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Ceramic Membrane Process for Upgrading Vacuum Residual Oil--CeraMem Corporation, 12 Clematis Avenue, Waltham, MA  02453; 781-899-4495

Dr. Michael C. J. Bradford, Principal Investigator

Dr. Robert Goldsmith, Business Official

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-00ER82970

Amount:  $100,000

 

The world supply of light crudes is diminishing, and refiners are processing increasing amounts of heavy crudes.  Distillation of crude oils to products typically produces a “vacuum residual oil” which is a low value product.  New low-cost processes to upgrade such heavy oils to transportation fuels would be of value to refiners and promote more effective utilization of crude oil.  In this program a novel membrane process (ultrafiltration) with a new innovative ceramic membrane will be developed to upgrade residual oils.  The process will remove asphaltenes and metals from the heavy oil, producing a product that can be processed by various catalytic upgrading processes with greatly reduced catalyst coking and poisoning.  A residual oil sample will be treated in lab scale membrane modules to develop optimum levels of various processing parameters for maximizing membrane flux and degree of purification.  An investment analysis will be performed to determine if increased value of the deasphalted, demetallized would t provide refiners a high return on investment.

 

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:  Upgrading residual oils to liquid fuel pool products.  Other potential applications of the membrane and process include catalyst fines removal from Fischer-Tropsch wax product (indirect liquefaction) and purification of waste lubrication oils.