On perspectives of hydrogen and distillate fuel production by thermocatalytic processing of heavy residual oil

A two-stage thermocatalytic process for the upgrading of sulfur- and metal-containing heavy residual oil (HRO) with the production of hydrogen and distillate fuels is proposed. At the first stage the cracking (pyrolysis) of HRO in the presence iron oxide catalyst with the formation of distillate fuels and coke takes place. The coke reduces magnetite (Fe3O4) to ferrous oxide (FeO) and metallic iron which react with the steam at the second stage of the process to produce hydrogen and regenerate the original magnetite form of the catalyst. Unlike conventional methods of HRO utilization, the proposed process produces hydrogen, distillate fuels and valuable chemical feedstocks (aromatic and olefine hydrocarbons). The volume of hydrogen produced reaches up to 300-400 L/kg HRO.