Three new embodiments to the Chattanooga Process that convert or
upgrade oil bitumen, a combination of
oil sands and bitumen, a combination of sand and bitumen, and
oil shale to high grade low
sulfur (about 0.1 to 0.5 wt. %
sulfur, or less)
crude oil. The invention relates to a continuous process for producing
synthetic crude oil (SCO) from oil sand bitumen which has been extracted from under ground via in situ processes, or strip mined and extracted via
hot water extraction processes before upgrading. It can also apply to
kerogen extracted in situ from shale underground. The process involves treating the hot bitumen with sand from an extraction process or the hot oil from
kerogen with ground shale containing
kerogen in a fluid
bed reactor where the reactant and fluidizing medium is only
hydrogen. The invention also relates to a continuous process for producing
synthetic crude oil (SCO) from
oil shale kerogen. The invention relates to a continuous process for producing
synthetic crude oil from oil bearing material, e.g.,
oil shale or oil sand (
tar sand), through continuous process for producing synthetic
crude oil from bituminous oil sand (
tar sand) or shale. The process includes treating the oil sand (
tar sand) or shale to produce a fluidizable feed, feeding the fluidizable feed to a
fluidized bed reactor, and fluidizing and reacting the fluidizable feed in the
fluidized bed reactor with a feed of
hydrogen provided by a feed
stream having a
stream containing
hydrogen in a concentration greater than 90 vol % (90 vol %-100 vol % H2). In one embodiment, the invention relates to a continuous process which can recover
methane and ethane from a recycle hydrogen
stream. In one embodiment, the process can recover PSA
tail gas as feed to a hydrogen
plant. In one embodiment, the process can be operated to reduce or eliminate the requirement for externally provided
methane feed to the hydrogen
plant.