Reactive plasma upgrade of squalane - a heavy oil simulant

TL;DRAbstract

U.S. light crude oil production has steadily declined over the last two decades. However, huge known heavy oil deposits in the North American continent remain largely untapped. In the past 10 years, the API gravity of crude oils has been decreasing by about 0.17% per year, and the sulfur content has been increasing by about 0.027% per year. As the API gravity of crude oil decreases, there will be an urgent need for economically viable new technologies to upgrade the heavy oil to a high API gravity feed stock for the refineries. The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory is investigating an innovative plasma process to upgrade heavy oil and refinery residuum. This paper will present some of the results and the implications of this technology for heavy oil upgrade and conversion.

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