JP2017125100A - Water heat treatment device and water heat treatment method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a water heat treatment device and a water heat treatment method capable of enhancing quality of produced synthetic base oil (modified oil) by reducing abrasion or blockage of a water heat treatment device and make stable continuous treatments available.SOLUTION: The water heat treatment device has a water heat treatment tank for water heat treating heavy fuel oil with using supercritical water, a gas and liquid separator for separating a reaction mixture after the water heat treatment to gas and liquid and a pressure reduction module for reducing pressure of the liquid after separation to ordinary pressure and the pressure reduction module has a plurality of pressure reduction valves or orifices which are connected in series.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a hydrothermal treatment apparatus and a hydrothermal treatment method, and more particularly, to a hydrothermal treatment apparatus using supercritical water and a heavy oil reforming method using the hydrothermal treatment apparatus.

  Oil sands are being developed as part of a stable energy supply. Oil sand is a bitumen-rich sandstone that contains a large amount of highly viscous heavy oil. After the crude oil generated deep in the ground rises and accumulates near the surface, it is volatilized by biodegradation of water and bacteria. It is thought that the high viscosity was lost.

  In order to produce crude oil from the oil sand, it is necessary to first recover heavy oil from the oil sand after mining, which is expensive to process. In addition, the recovered heavy oil has high viscosity and specific gravity and cannot be transported by pipeline as it is, so a process to refine synthetic crude oil by reforming heavy hydrocarbons (reforming process) is required. It becomes. For these reasons, the value of oil sands as a petroleum resource was not very high until the 21st century.

  However, since the 2000s, diversity has been demanded for the stable supply of energy, and oil sands have attracted attention as one of the oil resources. A large amount of oil sands has been confirmed in Venezuela, Canada, and development is progressing mainly in Canada, especially in a large oil sands deposit in Alberta. Currently, the majority of crude oil produced in Canada comes from oil sands.

  In addition, although the definition of heavy oil is not clear and varies depending on the proponent, in this specification, heavy oil and bitumen are collectively referred to as heavy oil.

  As a method for recovering heavy oil from the oil sand, EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) is used in the same manner as a normal method for recovering crude oil. EOR is roughly classified into a heating method in which thermal energy is input to the oil sand reservoir and a non-heating method in which energy other than thermal energy is input.

  A typical heating method is a steam injection method. The steam injection method is to recover heavy oil by fluidizing bitumen with high-pressure steam. Non-heating methods (also referred to as Cold Production) include water flooding and carbon dioxide injection.

  At present, many oil sands deposits recover heavy oil by the non-heating method. However, since it is difficult to achieve a high recovery rate only with Cold Production, usually, steam injection is often performed after Cold Production. On the other hand, in an oil sand deposit that is not suitable for Cold Production, such as a shallow reservoir, the water vapor injection method is adopted from the beginning. For these reasons, it is considered that the steam injection method will become the mainstream in the future as a method for recovering heavy oil.

  The recovered heavy oil is subjected to the addition of a diluent (naphtha), a reforming process by a hydrothermal reaction, or the like for the purpose of reducing the viscosity.

Recently, as a reforming treatment of heavy oil, a method using a hydrothermal reaction using supercritical water has begun to be noticed and studied. This is because the oil sand production is rapidly increasing, and there are concerns about the shortage of diluents for diluting heavy oil and the burden of increased investment in reforming facilities. This is because there is a demand for a reforming process that is easy and can reduce the cost burden, and that is safe, has low CO ₂ emissions, and can reduce the environmental burden.

Supercritical water is water that is at a temperature and pressure conditions above the critical point (374 ° C., 218 atm), and is a highly reactive fluid that has both a liquid solvent effect and a gas diffusion effect. In the supercritical water fluid, the organic substance bond is decomposed, so that the organic substance can be reduced in molecular weight. Also, when oxygen is present in the fluid of supercritical water, the organic matter and oxygen are uniformly mixed, so that the oxidation reaction of the organic matter is promoted and can be decomposed into CO ₂ and water at a very high speed. Become.

  In the reforming treatment of heavy oil using supercritical water, supercritical water is used as a solvent, and thus the water separated from the treated synthetic crude oil (reformed oil) can be reused. Moreover, although heating and pressurizing means are essential elements, the apparatus can be made relatively simpler than conventional reforming apparatuses. In addition, since only water is used as the reaction solvent, the environmental impact of the reforming process itself is small. If the heat of the reaction mixture is recovered and used, the required energy of the entire reformer can be reduced. Recently, it has been studied to use heat efficiently by combining the steam injection method and the reforming process using supercritical water.

  As a heavy oil reforming process using supercritical water as described above, for example, in Patent Document 1, heavy oil is supplied vertically downward from the upper part of the reactor, and supercritical water is supplied from the lower part. Thus, a method for separating a light oil dissolved in supercritical water and a heavy oil not dissolved in the supercritical water by contacting the inside of the reactor has been proposed.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, when reforming heavy oil using supercritical water, the generation of coke from heavy oil, for example, can be suppressed by controlling the degree of thermal decomposition of heavy oil. Proposals have been made to operate the reformer under optimum conditions, such as by allowing the thermal decomposition to proceed as much as possible within the range, or by proceeding with thermal decomposition so that the kinematic viscosity of the heavy oil component is within the desired range. .

Japanese Patent No. 4171062 JP 2011-088964 A

  However, when the reforming process is performed continuously using supercritical water, the fluid to be treated (heavy oil) is pressurized and sent to the reaction tank, heated and reacted, and then cooled and decompressed. While repeatedly discharging the fluid (reformed oil), the reformer may cause wear of the high-pressure pump or pressure reducing mechanism, corrosion of the material due to supercritical water, clogging with solids in the fluid to be treated or reaction mixture, etc. There is a problem that occurs.

  Oil sand has a structure in which water and bitumen are contained in the pores of sandstone sand particles, so it basically prevents sand particles from entering the reformer, depending on the production method. It ’s difficult. Therefore, when the heavy oil of the oil sand is continuously processed using supercritical water, the wear and blockage of the reformer due to sand particles become a problem. In particular, wear of the reformer not only leads to an increase in the replacement cost of the device members, but also requires a caution because the stability of the reaction control is lowered and an emergency stop may be caused.

  Furthermore, during the reforming process, reaction intermediates and reaction products may remain in the reformer. Such reaction intermediates and reaction products cause contamination when re-heavy oiled. Contamination causes clogging and wear of the reformer, and there is a problem that the quality of the crude oil deteriorates when it is mixed with the generated synthetic crude oil (reformed oil). In particular, at the time of emergency stop due to overheating in the reformer, the inside of the system becomes high temperature and high pressure, so that water of the reaction medium and reaction intermediates and reaction products are easily separated and remain in the system. Moreover, an emergency stop of the reformer may lead to an accident such as ignition.

  The reforming of heavy oil recovered from oil sand with supercritical water is still in the development stage. The reforming apparatus (hydrothermal treatment apparatus) using supercritical water is divided into two types, a tube type and a vessel type, depending on the type of the reaction tank, but the above-mentioned problems are common.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-described circumstances, and reduces the wear and blockage of the hydrothermal treatment apparatus and enables stable continuous processing, thereby producing a synthetic crude oil (reformed oil) to be produced. An object is to provide a hydrothermal treatment apparatus and a hydrothermal treatment method capable of improving quality.

  In order to solve the above problems, first, the present invention includes a hydrothermal reaction tank for hydrothermally treating heavy oil using supercritical water, and a gas for separating the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment into a gas and a liquid. A hydrothermal treatment apparatus comprising a liquid separator and a decompression module that decompresses the separated liquid to normal pressure, the decompression module having a plurality of decompression valves or orifices connected in series (invention 1). .

  According to this invention (invention 1), the liquid after gas-liquid separation can be stepwise reduced to normal pressure by a plurality of pressure reducing valves or orifices connected in series, so that the pressure reducing valves constituting the pressure reducing module As a result, wear and clogging of the orifice and the orifice are reduced, and the hydrothermal treatment apparatus can be stably treated continuously, thereby improving the quality of the synthetic crude oil produced.

  In the said invention (invention 1), it is equipped with the pressure reduction unit which has the said several pressure reduction module connected in parallel, and the said pressure reduction unit is an operation | movement of these pressure reduction modules according to the grade of wear of each said pressure reduction module. It is preferable that the state can be switched (Invention 2).

  According to this invention (invention 2), since the decompression module to be used can be selected by switching the operation state of a plurality of decompression modules, even when there is a decompression module whose control becomes unstable due to wear, The operation of the entire decompression unit can be continued without stopping, and the production efficiency of synthetic crude oil is improved.

  In the said invention (invention 1 and 2), it is preferable to provide the solid-liquid separator which isolate | separates a solid substance from the heavy oil before the said hydrothermal treatment (invention 3).

  According to this invention (invention 3), since solids such as sand particles can be separated from heavy oil in advance before being supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank, wear and blockage of the hydrothermal reaction tank are reduced. be able to.

  In the said invention (invention 1-3), it is preferable that the said gas-liquid separator further has a function which isolate | separates solid from the reaction mixture after the said hydrothermal treatment, or a function which isolate | separates solid from the said liquid after the separation ( Invention 4).

  According to this invention (Invention 4), the solid contained in the reaction mixture after hydrothermal treatment or the solid contained in the liquid after gas-liquid separation can be separated before being supplied to the decompression module. The wear and blockage of the decompression module can be reduced, and the quality of the synthetic crude oil produced can be further improved.

  In the said invention (invention 1-4), it is preferable to provide the heat exchanger which performs heat exchange with the reaction mixture after the said hydrothermal treatment, and the water supplied to the said hydrothermal reaction tank (invention 5).

  According to this invention (invention 5), the water supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank can be heated by the thermal energy recovered from the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment, so that the energy required for the entire hydrothermal treatment apparatus is reduced. Therefore, the processing cost can be reduced.

  In the said invention (invention 1-5), it is preferable to provide the ignition prevention mechanism which prevents the ignition at the time of an emergency stop (invention 6).

  According to this invention (invention 6), since it is possible to prevent ignition when the hydrothermal treatment apparatus is stopped urgently due to overheating in the treatment system, it is possible to prevent accidents such as fires.

  Secondly, the present invention includes a hydrothermal treatment step of hydrothermally treating heavy oil using supercritical water, a gas-liquid separation step of separating the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment into gas and liquid, and the post-separation step A pressure reducing step of reducing the liquid to normal pressure, wherein the pressure reducing step uses a pressure reducing module having a plurality of pressure reducing valves or orifices connected in series to stepwise reduce the pressure of the separated liquid. A hydrothermal treatment method is provided (Invention 7).

  According to this invention (Invention 7), since the liquid after separation in the gas-liquid separation step can be stepwise reduced to normal pressure in the pressure reduction step, the wear of the pressure reduction valves and orifices constituting the pressure reduction module can be reduced. The blockage is reduced, the hydrothermal treatment apparatus can be stably treated continuously, and the quality of the synthetic crude oil produced can be improved.

  In the said invention (invention 7), the said decompression process uses the decompression unit which has the said several decompression module connected in parallel, According to the grade of wear of each said decompression module, the said several decompression module It is preferably performed by switching the operating state (Invention 8).

  According to this invention (invention 8), since the decompression module to be used can be selected by switching the operation state of the plurality of decompression modules, even when there is a decompression module whose control becomes unstable due to wear, The operation of the entire decompression unit can be continued without stopping, and the production efficiency of synthetic crude oil is improved.

  In the said invention (invention 7 and 8), it is preferable to provide the solid-liquid separation process which isolate | separates a solid substance from the heavy oil before the said hydrothermal treatment (invention 9).

  According to this invention (Invention 9), since the solids such as sand particles can be separated from the heavy oil in advance by the solid-liquid separation step before the hydrothermal treatment step, the subsequent hydrothermal treatment step is more efficient. Can be done.

  In the said invention (invention 7-9), it is preferable that the said gas-liquid separation process further has the process which isolate | separates solid from the reaction mixture after the said hydrothermal treatment, or the process which isolate | separates solid from the liquid after the said separation ( Invention 10).

  According to this invention (invention 10), since the solid contained in the reaction mixture after hydrothermal treatment or the solid contained in the liquid after gas-liquid separation can be separated before the decompression step, the subsequent decompression step Can be performed more efficiently, and the quality of the synthetic crude oil produced can be further improved.

  In the said invention (invention 7-10), it is preferable to provide the heat exchange process which performs heat exchange with the water used in the reaction mixture after the said hydrothermal treatment, and the said hydrothermal treatment process (invention 11).

  According to this invention (invention 11), the water used in the hydrothermal treatment process can be heated by the thermal energy recovered from the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment, so that the energy required for the entire reforming process can be reduced. It is possible to reduce the cost.

  In the said invention (invention 7-11), it is preferable to provide the ignition prevention process which prevents ignition at the time of an emergency stop (invention 12).

  According to this invention (invention 12), it is possible to prevent ignition at the time of emergency stop due to overheating in the processing system, so it is possible to prevent accidents such as fire.

  In the said invention (invention 7-12), it is preferable to provide the washing process which wash | cleans the inside of a processing system by supplying water at the time of an operation stop (invention 13).

  According to this invention (invention 13), since the inside of the processing system can be washed with water when the operation is stopped, wear and blockage in the processing system can be reduced, and it can be expected to prevent failure and the like.

  According to the hydrothermal treatment apparatus and hydrothermal treatment method of the present invention, the quality of the synthetic crude oil (reformed oil) produced is improved by reducing wear and blockage of the hydrothermal treatment apparatus and enabling stable continuous treatment. Can be made.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hydrothermal treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the hydrothermal treatment apparatus and hydrothermal treatment method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate. The embodiment described below is for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and does not limit the present invention.

[Hydrothermal treatment equipment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hydrothermal treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a solid-liquid separator 2, a hydrothermal reaction tank 3, a heat exchanger 4, a gas-solid liquid separator 5, a gas-phase decompression module 6, a decompression unit 7, an oil-water separator 8, An emergency receiving tank 9 and an ignition prevention mechanism 10 are mainly provided.

  The solid-liquid separator 2 separates and removes solids such as sand particles from the supplied heavy oil. Although the separation means of the solid-liquid separator 2 is not particularly limited, for example, centrifugation, filtration, sedimentation, pressing, etc. can be applied, and these may be used in combination. From the viewpoint of separation efficiency, a centrifugal separation method is preferred. By using the solid-liquid separator 2, wear and blockage of the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 due to sand particles or the like are reduced, and the processing efficiency of the entire hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 is improved.

  The hydrothermal reaction tank 3 hydrothermally heats heavy oil using supercritical water. The pressurized heavy oil is reduced in molecular weight and viscosity by the covalent bond being decomposed by the action of supercritical water in the hydrothermal reaction tank 3. Although the form of the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 is not particularly limited, for example, a tube type, a vessel type, or the like can be used, and these methods may be used in combination.

  The heat exchanger 4 performs heat exchange between the reaction mixture discharged from the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 and the water supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3. By using the heat exchanger 4, the water supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 can be heated, and at the same time, the reaction mixture discharged from the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 can be cooled. The energy required for the whole 1 can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the gas-solid-liquid separator 5 separates the reaction mixture supplied via the heat exchanger 4 into three phases, ie, a gas phase, a liquid phase, and a solid phase. After separating the reaction mixture into two phases of a gas phase and a liquid phase, the solid phase may be further separated from the liquid phase. The solid phase separation means is not particularly limited, and for example, precipitation separation by gravity, filtration separation on the liquid phase after separating the gas phase, and the like can be applied. The separated gas and liquid are continuously discharged from the supply line L7 and the supply line L8, respectively. The separated solid is collected at the bottom of the gas-solid-liquid separator 5 and is discharged to the outside through a valve or the like (not shown) when the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 is stopped. By using the gas-solid-liquid separator 5, the wear and blockage of the decompression unit 7 and the like due to the solid contained in the reaction mixture are reduced, and the quality of the synthetic crude oil produced is improved.

  The gas phase decompression module 6 decompresses the gas discharged from the gas-solid-liquid separator 5 to normal pressure. The decompression means of the gas-phase decompression module 6 is not particularly limited. For example, a configuration in which a plurality of decompression valves or orifices are connected in series can be applied. By using the gas phase decompression module 6, the high-pressure gas generated in the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 can be safely discharged after the pressure is reduced to normal pressure.

  The decompression unit 7 decompresses the liquid discharged from the gas-solid liquid separator 5 to normal pressure. In the present embodiment, the decompression unit 7 includes two liquid phase decompression modules 71 and 72 connected in parallel, and each liquid phase decompression module includes a plurality of decompression valves or orifices coupled in series. (Not shown).

  Each of the liquid phase decompression modules 71 and 72 has a function of decompressing a high-pressure liquid to normal pressure stepwise by a plurality of decompression valves or orifices connected in series. By using the decompression module having such a configuration, wear and blockage of the decompression valve, the orifice, and the like are reduced, and the entire hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 can be stably and continuously treated. The number of pressure reducing valves or orifices connected in series is not particularly limited as long as it is plural, but is preferably 3 to 5. If the number of pressure reducing valves or orifices is 2 or less, the effect of reducing wear or blockage of the pressure reducing valves or orifices is not sufficient. On the other hand, if it exceeds 5, it takes time to depressurize high-pressure liquid to normal pressure. Therefore, it is not preferable.

  The decompression unit 7 has a function of switching the operating state according to the degree of wear of each of the liquid phase decompression modules 71 and 72. By using the decompression unit having such a configuration, even when there is a decompression module whose control has become unstable due to wear, the operation can be continued without stopping the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1.

  The oil / water separator 8 separates the liquid after decompression discharged from the decompression unit 7 into reformed oil (synthetic crude oil) and waste water. The reformed oil separated by the oil / water separator 8 is recovered. The separated waste water may be reused.

  The emergency receiving tank 9 temporarily takes in and stores the high-temperature and high-pressure fluid existing in the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 or the like when the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 is stopped due to overheating in the processing system. Since the emergency receiving tank 9 is provided, the high-temperature and high-pressure fluid can be quickly removed from the processing system during an emergency stop, so that the reaction medium water and the reaction intermediate or reaction product remain separated. It is possible to prevent clogging and wear in the processing system due to.

  The ignition prevention mechanism 10 prevents ignition when the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 is stopped urgently due to overheating in the processing system. Although the ignition prevention means of the ignition prevention mechanism 10 is not particularly limited, for example, one that supplies carbon dioxide gas or water into the treatment system can be applied, and these may be used in combination. By providing the ignition prevention mechanism 10, not only the prevention of accidents such as fires but also the prevention of the release of harmful substances and the prevention of contamination in the treatment system including the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 can be expected.

[Hydrothermal treatment method]
Next, a hydrothermal treatment method for heavy oil using the hydrothermal treatment apparatus of the present embodiment as described above will be described.

  First, heavy oil recovered from the oil sand is supplied to the solid-liquid separator 2 from the supply line L1. The heavy oil supplied to the solid-liquid separator 2 separates and removes solids such as sand particles (solid-liquid separation step). The heavy oil from which the solid matter has been separated and removed is supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 through a supply line L3 by a high-pressure pump P1 provided on the same line.

  On the other hand, the water used in the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 is supplied to the heat exchanger 4 from the supply line L2. In the heat exchanger 4, heat exchange between the supplied water and the reaction mixture discharged from the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 described later is performed (heat exchange step). The water heated by the heat exchange process is supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 through a supply line L4 and by a high-pressure pump P2 provided on the line. The heavy oil and water may be independently supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 as in the present embodiment, or may be supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 after being mixed in advance. The mixing of the heavy oil and water may be performed by merging the supply lines (supply lines L3 and L4) to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3, or the heavy oil to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 and You may supply with water by using a double nozzle.

  Heat is supplied from the outside to the heavy oil and water supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank 3, and the temperature and pressure in the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 are higher than the critical point. As a result, the heavy oil is decomposed by the action of the water that has become supercritical water, resulting in a reaction mixture having a low molecular weight and a low viscosity (hydrothermal treatment step). The reaction mixture discharged from the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 is supplied to the heat exchanger 4 through the supply line L5, and is cooled by heat exchange with water (heat exchange step). The cooled reaction mixture is supplied to the gas-solid-liquid separator 5 via the supply line L6.

  The reaction mixture supplied to the gas-solid liquid separator 5 is separated into three phases of a gas phase, a liquid phase, and a solid phase (gas-solid liquid separation step). The separated gas is supplied to the gas phase decompression module 6 via the supply line L7. The separated liquid is supplied to the decompression unit 7 via the supply line L8. Both the separated gas and liquid are continuously discharged. Further, the separated solid is accumulated at the bottom of the gas-solid-liquid separator 5 and is discharged to the outside from a valve or the like (not shown) provided at the bottom of the gas-solid-liquid separator 5 when the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 is stopped. The

  The gas supplied to the gas phase decompression module 6 is decompressed to normal pressure and then discharged to the outside. The liquid supplied to the decompression unit 7 is decompressed stepwise to normal pressure by two liquid phase decompression modules 71 and 72 connected in parallel (decompression step). In addition, when one of the decompression modules becomes unstable due to wear, the operation can be continued without stopping the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 by switching the operation state of the decompression unit 7. The liquid after decompression is supplied to the oil / water separator 8 through the supply line L9.

  The liquid after decompression supplied to the oil / water separator 8 is separated into reformed oil (synthetic crude oil) and waste water. The separated reformed oil is recovered as synthetic crude oil, and the separated waste water is discharged to the outside.

  When the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 is urgently stopped due to overheating in the processing system, the high-temperature and high-pressure fluid existing in the hydrothermal reaction tank 3 or the like is temporarily taken in and stored in the emergency receiving tank 9. At this time, the ignition prevention mechanism 10 operates (ignition prevention process). By supplying carbon dioxide gas, water, or the like into the processing system by the ignition prevention mechanism 10, not only accidents such as fires are prevented, but also release of harmful substances is prevented.

  When the operation of the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 is stopped, cleaning of the processing system is performed by supplying water (cleaning process). The cleaning process is continued until only the water is supplied and the hydrothermal treatment apparatus 1 is operated, and the water quality (for example, TOC, SS, etc.) in the finally discharged water reaches a steady value. In addition, after decomposing | disassembling the hydrothermal processing apparatus 1, you may wash | clean with a chemical | medical agent etc. as needed. Further, the cleaning process may include a dirt determination process for determining the degree of dirt in the processing system. The dirt determination process can determine the degree of dirt from the time-dependent change in temperature of the pipe surface, pipe inner wall, and pipe center in the processing system, and the change in pressure control valve opening over time. It is possible to calculate the time.

  The present invention has been described above with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made.

  As described above, according to the hydrothermal treatment apparatus and hydrothermal treatment method of the present invention, the synthetic crude oil (reformation) produced by reducing wear and blockage of the hydrothermal treatment apparatus and enabling stable continuous treatment. The quality of the oil) can be improved, and a reforming process that is easy to operate and can reduce cost and environmental burden can be performed. Moreover, at the time of an emergency stop of the hydrothermal treatment apparatus, a fire prevention mechanism is activated to prevent a risk such as a fire or an accident.

  The present invention is useful as an apparatus and a method for efficiently and safely reforming heavy oil recovered from oil sand.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Hydrothermal treatment apparatus 2 ... Solid-liquid separator 3 ... Hydrothermal reaction tank 4 ... Heat exchanger 5 ... Gas-solid-liquid separator 6 ... Gas-phase decompression module 7 ... Decompression unit 71,72 ... Liquid-phase decompression module 8 ... Oil / water separator 9 ... Emergency receiving tank 10 ... Ignition prevention mechanism P1, P2 ... High pressure pumps L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, L7, L8, L9 ... Supply line

Claims (13)

A hydrothermal reaction tank that hydrothermally heats heavy oil using supercritical water;
A gas-liquid separator that separates the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment into a gas and a liquid;
A decompression module for decompressing the separated liquid to normal pressure,
The hydrothermal treatment apparatus in which the decompression module has a plurality of decompression valves or orifices connected in series. A decompression unit having a plurality of the decompression modules connected in parallel;
The hydrothermal treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the decompression unit is capable of switching operating states of the plurality of decompression modules according to the degree of wear of the decompression modules.   The hydrothermal treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a solid-liquid separator that separates solid matter from the heavy oil before the hydrothermal treatment.   The gas-liquid separator further has a function of separating a solid from the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment or a function of separating a solid from the liquid after the separation. Hydrothermal treatment equipment.   The hydrothermal treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment and water supplied to the hydrothermal reaction tank.   The hydrothermal treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising an ignition prevention mechanism that prevents ignition at an emergency stop. Hydrothermal treatment process of hydrothermally treating heavy oil using supercritical water;
A gas-liquid separation step of separating the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment into a gas and a liquid;
A pressure reducing step for reducing the pressure of the separated liquid to normal pressure,
The hydrothermal treatment method, wherein the depressurization step is performed by depressurizing the separated liquid stepwise using a depressurization module having a plurality of depressurization valves or orifices connected in series.   The depressurization step is performed by switching operation states of the plurality of decompression modules according to the degree of wear of each decompression module using a decompression unit having the plurality of decompression modules connected in parallel. Item 8. The hydrothermal treatment method according to Item 7.   The hydrothermal treatment method according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising a solid-liquid separation step of separating a solid from the heavy oil before the hydrothermal treatment.   The said gas-liquid separation process further has a process which isolate | separates solid from the reaction mixture after the said hydrothermal treatment, or a process which isolate | separates solid from the liquid after the said separation | separation. Hydrothermal treatment equipment.   The hydrothermal treatment method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, further comprising a heat exchange step of performing heat exchange between the reaction mixture after the hydrothermal treatment and water used in the hydrothermal treatment step.   The hydrothermal treatment method according to any one of claims 7 to 11, further comprising an ignition prevention step for preventing ignition at an emergency stop.   The hydrothermal treatment method according to any one of claims 7 to 12, further comprising a cleaning step of cleaning the inside of the processing system by supplying water when the operation is stopped.

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