Supercritical fluid extraction reveals resid properties

Abstract

The ability to process bottom-of-the-barrel fractions is strongly dependent on the chemistry of the feedstocks. But, because of the complexity of residue species, there is no standard analytical tool or data base that predicts bottom-of-the-barrel processibility. This article describes the use of a new tool, supercritical fluid extraction (SCFE), to prepare narrow, deep cuts of residua. The characterization of these narrow cuts provides new insights into the chemistry of the residue fraction.