SHALE OIL UPGRADING IN SUPERCRITICAL WATER SOLUTIONS

Abstract
A supercritical water/HCl system was studied for upgrading Paraho shale oil (SO) at 400–425°C. The key process parameters were water density (ρw) and HC1 loading. Increases in ρw increased the selectivity to distillate-range products at the expense of gas and coke products. Increases in ρw also enhanced the ability of HCl to catalyze N-removal. However, coke and gas make also increased with increases in HCl loading. Optimal or “best case” results and conditions were 897% N-removal and 75% distillate yield, at T = 425°C, ρw = 0.2 g/cc, and HCl/SO = 0.05g/g. The underlying chemical mechanisms appeared to involve SCF solvent cage effects and hcterolytic N-removal brought about by dissociation of HCl.

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