(586b) Additives for Reducing Coke Formation and Improving Efficiency in Heavy Oil Upgrading

The efficient upgrading of low-grade heavy oils is essential to meet growing global energy demands and to support the transition toward sustainable resource utilization. Among these feedstocks, vacuum residue (VR) presents significant challenges due to its high concentrations of asphaltenes and heteroatoms, which promote coke formation during both thermal and catalytic processes. This study focuses on the development and evaluation of tailored chemical additives designed to enhance the upgrading performance of heavy oil fractions. These additives aim to suppress coke formation and improve reaction efficiency, thereby offering a more effective and sustainable approach to heavy oil processing.

Specifically, this study investigates the thermal cracking behavior of VR using mixtures of two or more 2-ring aromatic compounds as additives. The variation in solubility parameters resulting from different aromatic compound combinations and their influence on reaction behavior were analyzed. The results demonstrate that the solubility parameter can be effectively tuned by adjusting the composition and characteristics of the 2-ring aromatic compounds. Consequently, it was confirmed that coke formation during VR thermal cracking can be mitigated through the strategic application of these tailored additives.

This study was supported by a grant from the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA) funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport [Project ID: RS-2022-00143402]. This work was also supported by the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) under project number KK2412-10.