INTENSIFICATION PROCESS OF CAVITATION TREATMENT OF THE HEAVY OIL FEEDSTOCK

The work examines the effect of saturating heavy petroleum feedstock with gas or low- boiling hydrocarbons before its cavitation treatment on the results of the impact. Air, hydrogen and propane-butane fractions were used for gas saturation by varying the gas content of the feedstock. Decalin was used as liquid hydrocarbons. ACavitation treatment was carried out in hydrodynamic mode on the apparatus "Donor-2", Atreatment pressure was 50 MPa, the number of exposure cycles varied from 1 to 5. It has been found that the saturation of the heavy oil feedstock with gas (addition ofAlow boiling hydrocarbons) prior to its cavitation treatment increases the effect of the exposure. This is manifested in a greater decrease in viscosity and density of raw materials, Aincreasing yield of fractions boiling up to 400 degrees & Scy;. . It is shown that increasing the gas content of the feedstock enhances the effect. It is established that the change in the fractional composition of feedstock during cavitation treatment is associated with a change in its group hydrocarbon composition. AsAa result of cavitation action in heavy oil feedstock, the content of resins and asphaltenes decreases and the content of "oils" increases. The results suggest that the decrease in viscosity of raw materials and the increase in the content of "oils" in them are associated with the destruction of complex structural units of the dispersed phase of raw materials. The differences in the results obtained when using hydrogenAand the propane-butane fraction are associated with the different solubility of these gases in liquid hydrocarbons. Differences in the composition of the "oils" ofAthe feedstock after its cavitation treatment and after treatment with pre-gas saturation were noted. For example, after the cavitation treatment of raw materials, the proportion of aromatic hydrocarbons in the "oils" increased, but if the preliminary gas saturation of the raw material was carried out, their content decreased. This suggests that at cavitation phenomena in the hydrocarbon medium not only cracking and isomerization reactions, but also alkylation and hydrogenation reactions take place, and propane-butane fractions and hydrogen act asAalkylating and hydrogenating agents.