Kinetics of the upgrading of heavy oil in supercritical methanol

The crude oil upgrading was conducted in supercritical methanol (scMeOH) using batch reactors. The influence of temperature (653-693 K), reaction time (0-120 min) on product distribution was investigated. The crude oil was upgraded into the light oil with more saturate and less aromatic, resin in scMeOH. The higher the temperature, the faster the asphaltene was converted to coke. In FTIR analysis, scMeOH are presumed to participate in the upgrading of crude oil. To understand the crude oil upgrading process in scMeOH, four lump kinetic model including maltene, asphaltene, coke, and gas was proposed and kinetic parameters were estimated from the experimental data. The calculated rate constants and activation energies showed that the decomposition of asphaltene is the most dominant reaction in the upgrading of crude oil while the generation of coke is suppressed.