It is a further objective of the present invention to utilize a maximum size and throughput ebullated-bed reactor for maximum total heavy oil or bitumen feedrate and SCO production. It is another object of the present invention to effectively blend the high conversion ebullated-bed unconverted residue and straight run heavy oil or bitumen so as to ensure the stability of final SCO product. It is yet another object of the present invention to utilize this innovative configuration and substantially increase the efficiency of a processing system relative to traditional bitumen or heavy crude processing.
It is another object of the present invention to balance hydrogen requirements utilizing gasification of residues produced from the process.
According to the first embodiment of the invention, the process for converting of heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks to high value, transportable synthetic crude oil comprises an ebullated-bed reactor system.
According to the second embodiment of the invention, the process comprises a first ebullated-bed reactor system, followed by a solvent deasphalting unit (SDA) and a second ebullated-bed reactor system.
According to the third embodiment of the invention, the process comprises a solvent .. deasphalting unit (SDA) followed by an ebullated-bed reactor system.
According to an embodiment of the invention, there is provided a process for converting high percentages of heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks and producing a high yield of SCO
comprising:
a) feeding a bitumen or heavy oil feedstock having an API gravity less than 15 , sulfur content of greater than 3 W%, and a vacuum residue content of greater than 35 W% to a 3a crude still to provide a light diluent, a straight run atmospheric residue stream and a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream; and b) feeding said straight run atmospheric residue stream to a vacuum still to create a straight run vacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream;
and c) feeding a portion of the straight run vacuum residue stream and a hydrogen stream to a first ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrack the vacuum residue and create an unconverted vacuum residue stream and a distillate and vacuum gas oil stream;
and d) feeding said unconverted vacuum residue stream and the straight run vacuum residue that was not processed in said first ebullated-bed reactor system to a C3 or heavier solvent deasphalting unit to create a deasphalted oil stream and an asphaltene stream;
and e) feeding said deasphalted oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a second ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrack the deasphalted oil and create a distillate stream, a vacuum gas oil stream, and an unconverted deasphalted oil stream; and f) feeding said distillate and vacuum gas oil stream from said first ebullated-bed reactor .. system from step c), along with said straight run vacuum gas oil stream and said straight run atmospheric gas oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a series of hydrotreatment and hydrocracking reactors to create a hydrotreated Cs + product; and g) blending said hydrotreated C5+ product from step f), said distillate stream and said vacuum gas oil stream from step e) to create a synthetic crude oil having at least a 190 API
gravity and a viscosity at 7 C less than 350 cSt; and h) feeding said asphaltene stream from step d) plus said unconverted DA0 stream from step e) to a gasification complex to produce the required hydrogen for steps c), e) and f).
These and other features of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

- 4 -DETAILED DESCRIPTION
First Embodiment: Process with an ebullated-bed reactor system According the first embodiment of the invention, the heavy oil or bitumen feedstock is initially fractionated in crude still to produce straight-run AGO, atmospheric residue, and s diluent which is returned to the field. The diluent is added to the raw bitumen at the field in order to transport the blend to the processing complex. A portion of the atmospheric residue is then sent to a vacuum still for further fractionation and the production of a straight run VGO and a vacuum residue stream. The vacuum residue feedstream and/or the atmospheric residue feedstream is thereafter processed along with a hydrogen stream in an ebullated-bed reactor system operating at relatively high severity conditions to produce a greater than seventy (70%) percent conversion rate.
Multiple ebullated-bed reactors may be operated in series in accordance with this invention. The ebullated-bed products are thereafter blended with the atmospheric residue which was by-passed and the straight run distillates (VGO and AGO) to produce a stable and compatible synthetic crude oil.
Once the level of severity in the ebullated-bed unit is set, the fraction of the straight run atmospheric residue that bypasses the vacuum fractionation and conversion unit can be set to attain the required final SCO qualities. Hydrogen for the ebullated-bed unit can be obtained via a natural gas-steam reformer or via gasification of a portion of the ebullated-bed heavy product or straight run vacuum residue. The invention results in a high yield of specification SCO, no undesirable bottoms or coke product and is accomplished with minimal investment and operating costs. Unlike much of the SCO
commercially produced, the invention SCO will contain both straight run and conversion vacuum residue. The SCO will be stable as a result of the selection of optimal .. operating conditions in the ebullated-bed conversion unit and the proper blending technique to combine the bypassed bitumen/heavy oil AR and the conversion products.

- 5 -More particularlyõ the present invention describes a novel process configuration for converting of heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks to high value, transportable synthetic crude oil comprising;
a) feeding a bitumen or heavy ail feedstock to an atmospheric fractionator to provide an atmospheric residue stream, a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream and a diluent stream used for transportation; and b) feeding a portion of said atmospheric residue stream to a vacuum fractionator to create a vacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream;
and C) feeding the vacuum residue stream and some or none of the atmospheric residue stream that was not processed in the vacuum fractionator in step b), along with a hydrogen stream to an ebullated-bed reactor system to create an unconverted residue stream, a full range distillate product stream, and a recovered butanes stream:
and d) blending a portion of the atmospheric residue stream that was not processed in the vacuum still of step b) or the ebuilated-bed reactor system of step c) with the unconverted residue from the ebullated-bed reactor system of step c), and e) blending the stream from step d) with the straight run atmospheric gas oil stream, straight run vacuum gas oil stream, the NO range distilate product stream and the recovered butanes stream from the ebuliated-bed reactor system to produce a transportable synthetic crude oil product.
In some implementations, there is provided a novel process configuration for converting of heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks to high value, transportable synthetic crude oil comprising:
a) feeding a bitumen or heavy oil feedstock having an API gravity less than 15 , sulfur content of greater than 3 W%, and a vacuum residue content of greater than 35 W% to an atmospheric fractionator to provide an atmospheric residue stream, a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream and a diluent stream; and - 5a -b) feeding a portion of said atmospheric residue stream to a vacuum fractionator to create a vacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream; and c) feeding the vacuum residue stream and some or none of the atmospheric residue stream that was not processed in the vacuum fractionator in step b), along with a hydrogen stream to an ebullated-bed reactor system to create an unconverted residue stream, a full range distillate product stream, and a recovered butanes stream; and d) blending the atmospheric residue stream that was not processed in the vacuum fractionator of step b) or the ebullated-bed reactor system of step c) with the unconverted residue from the ebullated-bed reactor system of step c); and e) blending the stream from step d) with the straight run atmospheric gas oil stream, straight run vacuum gas oil stream, the full range distillate product stream and the recovered butanes stream from the ebullated-bed reactor system to produce a transportable synthetic crude oil product having at least a 19 API gravity and a viscosity at 7 C less than 350 cSt.
In a preferred embodiment of the first embodiment of the invention, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream bypasses the vacuum still and is fed to the ebuilated bed unit along with the vacuum residue stream In a preferred embodiment, between and 80 percent of the straight run atmospheric residue is bypassed. In a preferred embodiment, a portion of the straight run AGO or VG0 streams or the ebullated-bed distillates are not included In the synthetic crude. In another preferred embodiment, the gas oils are hydrotreated or hydrocracked prior to be blended into the synthetic crude oll. In a preferred embodiment, more than one ebutlated-bed reactor is utilized in step

- 6 -c). In a preferred embodiment, the hydrogen stream from step c) is obtained via steam methane reforming or gasification of a suitable heavy process stream.
In the process according to the first embodiment of the invention, the overall conversion percentage of the feedstream processed in the ebullated-bed reactor hydrocarbon feedstream is preferably greater than 50% wt, and more preferably greater than 70%, and even more preferably greater than 75%.
According the first embodiment, the atmospheric residue from the heavy oil or bitumen feedstock is only partially processed in the hydroconversion unit, there is no secondary hydrotreating nor is there any heavy unconverted residue or coke to dispose of using this novel process.
Second embodiment: Process with a first ebullated bed. SDA, a second ebullated bed According to the second embodiment of the invention, the heavy oil or bitumen feedstock is initially fractionated in a combination of crude and vacuum stills to produce light diluent, straight-run atmospheric gas oil (AGO) feedstream, an atmospheric residue feedstream, straight run vacuum gas oil (VGO) feedstream and a vacuum residue feedstream. The light diluent, used to transport the heavy oil or bitumen, is returned to the field. A large portion of the vacuum residue feedstream is thereafter fed to a first ebullated-bed reactor unit along with hydrogen from a downstream hydrogen plant to create distillate, VGO, and unconverted vacuum residue streams. The VGO
and distillate streams from the ebullated bed reactor system are thereafter combined with the straight-run AGO and VGO streams from the vacuum and crude stills and sent to traditional fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units for further refinement.
The unconverted vacuum residue from the ebullated-bed system is combined with the portion of the vacuum residue from the vacuum still that was not sent to the first ebullated-bed reactor and sent to a solvent deasphalting unit (SDA). The SDA
produces a deasphalted oil (DAC)) stream and an asphaltene stream. The DAC/
stream is processed along with a hydrogen stream in a second, lower pressure ebullated-bed reactor system which operates at high severity and converts in excess of eighty-five

- 7 -(85%) percent of the DAO into distillates and VG0. These distillate and VG0 products do not require secondary hydrotreatment and are thereafter blended with the products from the fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking reactors to create a synthetic crude oil (SCO). The small quantity of DA0 that is not converted in the second ebullated-bed reactor system is thereafter routed to a gasification plant or can be blended into the final SCO product.
The asphaltene stream from the SDA unit and optionally the unconverted DA
from the second ebullated-bed reactor system are sent to the gasification plant to produce the required hydrogen for the two ebullated-bed units and the secondary io hydrotreating/hydrocracking units. The primary variable for insuring that the required quantity of hydrogen is produced in the gasification plant is the fraction of the vacuum residue which bypasses the first ebullated-bed reactor system.
To the general objectives of the invention having been described above, it is a further objective of the second embodiment of the present invention to utilize maximum size and throughput ebullated-bed reactor systems for the vacuum residue and DA0 processing as well as for the SDA and gasification plants to provide maximum total heavy oil or bitumen feedrate and maximum resulting SCO production. It is another objective of the second embodiment of the present invention to utilize lower pressure ebullated-bed hydroconversion to enable high conversion of the DA for direct blending of the second ebullated-bed products into the final SCO product.
More particularly, the present invention describes a process for converting high percentages of heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks and producing a high yield of SCO
comprising:
a) feeding a bitumen or heavy oil feedstock to a crude still passing to provide a light diluent, a straight run atmospheric residue stream and a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream; and

- 8 -b) feeding said straight run atmospheric residue stream to a vacuum still to create a straight run vacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream: and c) feeding a portion of the straight run vacuum residue stream and a hydrogen stream to a first ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocreck the vacuum residue and create an unconverted residue stream and a distillate and vacuum gas oil stream; and d) feeding said unconverted vacuum residue stream and the straight run vacuum residue that was not processed In said first ebullated-bed reactor system to a or heavier solvent de:asphalting unit to create a deasphalted oil stream and an asphaltene stream; and e) feeding said deasphalted Oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a second ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrack the deasphalted oil and create a distillate stream, a vacuum gas oil stream, and an unconverted deasphalted oil stream; and f) feeding said distillate and vacuum gas oil stream from said first ebullated-bed reactor system from step d) , along with said straight run vacuum gas oil stream and said straight run atmospheric gas oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a series of hydrotreatrnent and hydrocrackIng reactors to create a hydratreated Cs`
product; and g) blending said hydrotreated Cs' product from step f), said distillate stream and Said vacuum gas oil stream from step e) lo create a synthetic crude oil' and h) feeding said asphaltene stream from step d) plus said unconverted DA0 stream from step e) to a gasification complex to produce the required hydrogen for steps c), e) and f).
In some implementations, there is provided a process for converting high percentages of heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks and producing a high yield of SCO comprising:

- 8a -a) feeding a bitumen or heavy oil feedstock having an API gravity less than 15 , sulfur content of greater than 3 W%, and a vacuum residue content of greater than 35 W% to a crude still to provide a light diluent, a straight run atmospheric residue stream and a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream; and b) feeding said straight run atmospheric residue stream to a vacuum still to create a straight run vacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream;

and c) feeding a portion of the straight run vacuum residue stream and a hydrogen stream to a first ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrack the vacuum residue and create an unconverted residue stream and a distillate and vacuum gas oil stream; and d) feeding said unconverted vacuum residue stream and the straight run vacuum residue that was not processed in said first ebullated-bed reactor system to a or heavier solvent deasphalting unit to create a deasphalted oil stream and an asphaltene stream; and e) feeding said deasphalted oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a second ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrack the deasphalted oil and create a distillate stream, a vacuum gas oil stream, and an unconverted deasphalted oil stream; and f) feeding said distillate and vacuum gas oil stream from said first ebullated-bed reactor system from step d), along with said straight run vacuum gas oil stream and said straight run atmospheric gas oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a series of hydrotreatment and hydrocracking reactors to create a hydrotreated Cs*
product; and - 8b -g) blending said hydrotreated Cs + product from step f), said distillate stream and said vacuum gas oil stream from step e) to create a synthetic crude oil having at least a 19 API gravity and a viscosity at 7 C less than 350 cSt; and h) feeding said asphaltene stream from step d) plus said unconverted DA
stream from step e) to a gasification complex to produce the required hydrogen for steps c), e) and f).
In one embodiment of the second embodiment of the invention a portion of the atmospheric residue stream from step a) bypasses step b) and Is sent directly into the solvent deasphal(er of step d) along with the straight run vacuum residue streams.

- 9 -In another embodiment between 0% and 80% percent of the straight run vacuum residue stream from step b) bypasses said first ebullated-bed reactor system in step c) and is sent directly to the solvent deasphalting unit in step d).
In still another embodiment a portion of the distillate stream and vacuum gas oil streams from step e) are not included in the synthetic crude oil product.
In another embodiment a portion of the unconverted deasphalted oil stream from step e) is utilized in the synthetic crude oil of step g).
In one embodiment, the straight run distillates and vacuum gas oil from steps a) and b) and the conversion distillates and VG0 from step c) can be blended directly into the to SCO product if a lower quality SCO product is desired.
In another embodiment, the gasification complex in step h) can produce power for internal or external usage (exported), or can produce a synthetic gas which can thereafter be utilized to generate steam for upstream oil production.
Butanes which are created by the first ebullated-bed reactor system, the second is ebullated-bed reactor system, or the series of hydrotreatment and hydrocracking reactors, can be blended in step h) at greater than one volume percent with said hydrotreated C6+ product from step f), said distillate stream and said vacuum gas oil stream from step e) to create a synthetic crude oil.
In an embodiment, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream bypasses the vacuum 20 still and can be fed to the ebullated-bed unit along with the vacuum residue stream.
The solvent utilized in the SDA unit may be any suitable hydrocarbonaceous material which is a liquid within suitable temperature and pressure :ranges for operation of the countercurrent contacting column, is less dense than the feed streams, crude still 25 vacuum residue stream and unconverted vacuum residue stream, and has the ability to readily and selectively dissolve desired components of the feed streams and reject the asphaltic materials also commonly known as pitch or asphaltenes. The solvent may be a mixture of a large number of different hydrocarbons having from 3 to 14 carbon atoms

- 10 -per molecule, such as light naphtha having an end boiling point below about (93 C).
Preferably, the SDA unit is operated with a C3/C4/C5 solvent to obtain a high DAD yield such that the DAD can be treated in a classic fixed-bed reactor or in an ebullated-bed s unit. More specifically, the solvent may be a relatively light hydrocarbon such as ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, pentane, iswentane, hexane, heptane, the corresponding mono-olefinic hydrocarbons or mixtures thereof. Preferably, the solvent is comprised of paraffinic hydrocarbons having from 3 to 7 carbon atoms per molecule and can be a mixture of 2 or more hydrocarbons. For instance, a preferred solvent may be comprised to of a 50 volume percent mixture of normal butane and isopentane.
The solvent deasphalting conditions include a temperature from about 50 F (10 C) to about 600 F (315 C) or higher, but the solvent deasphalter operation is preferably performed within the temperature range of 100 F (38 C) ¨ 400 F (204 C). The pressures utilized in the solvent deasphalter are preferably sufficient to maintain liquid 15 phase conditions, with no advantage being apparent to the use of elevated pressures which greatly exceed this minimum. A broad range of pressures from about 100 psig (690 kPag) to 1,000 psig (6,900 kPag) are generally suitable with a preferred range being from about 200 psig (1,380 kPag) to 600 psig (4,140 kPag).
In the SDA Unit, an excess of solvent to charge stock should preferably be maintained.
20 .. The solvent to charge stock volumetric ratio should preferably be between 2:1 to 20:1 and preferably from about 3:1 to 9:1. The preferred residence time of the charge stock in the solvent deasphalter is from about 10 to about 60 minutes.
In the process according to the second embodiment, the conversion percentage of the 25 feedstream processed in the first ebullated-bed reactor hydrocarbon feedstream can be greater than 50% wt, and may even be greater than 60% wt. In the second ebullated-bed reactor system, the conversion percentage of the feedstream processed is preferably greater than 70% wt and more preferably greater than 75% wt and may even be greater than 80% wt. or 90% wt.

- 11 -Additionally, in the process according to the invention, the overall volumetric synthetic crude oil yield rate as a fraction of heavy oil or bitumen but not including diluents feedrate is greater than 90% and can be greater than 95%.
Third embodiment: Process with SDA followed by an ebullated bed reactor system According to the third embodiment of the present invention, the total heavy oil or bitumen feedstock is initially fractionated in crude still to produce straight-run AGO, atmospheric residue, and diluent which is returned to the field. The diluent is added to the raw bitumen at the field in order to transport the blend to the processing complex. A
portion of the atmospheric residue is then sent to a vacuum still for further fractionation is and the production of a straight run VG0 and a vacuum residue stream.
The vacuum residue feedstream and/or the atmospheric residue feedstream are thereafter processed along in solvent deasphalting unit to produce deasphalted oil and an asphaltene product. A portion of the deasphalted oil is further processed along with a hydrogen stream in an ebullated-bed reactor system operating at relatively high severity is conditions to produce a greater than seventy-five (75%) percent conversion rate. The entire converted products from the ebullated-bed reactor are thereafter mixed with the straight-run distillates (AGO, VGO), by-passed DAO, and, in some cases, bypassed atmospheric residue from the heavy crude oil or bitumen feedstock plus produced butanes to create the final synthetic crude product. The asphaltene stream can be 20 utilized or sold as fuel or can be gasified and the hydrogen created from such gasification is utilized in the ebullated-bed reactors.
Once the level of severity in the ebullated-bed unit is set, the fraction of the AR stream which bypasses the deasphalting and ebullated-bed conversion steps and/or the fraction of the DAO which bypasses the ebullated-bed step can be determined to attain 25 the required final SCO qualities. Hydrogen for the ebullated-bed unit can be obtained via a natural gas-steam reformer or via gasification of the asphaltene product from the solvent deasphalter. The invention results in a high yield of stable and compatible specification SCO, no undesirable coke product and is accomplished with minimal investment and operating costs.

- 12 -To the general objectives of the invention having been described above, it is a further objective of the third embodiment of the invention to further reduce the required plant Investment by bypassing either a portion of the atmospheric residue or the 0A0 stream from being processed in the ebullated-bed reactor.
It is yet a further object of the third embodiment of the present invention to minimize or completely remove all feedstock and conversion product asphaltenes from the final SCO product to insure its stability and compatibility.
More particularly, the present invention describes a novel process configuration process for converting heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks to transportable synthetic crude oil comprising:
a) feeding a bitumen or heavy oil feedstock to a crude still to provide an atmospheric residue stream, a straight run anospheric gas oil stream, and diluent stream; and b) feeding a portion of said atmospheric residue stream to a vacuum fractionalor to create a vacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream;
arid c) feeding said vacuum residue stream along with a portion of said atmospheric residue stream that was not processed In step b) to a solvent deasphalter to produoe a deasphalted oil stream and an asphattene stream;
d) feeding a portion of the deasphalted oil stream and a hydrogen stream to an ebutlated-bed reactor system to create a full- range liquid conversion product stream and a recovered butanes stream; and e) blending said fult-range liquid conversion product stream, the portion of the deasphalted oil stream that was not peocessed in step d) above, the portion of the atmospheric reeidue stream that was not processed in steps b) or c) , said straight run vacuum gas oil stream, said recovered butanes stream and said straight run atmospheric gas oil stream to create a synthetic crude oil.
In some implementations, there is provided a novel process configuration process for converting heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks to transportable synthetic crude oil comprising:

- 12a -a) feeding a bitumen or heavy oil feedstock having an API gravity less than 15 , sulfur content of greater than 3 W%, and a vacuum residue content of greater than 35 W% to a crude still to provide an atmospheric residue stream, a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream, and diluent stream; and b) feeding a portion of said atmospheric residue stream to a vacuum fractionator to create a vacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream;
and c) feeding said vacuum residue stream along with a portion of said atmospheric residue stream that was not processed in step b) to a solvent deasphalter to produce a deasphalted oil stream and an asphaltene stream;
d) feeding a portion of the deasphalted oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a ebullated-bed reactor system to create a full- range liquid conversion product stream and a recovered butanes stream; and e) blending said full-range liquid conversion product stream, the portion of the deasphalted oil stream that was not processed in step d) above, the portion of the atmospheric residue stream that was not processed in step b) or c), said straight run vacuum gas oil stream, said recovered butanes stream and said straight run atmospheric gas oil stream to create a synthetic crude oil having at least a 19 API
gravity and a viscosity at 7 C less than 350 cSt.

- 13 -In one embodiment of the third embodiment to the invention, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream bypasses the vacuum still and is fed to the ebullated bed unit along with the vacuum residue stream. In one embodiment a portion of the straight run atmospheric residue bypasses further processing and is blended in said synthetic .. crude oil. In one embodiment, the hydrogen stream from step d) above is obtained via gasification of the SDA asphaltenes.
Between 0 and 100% percent of the atmospheric residue stream from step a) above may bypass step b) and is thereafter fed into the solvent deasphalter of step c) along with the vacuum residue stream. Additionally, between 10 and 80 percent of the produced in step c) may also bypass the ebullated-bed reactor system in step c).
Depending upon the quality of the SCO product desired, a portion of the straight run atmospheric gas oil stream, vacuum gas oil stream or full-range liquid conversion product stream may not be included in the synthetic crude.
Also depending upon the quality of the SCO product desired, the straight run vacuum lb and atmospheric gas oil streams may be hydrotreated or hydrocracked prior to be blended into the synthetic crude oil.
In the process according to this embodiment, the overall conversion percentage of the feedstream processed in the ebullated-bed reactor hydrocarbon feedstream is preferably greater than 50% wt, and more preferably greater than 65%, more preferably greater than 70% and again more preferably greater than 75%.
The solvent utilized in the SDA unit may be any suitable hydrocarbonaceous material which is a liquid within suitable temperature and pressure ranges for operation of the countercurrent contacting column, is less dense than the feed streams crude still vacuum residue stream and unconverted vacuum residue stream, and has the ability to readily and selectively dissolve desired components of the feed streams and reject the asphaltic materials also commonly known as pitch or asphaltenes. The solvent may be a mixture of a large number of different hydrocarbons having from 3 to 14 carbon atoms per molecule, such as light naphtha having an end boiling point below about

- 14 -(93 C). The operating conditions and the solvents preferably used in the deasphalting unit are identical as the ones described above in the second embodiment.
For all three embodiments of the present invention, the ebullated-bed reactor operates at the following range of conditions: reactor total pressure of 1500 to 3000 psia (10.3 to 20.7 MPa), reactor temperature of 750 to 850 F (399 to 454 C), hydrogen feedrate of 1500 to 10000 SCF/Bbl (150 to 1667 normal cubic meters (Nm3) per cubic meter (m3) of liquid feed), liquid hourly space velocity of 0.1 to 1.5 hr-1, and a daily catalyst replacement rate of 0.1 to 1.0 lb/Bbl (0.285-2.85 kg/m3) of feedstock.
1.0 .. Generally such hydroprocessing is in the presence of catalyst containing group VI or VIII metals such as platinum, molybdenum, tungsten, nickel, cobalt, etc., in combination with various other metallic element particles of alumina, silica, magnesia and so forth having a high surface to volume ratio. More specifically, catalyst utilized for hydrodemetallation, hydrodesulfurization, hydrodenitrification, hydrocracking etc., of heavy oils and the like are generally made up of a carrier or base material;
such as alumina, silica, silicaalumina, or possibly, crystalline aluminosilicate, with one more promoter(s) or catalytically active metal(s) (or compound(s)) plus trace materials.
Typical catalytically active metals utilized are cobalt, molybdenum, nickel and tungsten;
however, other metals or compounds could be selected dependent on the application.
The ebullated-bed reactor system maybe comprised of one, two or three stages in series and may incorporate phase separation between the reactor stages to offload the gas from the first stage reactor.
For all three embodiments of the present invention, the heavy oil or bitumen feedstream has the following properties: API gravity less than 15 , sulfur content greater than 3 W%
and vacuum residue content greater than 35%.

- 15 -BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a schematic flowsheet of the high conversion partial upgrading process of heavy oil or bitumen feedstock according to the first embodiment of the invention.
Figure 2 is a schematic flowsheet of the high conversion partial upgrading process of heavy oil or bitumen feedstock according to the second embodiment of the invention.
Figure 3 is a schematic flowsheet of the high conversion partial upgrading process of heavy oil or bitumen feedstock according to the third embodiment of the invention.
As shown in figure 1, the heavy oil or bitumen stream 10 enters the plant battery limits.
Typically, this stream contains 10 - 40% light diluent which is used to transport the bitumen from the field to the processing complex. The heavy oil or bitumen feedstream is first processed through a crude atmospheric fractionator 12 to create a atmospheric residue stream 14 nominally boiling above 650 F (343 C), a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream 15, and a light diluent stream 11 which is returned to the field. The atmospheric fractionator 12 is also referred to as an atmospheric or crude still. As shown in the drawing, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream 14 bypasses the downstream processing steps and is blended with the ebullated-bed unconverted vacuum residue 23 with eventual disposition into the final synthetic crude oil product 36.
The portion that bypasses the downstream processing steps is referred to in the drawing as 13.
Another portion 17 of the atmospheric residue stream 14 from the crude atmospheric fractionator 12 is thereafter sent to a vacuum fractionator 16 to create a vacuum residue stream 18 nominally boiling above 975 F (524 C) and a straight run vacuum gas oil (VG0) stream 20 nominally boiling between 650 F and 975 F (343 C and 524 C). The vacuum fractionator is also referred to as a vacuum still. As shown as a dotted line in the drawing, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream 14 may be sent directly to the ebullated-bed reactor system 22. As mentioned above, multiple ebullated-bed reactors may be operated in series in accordance with this invention. The

- 16 -straight run VGO stream 20 is thereafter routed together with the straight run AGO
stream 15 and routed for blending to the final SCO product 36.
The vacuum residue stream 18 is thereafter combined with a hydrogen stream 19 and sent to the residue ebullated-bed reactor system 22 for hydroconversion. The hydrogen stream 19 can be obtained via steam methane reforming of natural gas or gasification of a suitable heavy process stream. As mentioned above, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream 14 may be directly sent to the ebullated-bed reactor system 22.
The ebullated-bed reactor system 22 utilizes one or more high conversion ebullated-bed reactors in series, although only one is shown in this drawing. The vacuum residue stream 18 is hydrocracked and hydrogenated in the ebullated-bed reactor(s) 22.
After product separation and fractionation, a distillate product stream 24 nominally boiling below 975 F (524 0), an unconverted residue stream 23, and a recovered butanes stream 25 are produced. The distillate product stream 24 is combined with the straight run VGO stream 20, the recovered butanes stream 25, and the straight run AGO
stream 15 and thereafter sent to SCO blending 36. The unconverted residue stream 23 is combined with the atmospheric residue 13 stream that bypassed the vacuum fractionators 16 and the ebullated-bed reactor system 22 are thereafter routed and blended to create the final synthetic crude oil product 36. The combination of streams 15, 20, 23, 24, 25 and 13 forms the final SCO product.
As shown in figure 2, the heavy oil or bitumen stream 210 enters the plant battery limits.
Typically, this stream has API gravity less than 15 and requires 10 - 40%
light diluent to transport from the field to the processing complex. The heavy oil or bitumen feedstream 210 is first processed through a crude atmospheric fractionator 212 to create an atmospheric residue stream 214 nominally boiling above 650 F (343 C) and straight run atmospheric gas oil (AGO) stream 215 and a diluent stream 211 which is returned to the field.
The atmospheric residue stream 214 from the crude atmospheric fractionator 212 is thereafter sent to a vacuum fractionator 216 to create a vacuum residue stream nominally boiling above 975 F (524 C) and a straight run vacuum gas oil (VGO) stream

- 17 -220 boiling between 650 F and 975 F (343 C and 524 C). Although not shown in the drawing, depending upon the plant capacity and/or economics, it is possible that a portion of the atmospheric residue stream 214 can bypass the vacuum fractionators 216 and be fed directly to the solvent deasphalter 225. The straight run VG0 stream .. 220 and the straight run AGO stream 215, are thereafter routed to traditional fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units 230. These secondary hydroprocessing units typically operate at moderate temperature and pressure and create a distillate plus VG0 stream 232 which will be stable and contain acceptable level of sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics. Although not shown in Figure 1, depending upon the desired quality of io the final SCO product, it is possible to route the straight run VG
stream 220 and the straight run AGO stream 215 directly into the SCO product 236 and bypass the fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units 230.
A portion of the vacuum residue stream 218 is thereafter sent to a first ebullated-bed reactor system 219 to create a distillateNGO product stream 221 and an unconverted is vacuum residue stream 222. The residue conversion percentage in this first ebullated-bed reactor system 219 is generally greater than 50% wt. The distillateNGO
product stream 221 is thereafter routed along with the straight run VGO stream 220 and the straight run AGO stream 215 to traditional fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units 230, although it is possible to blend the distillateNGO product stream 221 directly 20 into the SCO product 236 and bypass the traditional fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units 230 depending upon the desired quality of the SCO product.
The unconverted vacuum residue stream 222 is combined with the portion of the crude still vacuum residue stream 218 that was not sent to the first ebullated-bed reactor 219, shown in this schematic as 218a, and sent to a solvent deasphalting unit 225 where it is 25 separated into deasphalted oil ("DAO") stream 228 and an asphaltene stream 226.
Generally, the portion of the crude still vacuum residue stream not sent to the first ebullated-bed reactor 218a is between 0 and 80%.
The solvent utilized in the SDA unit 225 may be any suitable hydrocarbonaceous material which is a liquid within suitable temperature and pressure ranges for operation

- 18 -of the countercurrent contacting column, is less dense than the feed streams 218a, 222, and has the ability to readily and selectively dissolve desired components of the feed streams 218a, 222 and reject the asphaltic materials also commonly known as pitch or asphaltenes. The solvent may be a mixture of a large number of different hydrocarbons having from 3 to 14 carbon atoms per molecule, such as light naphtha having an end boiling point below about 93 C (200 F).
The asphaltene stream 226 from the solvent deasphalter unit 225 is sent to a gasification complex 227 where it produces hydrogen stream 229 that is required for the for the two ebullated-bed reactor systems 219 & 231 and for the hydrotreating/hydrocracking units 230. The gasification complex includes the gasification reactors, gas clean-up, shift reactors, carbon dioxide separation and recovery, hydrogen purification and air separation plants. Moreover, depending upon the plant economics and/or requirements, the gasification complex can optionally produce power and/or medium BTU syngas for the upgrader and upstream resource recovery.
The DA0 stream 228 from the solvent deasphalting reactor unit 225 is thereafter sent to a second ebullated-bed reactor system 231 for hydroconversion. The hydrogen required for this second ebullated-bed reactor 231 is also obtained from the hydrogen stream 229 created by the gasification complex 227.
The second ebullated-bed reactor system 231 is a high conversion ebullated-bed hydroconversion unit. The DA0 stream 228 is catalytically hydrocracked and hydrotreated in the ebullated-bed reactor 231 system and converts greater than 70% of the DA0 feedstream 228 and creates a distillate plus VG0 stream 234. Stream 234 is thereafter combined with the hydrotreated distillates and VG stream 232 from the fixed-bed hydrotreater and hydrocracking reactors 230 to create the final SCO
product 236. Although not shown in Figure 2, it is possible that a portion of the distillate plus VG0 stream 234 would not be included in the final SCO product 236 and would instead be sold as product. Unconverted DA0 235 from the second ebullated-bed reactor system 231 may be routed to the gasification complex 227 or may be utilized in the final

- 19 -synthetic crude oil product blend. Although not shown in Figure 2, butanes may also be added to the final SCO product 236 at typical contents of greater than 1 volume percent depending upon the desired product quality. The butanes are typically created from a gas recovery plant (not shown in Figure 2) which processes the light product gas streams from the first ebullated-bed reactor system 219, the fixed-bed hydrotreater and hydrocracking reactors 230, and the second ebullated-bed reactor system 231.
As shown in figure 3, the heavy oil or bitumen stream 310 enters the plant battery limits.
Typically, this stream contains 10 - 40% light diluent which is used to transport the io bitumen from the field to the processing complex. The heavy oil or bitumen feedstream is first processed through a crude atmospheric fractionator 312 to create an atmospheric residue stream 314 nominally boiling above 650 F (343 C), a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream 315, and a light diluent stream 311 which is returned to the field. Although not shown in the drawing and depending upon the quality of the SCO
product desired, the straight run atmospheric gas oil stream 315 may be hydrotreated and or hydrocracked prior to being blended in the SCO product 336. As shown in the drawing, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream 314 may bypass the downstream processing steps and be blended into the SCO product 336. This bypass is shown as stream 314a (bypass vacuum fractionator) and stream 313 (bypasses all processing).
The net atmospheric residue stream 314 from the crude atmospheric fractionator 312 is thereafter sent to a vacuum fractionator 316 to create a vacuum residue stream nominally boiling above 975 F (524 C) and a straight run vacuum gas oil (VG0) stream 320 nominally boiling between 650 F and 975 F (343 C and 524 C). As shown as a dotted line in the drawing, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream 314, generally .. between 10% and 80%, may be directly sent to the solvent deasphatting (SDA) unit 322. This stream is labeled in the drawing as 314a and is sent directly to the solvent deasphalter unit 322 after mixing with the vacuum residue stream 318. The straight run VG stream 320 is thereafter routed together with the straight run AGO stream 315 to the final SCO product 336. Although not shown in the drawing, the straight run

- 20 -atmospheric gas oil stream 315 and the straight run VGO stream 320 may be hydrotreated and or hydrocracked prior to being blended in the SCO product 336.
The vacuum residue feed stream 318 and any portion of the atmospheric residue stream 314a that that bypassed the vacuum fractionator 316 is thereafter sent to a solvent deasphalter 322 unit (SDA) where it is separated into deasphalted oil ("DAO") stream 324 and an asphaltene stream 325.
The asphaltene stream 325 from the solvent deasphalter unit 322 can be utilized as fuel or can be sent to a gasification plant (not shown) where it produces hydrogen stream 327 that is required for the ebullated-bed unit 326 and can also produce power io and/or medium BTU syngas for the upgrader and upstream resource recovery.
Gasification of this stream could include capture of the carbon dioxide which is a by-product of the gasification process.
A portion of the DAO stream 324 from the solvent deasphalter unit 322 is thereafter combined with a hydrogen stream 327 and sent to an ebullated-bed reactor system 326 for hydroconversion. This stream is designated as stream 324b. Depending upon the cost and availability of natural gas and plant requirements, the hydrogen consumption stream 327 can be obtained via steam methane reforming or gasification of a suitable heavy process stream, including the asphaltene (pitch) product from the deasphalter.
As mentioned above, a portion of the DAO stream, generally between 10% and 80%, bypasses the ebullated-bed reactor unit 326 and is shown in the drawing as 324a.
This DAO bypass stream does not contain a significant quantity of undesirable asphaltenes and is thereafter directly blended in the final SCO product stream 336.
The ebullated-bed unit 326 utilizes one or more high conversion ebullated-bed reactors in series. The net DAC vacuum residue stream 324b is hydrocracked and .. hydrogenated in the ebullated-bed reactor(s) 322. The conversion of vacuum residue is high and preferably in the range of 75 to 90%. A full range (C5+) product 330 and recovered butanes 332 are produced and are sent to SCO blending 336. In one embodiment, the small quantity of unconverted DAO vacuum residue can be separated from the full range ebullated-bed product and excluded from the SCO product.
In this .21 -embodiment, the unconverted residue could be utilized as gasifier feedstock.
The combination of streams 315, 320, 324a, 330, 332 and 313 form the final SCO
product 336.
EXAMPLES
This invention will be further described by the following examples, example 1 illustrates the first embodiment of the invention, example 2 illustrates the second embodiment and examples 3 and 4 illustrates the third embodiment.

lo This example illustrated the first embodiment of the invention. A
total of 100 000 BPSD
(barrel per stream day, 5 000 000 tons/year) of bitumen is processed utilizing the novel configuration disclosed herein. Inspections on the bitumen feedstock are shown in Table 1. The 100 000 BPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) flowrate and bitumen inspections are net of the light diluent which is used to transport the heavy feedstock from the field.
The objective of the processing configuration is to produce a maximum yield of stable, transportable SCO meeting Canadian pipeline specifications. These specifications are API Gravity greater than 19 and a 7 C viscosity less than 350 cSt. The amount of bypassed bitumen atmospheric residue is determined by attaining the partially upgraded SCO specifications. In this example, 100 KBPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) of total crude were processed in the crude still, 76.5% of the atmospheric residue is sent to vacuum fractionation and 23.5% of the atmospheric residue bypasses the processing units and is blended with the ebullated-bed unconverted residue and eventually routed to final SCO. The crude still also produces 17 600 BPSD (880 000 tons/year) of AGO.
Table 1: Feed Inspections Stream Bitumen Gravity, 'API 9.3 Sulfur, W% 4.3 Nitrogen, W% 0.40 Conradson Carbon Residue, W% 13.6 Distillation, V%
- IBP ¨ 350 F (IBP ¨ 177 C) 0 350¨ 650 F (177¨ 343 C) 17.6 650 ¨ 975 F (343 ¨ 524 C) 31.8 975 F+ (524 C +) 50.6 Based on the iterative calculation, 63 000 BPSD (3 150 000 tons/year) of the BPSD (4 120 000 tons/year) of total atmospheric residue from the bitumen is routed to the vacuum still to produce VG0 and a vacuum residue. The other portion of the atmospheric residue (19 400 BPSD (970 000 tons/year)) bypasses the vacuum still and is blended with the ebullated-bed unconverted residue and eventually routed to final SCO blending. The straight run AGO (17 600 BPSD (880 000 tons/year)) and VG0 (21 200 BPSD (1 060 000 tons/year)) are routed for blending into the final SCO
product.
Flowrates of the major streams are shown in Table 2.
1.0 Table 2: Summary of Flowrates Basis: 100 KBPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) of Undiluted Bitumen Stream Flowrate kBPSD (Tons/year) 'Bitumen to Crude Still 100.0 (5 000 000) AGO to SCO Blending 17.6 (880 000) Total Atmospheric Residue 82.4 (4 120 000) Atmospheric Residue Bypassed - 19.4 (970 000) Atmospheric Residue to Vacuum 63.0 (3 150 000) Still VG0 to SCO Blending 21.2 (1 060 000) Vacuum Residue to Ebullated-Bed 41.9 (2 095 000) Unit Ebullated-Bed Products 44.8 (2 240 000) Naphtha 8.1 (405 000) Diesel 13.5 (675 000) VGO 16.8 (840 000) Unconverted Residue 6.4 (320 000) Total SCO (Including Butanes) 103.9 (5 195 000) Hydrogen Required, MMSCFD (e/ 78.9 (93 092) h) Vacuum residue from the vacuum still is thereafter sent to a high conversion ebullated-bed hydroconversion unit. The feedrate to the ebullated-bed unit is 41 900 BPSD
(2 095 000 tons/year and is near the maximum rate for a single train, two stage ebullated-bed unit with a specified maximum reactor size. This reactor size is normally limited by either fabrication or transportation constraints. The vacuum residue ebullated-bed of this example operates at a residue conversion level of greater than 75 %, which has been demonstrated for Western Canadian heavy oils and bitumen feedstocks. The liquid product yields from the ebullated-bed unit are shown in Table 2 3.0 and sum to 44 800 BPSD (2 240 000 tons/year), 7% higher than the 41 900 BPSD
(2 095 000 tons/year) feedrate as a result of volume expansion due to hydrogenation.
The unconverted ebullated-bed vacuum residue rate is 6.4 KBPSD (320 000 tons/year) and is immediately blended with the 19.2 KBPSD (970 000 tons/year) of bypassed straight run atmospheric residue to insure that the mixture is stable. The straight bitumen residue has been demonstrated to be an excellent solvent for maintaining stability of high conversion ebullated-bed unconverted residue. The total hydrogen consumption in the ebullated-bed reactor unit is 78.9 MM SCFD (million standard cubic feet/day, 93 092 m3/h) and can be obtained via steam methane reforming or gasification of a suitable heavy process stream.

Table 3: SCO Yield Units Feed SCO
Total BPSD 100 000 103 860 (Tons/year) (5 000 00 (5 195 000 0) Yield on Crude V% 103.86 Gravity API 9.3 20.0 Sulfur W% 4.29 2.31 Nitrogen W% 0.40 0.31 Conradson Carbon Residue W% 13.6 6.2 Nickel + Vanadium WPPm 290 100 Distillation C4¨ 350 F(C4¨ 177 C) V% 8.7 350 ¨ 650 F (177 ¨ 343 C) V% 17.6 30.0 650 ¨ 975 F (343 ¨ 524 V% 31.8 43.7 C) 975 F+ (524 C +) V% 50.6 17.6 Viscosity @7 C cSt <350 The final SCO product is a blend of the bypassed straight run atmospheric residue, the overheads from the distillation units (AGO and VGO), the full range ebullated-bed products and all available butanes. Table 3 shows the components of the final SCO
blend and important inspections; the heavy crude feedstock used for the example is also shown for comparison. The SCO rate is 103.9 KBPSD (5 195 000 tons/year) with 20.0 API gravity and 2.3 W% sulfur. The typical Canadian pipeline viscosity is met.
The SCO contains 17.6 V% material boiling greater than 975 F (524 C), compared to io 50.6 V% in the heavy crude. The SCO liquid yield as a percentage of the crude rate is 103.9 Wa.

This example illustrates the second embodiment of the invention. A flowrate of BPSD (15 000 000 tons/year) of bitumen is processed in the example. The rate does not include the light diluent which is used to transport the crude from the field. The bitumen is fed to an atmospheric still which produces the light diluent (returned to the field), 43 400 BPSD (2 170 000 tons/year) of straight run atmospheric gas oil (SRAGO), and 256 600 BPSD (12 830 000 tons/year) of atmospheric residue. The atmospheric residue is sent to the vacuum fractionator to produce a vacuum residue stream (167 500 BPSD (8 375 000 tons/year)) along with 89 100 BPSD (4455 000 tons/year) io straight run vacuum gas oil (SRVGO) stream. The SRAGO and SRVGO are routed to traditional fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units, respectively.
These values and other flowrates are shown in Table 4, The vacuum residue stream from the vacuum fractionator Is split between an ebullated-bed hydroconversion unit and a solvent deasphalting unit. The split is determined by attaining a hydrogen-balanced plant. In this example, of the total 167 500 BPSD
(8 375 000 tons/year) of straight run vacuum residue, 134 000 BPSD (6 700 000 tons/year) is routed to the first ebullated-bed reactor system and 33 500 BPSD

(1 675 000 tons/year) is routed to the SDA Unit.
The feedrate to the vacuum residue ebullated-bed unit is 134 000 BPSD (6 700 tons/year) and is the maximum rate for a specified maximum reactor size. This reactor size is normally limited by either fabrication or transportation constraints.
In a pre-invention processing configuration, the total heavy crude rate would be that equivalent to the 134 000 BPSD (6 700 000 tons/year) of vacuum residue or 240 000 BPSD
(12 000 000 tons/year). The invention results in the processing of an additional 60 000 BPSD (3 000 000 tons/year) of heavy crude (300 000 BPSD (15 000 000 tons/year)) versus 240 000 BPSD (12 000 000 tons/year), The vacuum residue ebullated-bed operates at a residue conversion level near the maximum desired for the particular feedstock. The ebullated-bed distillate and VG0 products require additional treatment and are sent to secondary hydrotreating / hydrocracking units. As shown in Table 4, the first ebullated-bed unit produces 54 700 BPSD (2 735 000 tons/year) of naphtha/diesel and 36 900 BPSD (1 845 000 tons/year) of VGO. The unconverted ebullated-bed vacuum residue (46 900 BPSD (2 345 000 tons/year)) is sent, along with the remaining straight run vacuum residue (33 500 BPSD (1 675 000 tons/year)), to a solvent deasphalting (SDA) Unit.
The total SDA Unit feedrate is 80 400 BPSD (4 020 000 tons/year). The feed is straight run vacuum residue (33 500 BPSD (1 675 000 tons/year)) and unconverted vacuum residue from the ebullated-bed unit (46 900 BPSD (2 345 000 tons/year)).
Typically a butane or pentane solvent is utilized in the SDA Unit to produce deasphalted oil (DAO) and an asphaltene stream, In this example, the SDA Unit produces 55 000 BPSD
(2 750 000 tons/year) of DAO and 25 400 BPSD (1 270 000 tons/year) of asphaltenes.
The DAO, which contains significant levels of CCR and metals could be blended into the SCO product but would result in a significant decrease in the SCO quality and resultant value. Instead, in the disclosed invention, the DAO is processed in a second ebullated-bed unit.
The second ebullated-bed reactor operates at high severity and converts over percent of the DAO into distillates and VGO. The resultant naphtha/diesel (32 BPSD (1 640 000 tons/year)) and VGO (18 700 BPSD (935 000 tons/year)) from this second ebullated-bed reactor system are sufficiently hydrogenated that they can be .. directly blended in the final SCO product. The unconverted DAO product is 7 BPSD (385 000 tons/year). This small quantity of unconverted DAO is routed to the gasification unit, Alternatively this small quantity of hydrogenated DAO could be added to the SCO product if the small decrease in SCO quality/value would indicate favorable plant economics.
.. The gasification plant is fed the SDA asphaltenes (25 400 BPSD (1 270 000 tons/year)) and the unconverted DAO (7 700 BPSD (385 000 tons/year)) from the second ebullated-bed reactor unit. This gasification complex produces 509 MMSCFD (600 m3/h) of hydrogen, which is that, required for the first and second ebullated-bed units and the fixed-bed hydrotreating/hydrocracking units. The gasification plant in this example does not produce any excess syngas, which could be utilized to produce power for the upgrading facilities. This could be included in the gasification design and would impact the vacuum residue split, SDA solvent utilized and SCO yield.
Table 4: Summary of Flowrates Stream Flowrate. kBPSD
(tons/year Crude Oil to Atmospheric Still 300.0 (15 000 000) Straight Run AGO to Hydrotreating 43.4 (2 170 000) Atmospheric Residue to Vacuum Still 256.6 (12 830 000) Straight Run VG0 to Hydrocracking 89.1 (4 455 000) Total Vacuum Residue 167.5 (8 375 000) Vacuum Residue to SDA Unit 33.5 (1 675 000) Vacuum Residue to First Ebullated-Bed 134.0 (6 700 000) Unit First Ebullated-Bed Unit Products Naphtha/Diesel to Hydrotreating 54.7 (2 735 000) VG0 to Hydrocracking 36.9 (1 845 000) Unconverted Residue to SDA Unit 46.9 (2 345 000) Total SDA Feed 80.4 (4 020 000) SDA DA0 to 2fici Ebullated-Bed Unit 55.0 (2 750 000) SDA Asphaltenes to Gasification 25.4 (1 270 000) Second Ebullated-Bed Unit Products Naphtha/Diesel to SCO 32.8 (1 640 000) VG to SCO 18.7 (935 000) Unconverted DA to Gasification 7.7 (385 000) Gasification Total Feed 33.0 (1 650 000) Table 5 shows the components of the final SCO blend and important inspections.
The SCO is comprised of the hydrotreating/hydrocracking effluents, the second ebullated-bed Cs ¨ 975 F (C5 ¨524 C) effluent and butanes at 1 V%. The SCO rate is 286 kBPSD (14 345 000 tons/year) with 33.2 API gravity and less than 0.1 W%
sulfur.
The SCO contains a high percentage of desirable mid-distillate boiling material (43.1 V%) and no material boiling greater than 975 F (524 C). The SCO liquid yield as a percentage of the crude rate is 95.6 V%. This is a high value when considering that a portion of the heavy crude/bitumen is utilized to produce the required hydrogen.
The maximization of crude and SCO rates for a maximum size primary upgrading unit .. (ebullated-bed) is a key element of the second embodiment. For a typical process configuration (pre-invention), all of the straight run vacuum residue would be processed in the vacuum residue ebullated-bed and the feedstock throughput would be significantly limited. The pre-invention SCO yield would be approximately 90 V%
versus the nearly 96 V% yield for the invention example.
Table 5: SCO Yield Units Value Naphtha/Diesel Hydrotreater Effluent kBPSD (Tons/year) 140.7 (7 035 000) (C5+) VG0 Hydrocracker Effluent (C5+) kBPSD (Tons/year) 91.9 (4 595 000) Second Ebullated-Bed Effluent (C5 kBPSD (Tons/year) 51.5 (2 575 000) 975 F) Total Hydrogen Requirement MMSCFD (mi/h ) 509 (600 553) Total SCO Including 1 V% Butanes kBPSD (Tons/year) 286.9 (14 345 000) Yield on Crude V% 95.6 SCO Gravity API 33.2 SCO Sulfur WPPm 600 SCO Distillation C4- 350 F(C4- 177 C) V% 18.3 350 - 650 F (177 - 343 C) V% 43.1 650 - 975 F (343 - 524 C) V% 38.6 Example 3 illustrates the processing configuration according the third embodiment where a portion of the AR stream bypasses the SDA and ebullated-bed units and all the DAO is processed in the ebullated-bed unit. Example 4 illustrates the processing configuration according the third embodiment where all the AR is processed in the SDA
unit, however a portion of the DAC) is bypassed around the ebullated-bed unit.

In this example, the same feedstock as in Example 1 is processed to produce a transportable SCO. A total of 100 000 BPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) of bitumen is processed utilizing the novel configuration disclosed herein. Inspections on the bitumen feedstock are shown in Table 1. The 100 000 BPSD (5000 000 tons/year) flowrate and bitumen inspections are net of the light diluent which is used to transport the heavy feedstock from the field. The objective of the processing configuration is to produce a maximum yield of stable, transportable SCO meeting Canadian pipeline specifications.
These specifications are API Gravity greater than 19 and a 7 C viscosity less than 350 cSt. The amount of bitumen atmospheric residue bypassed is determined by attaining the partially upgraded SCO specifications. In this example, 100 000 BPSD (5 tons/year) of total crude were processed in the crude still, 71.3% of the atmospheric residue is sent to vacuum fractionation and 28.7% of the atmospheric residue bypasses the processing units and is blended with the ebullated-bed products and eventually routed to final SCO. The crude still also produces 17 600 BPSD (880 000 tons/year) of AGO.
Based on the iterative calculation, 58 700 BPSD (2 935 000 tons/year) of the BPSD (4 120 000 tons/year) of total atmospheric residue from the bitumen is routed to the vacuum still to produce VG0 and a vacuum residue. The other portion of the atmospheric residue (23 700 BPSD (1185 000 tons/year)) bypasses the vacuum still and is routed to final SCO blending. The straight run AGO (17 600 BPSD (880 tons/year)) and VG0 (19 700 BPSD (985 000 tons/year)) are routed for blending into the final SCO product. Flowrates of the major streams are shown in Table 6.
This vacuum residue feedstream is thereafter sent to the Solvent Deasphalting Unit (SDA) to produce an asphaltene product (to fuel or gasification) and Deasphalted Oil (DAO) feedstream. The total SDA Unit feedrate is 39.0 KBPSD (1 950 000 tons/year).
Typically a pentane or similar solvent is utilized in the SDA Unit to maximize the yield of id DAO and minimize the asphaltene yield. In this example, the SDA Unit produces 27.0 KBPSD (1 350 000 tons/year) of DAO and 12.0 KBPSD (600 000 tons/year) of asphaltenes. The total DAO product, which contains significant CCR and metals, is sent to the ebullated-bed hydrocracking unit.
A gasification plant could be specified to process the SDA asphaltenes (12.0 KBPSD
is (600 000 tons/year)). This gasification plant produces 54.4 MMSCFD
(64185 m3/h) of hydrogen, which is that, required for the H-Oil Dc ebullated reactor Unit and can also produce power and/or medium BTU syngas for the upgrader and upstream resource recovery. This is particularly advantageous for a bitumen SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) operation. It is estimated for this example, that in addition to the zo required hydrogen, the gasification plant could produce 48 500 MM
Btu/Day (millions British thermal Unit/Day, 341 052 MW) of excess syngas.
The feedrate to the DAO ebullated-bed conversion unit is 27.0 KBPSD (1 350 000 tons/year). The DAO ebullated-bed operates at a residue conversion level of >
75 W%
which has been demonstrated for Western Canadian feedstocks. The products from 25 the ebullated-bed unit will contain a very low concentration of asphaltenes and will be stable. Prior research has demonstrated that the blend of ebullated-bed products and straight run bitumen is stable. The total hydrogen consumption in the ebullated-bed unit is 54.4 MM SCFD (64185 m3/h) and as discussed above, can be obtained via gasification of the SDA asphaltenes. The liquid product yields from the ebullated-bed unit are shown in Table 6 and sum to 29 200 BPSD (1 460 000 tons/year), 8%
higher than the 27 000 BPSD (1 350 000 tons/year) feedrate as a result of volume expansion due to hydrogenation.
The final SCO product is a blend of the bypassed atmospheric residue from the .. bitumen, the overheads from the distillation units, the ebullated-bed total liquid product and all available butanes. Table 7 shows the components of the final SCO blend and important inspections; the bitumen feedstock used for the example is also shown for comparison. The SCO rate is 90.8 KBPSD (4 540 000 tons/year) with 20.4 API
gravity and 2.5 W% sulfur. The typical Canadian pipeline viscosity is met. The SCO
contains ic .. 20.7 V% material boiling greater than 975 F (524 C), compared to 50.6 V% in the heavy crude. The SCO liquid yield as a percentage of the crude rate is 90.8 V%. This is a high value considering that a portion of the crude (i.e., the asphaltenes) utilized to produce the required hydrogen and upstream energy requirements.

=

Table 6: Example 3: Summary of Flowrates Basis: 100 KBPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) of Undiluted Bitumen Stream Flowrate.
kBPSD (tons/year) Bitumen to Crude Still 100.0 (5 000 000) AGO to SCO Blending 17.6 (880 000) Total Atmospheric Residue 82.4 (4 120 000) Atmospheric Residue Bypassed 23.7 (1185 000) Atmospheric Residue to Vacuum Still 58.7 (2 935 000) VG0 to SCO Blending 19.7 (985 000) Vacuum Residue to SDA Unit 39.0 (1 950 000) SDA Asphaltenes to Gasification or Fuel 12.0 (600 000) SDA DAC) to Ebullated-Bed Unit 27.0 (1 350 000) Ebullated-Bed Products (C5+) 29.2 (1 460 000) Naphtha 6.5 (325 000) Diesel 10.2 (510 000) VG0 8.2 (410 000) Unconverted Residue 4.3 (215 000) Total SCO 90.8 (4 540 000) Hydrogen Required, MMSCFD (0/h ) 54.4 (64185) Syngas Export from Gasifier, MMBtu/Day 48 500 (3410852) (MW) -33.
Table 7: Examples 3 and 4: SCO Yield Units Feed SCO SCO
Ex. 3 Ex. 4 Total SCO (BPSD) 100 000 90 837 85 220 Tons/yea 5 000 000 4 541 850 4 261 000 Yield on Crude V% 90.84 85.22 Gravity API 9.3 20.4 20.3 Sulfur W% 4.29 2.50 2.59 Nitrogen W% 0.40 0.24 0.20 Conradson Carbon W% 13.6 5,3 - 3.8 Residue Nickel + Vanadium Wppm 290 99 45 Distillation IBP - 350 F (IBP - V% 7.8 6.2 177 C) 350 - 650 F (177 - V% 17.6 30.6 29.6 343 C) 650 - 975 F (343 - 524 V% 31.8 40.9 42.0 C) 975 F+ (524 C +) V% 50,6 20.7 22,2 Viscosity @7 C cSt <350 <350 In this example, the same feedstock as in Example 1 (see Table 1) is processed to produce a transportable SCO. A total of 100 000 BPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) of bitumen or heavy oil crude was processed. The 100 000 BPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) flowrate and bitumen inspections are net of the light diluent which is used to transport the heavy feedstock from the field. The objective of the processing configuration is to produce a maximum yield of stable, transportable SCO meeting Canadian pipeline specifications. These specifications are API Gravity greater than 19 and a 7 C
viscosity less than 350 cSt. In this case, all of the bitumen is processed in the atmospheric still, vacuum still and SDA Unit. A portion of the SDA DAO product .. bypasses the ebullated-bed hydrocracking unit and is routed to SCO
blending. The amount of bypassed DAO is determined by attaining the partially upgraded SCO
specifications. In this example, 100 KBPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) of total crude were processed in the crude still, 53.3% of the SDA DAO is sent to the ebullated-bed unit and 46.7% of the DAO bypasses the ebullated-bed and is routed to SCO blending.
io Flowrates of the major streams are shown in Table 8. The crude still separates the 100 000 BPSD (5 000 000 tons/year) of bitumen into 17 600 BPSD (880 000 tons/year) of AGO and 82 400 BPSD (4 120 000 tons/year) of AR. The vacuum still is fed the entire AR stream and produces 27 700 BPSD (1 385 000 tons/year) of VG0 and 54 700 BPSD (2 735 000 tons/year) of vacuum residue. The entire vacuum residue product is fed to the SDA Unit.
The total SDA Unit feedrate is 54.7 KBPSD (2 735 000 tons/year). Typically a pentane solvent is utilized in the SDA Unit to produce deasphalted oil (DA0) and an asphaltene stream. In this example, the SDA Unit produces 37.9 KBPSD (1 895 000 tons/year) of DAO and 16.9 KBPSD (845 000 tons/year) of asphaltenes. A portion of the DAO is sent to a high conversion ebullated-bed hydroconversion unit. The other portion of the DAO bypasses the conversion unit and is routed to SCO blending. The split is determined by attaining partially upgraded SCO specifications of a minimum of gravity and a viscosity of less than 350 cSt at 7 C. In this example, 100 KBPSD
(5 000 000 tons/year) of total crude are processed, 37.9 KBPSD (1 895 000 tons/year) of DAO are produced in the SDA Unit; 20.2 KBPSD (1 010 000 tons/year) is sent to a H-Oil Dc ebullated-bed reactor Unit and 17.7 KBPSD (885 000 tons/year) bypasses the H-Oil pc ebullated-bed reactor Unit and is sent for blending into the final synthetic crude oil product.

The gasification plant can be specified to process the SDA asphaltenes (16.9 KBPSD
(845 000 tons/year)). This gasification plant produces 40.5 MMSCFD (47 785 m3/h) of hydrogen, which is that, required for the H-Oil DC ebullated-bed reactor Unit and can also produce power and/or medium BTU syngas for the upgrader and upstream .. resource recovery. It is estimated for this example, that in addition to the required hydrogen, the gasification plant would produce 81 200 MM Btu/Day (570998 MW
(MegaWatts)) of excess syngas.
The feedrate to the DA0 ebullated-bed conversion unit 20.2 KBPSD (1 010 000 tons/year) and is near the maximum rate for a single train, single stage unit with a specified maximum reactor size. This reactor size is normally limited by either fabrication or transportation constraints. The ebullated-bed reactor unit operates at a residue conversion level > 80 W% which has been demonstrated for Western Canadian feedstocks. The products from ebullated-bed reactor unit will contain insignificant asphaltenes and will be stable. Prior research has demonstrated that the blend of H-1.5 Oil Dc. products and straight run bitumen or heavy oil components is extremely stable.
The total hydrogen consumption in the ebullated-bed reactor Unit is 40.5 MM
SCFD (47 785 m3/h) and can be obtained via gasification of the SDA asphaltenes.
The final SCO product is a blend of the bypassed DAO, the overheads from the distillation units (VG0 and AGO), the H-Oil DC C5+ total product and all available butanes. Table 7 shows the components of the final SCO blend and important inspections; the heavy crude feedstock used for the example is also shown. The SCO
rate is 85.2 KBPSD (4 261 000 tons/year) with 20.3 API gravity and 2.6 W%
sulfur.
The typical Canadian pipeline viscosity is met. The SCO contains 22.2 V%
material boiling greater than 975 F (524 C), compared to 50.6 V% in the heavy crude.
The SCO liquid yield as a percentage of the crude rate is 85.2 V%. This is a high value considering that a portion of the crude is utilized to produce the required hydrogen and upstream energy requirements.

..
, Table 8: Example 4: Summary of Flowrates Basis: 100 KBPSD (5000 000 tons/year) of Undiluted Bitumen Stream Flowrate, kBPSD
(tonsivear) Bitumen to Crude Still 100.0 (5 000 000) AGO to SCO Blending 17.6 (880 000) Atmospheric Residue to Vacuum Still 82.4 (4 120 000) VG0 to SCO Blending 27.7 (1 385 000) Vacuum Residue to SDA Unit 54.7 (2 735 000) SDA Asphaltenes to Gasification or Fuel 16.9 (845 000) SDA DAO 37.9 (1 895 000) DA0 to SCO (Bypass) 17.7 (885 000) DA0 to Ebullated-Bed Unit 20.2 (1 010 000) ' Ebullated-Bed Products 21.8 (1 090 000) Naphtha 4.8 (240 000) Diesel 7.7 (385 000) VG0 6.2 (310 000) Unconverted Residue 3.2 (160 000) Total SCO 85.2 (4 260 000) Hydrogen Required, MMSCFD (mJ/h) 40.5 (47 785) Syngas Export from Gasifier, MM Btu/Day 81 200 (570 998) (MW) The invention described herein has been disclosed in terms of specific embodiments and applications. However, these details are not meant to be limiting and other embodiments, in light of this teaching, would be obvious to persons skilled in the art.
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the drawings and descriptions are illustrative of the principles of the invention.

Claims (17)

1. A process for converting high percentages of heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks and producing a high yield of SCO comprising:
a) feeding a bitumen or heavy oil feedstock having an API gravity less than 15 , sulfur content of greater than 3 W%, and a vacuum residue content of greater than 35 W% to a crude still to provide a light diluent, a straight run atmospheric residue stream and a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream; and b) feeding said straight run atmospheric residue stream to a vacuum still to create a straight run vacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream;
and c) feeding a portion of the straight run vacuum residue stream and a hydrogen stream to a first ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrack the vacuum residue and create an unconverted vacuum residue stream and a distillate and vacuum gas oil stream;
and d) feeding said unconverted vacuum residue stream and the straight run vacuum residue that was not processed in said first ebullated-bed reactor system to a C3 or heavier solvent deasphalting unit to create a deasphalted oil stream and an asphaltene stream;
and e) feeding said deasphalted oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a second ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrack the deasphalted oil and create a distillate stream, a vacuum gas oil stream, and an unconverted deasphalted oil stream; and f) feeding said distillate and vacuum gas oil stream from said first ebullated-bed reactor system from step c), along with said straight run vacuum gas oil stream and said straight run atmospheric gas oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a series of hydrotreatment and hydrocracking reactors to create a hydrotreated C5+ product; and g) blending said hydrotreated C5+ product from step f), said distillate stream and said vacuum gas oil stream from step e) to create a synthetic crude oil having at least a 19° API gravity and a viscosity at 7°C less than 350 cSt; and h) feeding said asphaltene stream from step d) plus said unconverted DAO
stream from step e) to a gasification complex to produce the required hydrogen for steps c), e) and f).

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the overall volumetric synthetic crude oil yield rate as a fraction of heavy oil or bitumen but not including diluent feedrate is greater than 90%.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the overall volumetric synthetic crude oil yield rate as a fraction of heavy oil or bitumen but not including diluent feedrate is greater than 95%.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein the residue conversion percentage in step c) is greater than 50% wt.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the residue conversion percentage in step c) is greater than 60% wt.

6. The process of claim 1 wherein the deasphalted oil conversion on a vacuum residue basis in step e) is greater than 70% wt.

7. The process of claim 1 wherein the deasphalted oil conversion on a vacuum residue basis in step e) is greater than 80% wt

8. The process of claim 1 wherein the deasphalted oil conversion on a vacuum residue basis in step e) is greater than 90% wt.

9. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of the atmospheric residue stream from step a) bypasses step b) and is thereafter fed into the solvent deasphalter of step d) along with the said straight run vacuum residue streams.

10. The process of claim 1 wherein between 0 and 80 percent of said straight run vacuum residue stream from step b) bypasses said first ebullated-bed reactor system in step c) and is sent directly to the solvent deasphalting unit in step d).

11. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of said distillate stream from step e) is not included in the synthetic crude oil product.

12. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of the vacuum gas oil stream from step e) is not included in the synthetic crude oil product.

13. The process of claim 1 wherein the unconverted deasphalted oil stream from step e) is included in the synthetic crude oil of step g).

14. The process of claim 1 wherein the gasification complex in step h) also provides power for internal usage or is exported.

15. The process of claim 1 wherein the gasification complex in step h) produces a synthetic gas which can thereafter be utilized to generate steam for upstream oil production.

16. The process of claim 1 wherein the straight run distillates and vacuum gas from steps a) and b) and the conversion distillates and VGO from step c) are blended directly into the SCO product and are not processed in step f).

17. The process of claim 1 wherein butanes which are created by the first ebullated-bed reactor system, the second ebullated-bed reactor system, or the series of hydrotreatment and hydrocracking reactors are blended in step h) at greater than one volume percent with said hydrotreated C5+ product from step f), said distillate stream and said vacuum gas oil stream from step e) to create a synthetic crude oil.