• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.455-460
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• 2019

Hydrotreating catalysis refers to a various hydrogenation which saturate an unsaturated hydrocarbon, together with removing heteroatoms such as sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, and trace metals from different petroleum streams in a refinery. Most refineries include at least three hydrotreating units for upgrading naphtha, middle distillates, gas oils, intermediate process streams, and/or residue. Among them, hydrotreating catalysis for residue are the core of the process, because of its complexity. This article reviews recent progress in tackling the issues found in the upgrading residues by hydrotreating, focusing on the chemistry of hydrodemetallization (HDM) and hydrodesulfurization (HDS). We also discuss the composition and functions of hydrotreating catalysts, and we highlight areas for further improvement.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.340-360
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• 2010

The depletion of fossil fuels, ecological problems associated with $CO_2$ emissions climate change, growing world population, and future energy supplies are forcing the development of alternative resources for energy (heat and electricity), transport fuels and chemicals: the replacement of fossil resources with $CO_2$ neutral biomass. Several options exist to cover energy supplies of the future, including solar, wind, and water power; however, chemical carbon source can get from biomass only. When used in combination with environmental friend production and processing technology, the use of biomass can be seen as a sustainable alternative to conventional chemical feedstocks. The biorefinery concept is analogous to today's petroleum refinery, which produce multiple fuels and chemical products from petroleum. A biorefinery is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power, and value-added chemicals from biomass. Biorefinery is the co-production of a spectrum of bio-based products (food, feed, materials, and chemicals) and energy (fuels, power, and heat) from biomass [definition IEA Bioenergy Task 42]. By producing multiple products, a biorefinery takes advantage of the various components in biomass and their intermediates therefore maximizing the value derived from the biomass feedstocks. A biorefinery could, for example, produce one or several low-volume, but high-value, chemical or nutraceutical products and a low-value, but high-volume liquid transportation fuel such as biodiesel or bioethanol. Future biorefinery may play a major role in producing chemicals and materials as a bridge between agriculture and chemistry that are traditionally produced from petroleum. Industrial biotechnology is expected to significantly complement or replace the current petroleum-based industry and to play an important role.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.62-67
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• 2008

Oil shale is a sedimentary rock that contains organic compounds called kerogen that are released as petroleum-like liquids by retorting. In order to evalute oil shale as alternative oil resources, the physical properties of oil shale samples from US and Russia were investigated and Fischer assays were carried out. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that thermal degradation of oil shale consisted of two stage processes, with hydrocarbon release from kerogen followed by $CO_2$ release by carbonate decomposition. Organic compounds in oil shale have an high hydrogen/carbon ratio, and therefore liquid hydrocarbons could be obtained easily. Shale oil yields from Russian and US oil shales by Fischer assay were 12.7% and 18.5%, respectively. The density and boiling point of shale oils are higher than that of Middle East crude oil, indicating that further upgrading processes are necessary for refinery. On the other hands, sulfur contents are relatively low, and the amounts of Vanadium and Nickel are extremely small in shale oil. It was found that paraffins were rich in US shale oil while main components of Russian shale oil were oxygenated hydrocarbons.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2008

As conventional oil and gas reservoirs become depleted, interests for oil sands has rapidly increased in the last decade. Oil sands are mixture of bitumen, water, and host sediments of sand and clay. Most oil sand is unconsolidated sand that is held together by bitumen. Bitumen has hydrocarbon in situ viscosity of >10,000 centipoises (cP) at reservoir condition and has API gravity between $8-14^{\circ}$. The largest oil sand deposits are in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. The reverves are approximated at 1.7 trillion barrels of initial oil-in-place and 173 billion barrels of remaining established reserves. Alberta has a number of oil sands deposits which are grouped into three oil sand development areas - the Athabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River, with the largest current bitumen production from Athabasca. Principal oil sands deposits consist of the McMurray Fm and Wabiskaw Mbr in Athabasca area, the Gething and Bluesky formations in Peace River area, and relatively thin multi-reservoir deposits of McMurray, Clearwater, and Grand Rapid formations in Cold Lake area. The reservoir sediments were deposited in the foreland basin (Western Canada Sedimentary Basin) formed by collision between the Pacific and North America plates and the subsequent thrusting movements in the Mesozoic. The deposits are underlain by basement rocks of Paleozoic carbonates with highly variable topography. The oil sands deposits were formed during the Early Cretaceous transgression which occurred along the Cretaceous Interior Seaway in North America. The oil-sands-hosting McMurray and Wabiskaw deposits in the Athabasca area consist of the lower fluvial and the upper estuarine-offshore sediments, reflecting the broad and overall transgression. The deposits are characterized by facies heterogeneity of channelized reservoir sands and non-reservoir muds. Main reservoir bodies of the McMurray Formation are fluvial and estuarine channel-point bar complexes which are interbedded with fine-grained deposits formed in floodplain, tidal flat, and estuarine bay. The Wabiskaw deposits (basal member of the Clearwater Formation) commonly comprise sheet-shaped offshore muds and sands, but occasionally show deep-incision into the McMurray deposits, forming channelized reservoir sand bodies of oil sands. In Canada, bitumen of oil sands deposits is produced by surface mining or in-situ thermal recovery processes. Bitumen sands recovered by surface mining are changed into synthetic crude oil through extraction and upgrading processes. On the other hand, bitumen produced by in-situ thermal recovery is transported to refinery only through bitumen blending process. The in-situ thermal recovery technology is represented by Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage and Cyclic Steam Stimulation. These technologies are based on steam injection into bitumen sand reservoirs for increase in reservoir in-situ temperature and in bitumen mobility. In oil sands reservoirs, efficiency for steam propagation is controlled mainly by reservoir geology. Accordingly, understanding of geological factors and characteristics of oil sands reservoir deposits is prerequisite for well-designed development planning and effective bitumen production. As significant geological factors and characteristics in oil sands reservoir deposits, this study suggests (1) pay of bitumen sands and connectivity, (2) bitumen content and saturation, (3) geologic structure, (4) distribution of mud baffles and plugs, (5) thickness and lateral continuity of mud interbeds, (6) distribution of water-saturated sands, (7) distribution of gas-saturated sands, (8) direction of lateral accretion of point bar, (9) distribution of diagenetic layers and nodules, and (10) texture and fabric change within reservoir sand body.