Extraction of Hydrocarbons from Crude Oil Tank Bottom Sludges using Supercritical Ethane

Posgraduate student in the Postgraduate Program at the Instituto Mexicano del Petro´leo.

Abstract

A custom‐built, solvent recirculating, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) apparatus was used to study the extraction of hydrocarbons from a crude oil tank bottom sludge (COTBS) with supercritical ethane. The SFE experiments were carried out varying the pressure (10 MPa and 17.20 MPa) and temperature (35°C and 65°C). The yield of the extracted hydrocarbon fraction increased with increase in extraction pressure at constant temperature, and decreased with increase in extraction temperature at constant pressure. The maximum extraction yield was obtained at the pressure and temperature conditions that lead to the highest solvent density. The extracted hydrocarbon fraction was a significantly upgraded liquid relative to the original untreated COTBS.

Keywords:

• Supercritical fluid extraction
• ethane
• crude oil tank bottom sludges
• hydrocarbons recovery

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo under Research Projects D.00158, D.00345, D.00406, I.00282, and I.00348. The authors thank Ms. Yolanda Figueroa, Ms. Antonieta Pérez, the late Mr. Raúl Bocanegra‐Sánchez, and Dr. Diego Zaragoza for their valuable technical assistance. M. A. Ávila‐Chávez thanks both the Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo and CONACyT (México) for a grant to pursue Posgraduate Studies.

Notes

Posgraduate student in the Postgraduate Program at the Instituto Mexicano del Petro´leo.