Refined syncrude from bitumen and shale oils contains high levels of nitrogen (between 1.3 to 2.5%) which can lead to catalyst poisoning in catalytic refining operations, product instability and limited storage life, contamination during transportation in common crude oil pipelines, and excessive NOx production during combustion. The conventional method of removing nitrogen from the syncrude involves an extensive and expensive dehydrogenation process, and requires the use of expensive hydrogen. This project will develop an efficient and cost effective process that uses modified supercritical water SCW for removing nitrogen from organic model compounds and syncrude. The process not only has the potential to remove nitrogen but also can produce cleaner and higher quality liquid products with little or no use of expensive external hydrogen. During Phase I, nitrogen containing model compounds and refined syncrude will be treated with modified SCW at varying conditions, with or without catalyst, in order to determine the optimum conditions for the new process for denitrogenating syncrude. The results from the model compounds will provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanism of nitrogen removal from syncrude.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Supercritical water denitrogenation should provide an efficient and low cost process for the removal of nitrogen and other compounds from syncrude. It operates under less severe operating conditions and requires relatively less external hydrogen than conventional hydrodenitrogenation, because SCW produces H2 internally for the reaction. Another important benefit would be a reduction in U.S. reliance on foreign sources for its liquid hydrocarbon supply
