Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 2013, 3, 46-55
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/aces.2013.34A1007 Published Online October 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/aces)
Heavy Crude Oil Upgrading: Jazmin Crude
Jesús Alirio Carrillo*, Laura Milena Corredor
Ecopetrol S. A: Refining and Petrochemical, Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Received July 17, 2013; revised August 20, 2013; accepted August 27, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Jesús Alirio Carrillo, Laura Milena Corredor. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Com-
mons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work
is properly cited.
ABSTRACT
The Jazmin crude oil is located at the heart of Middle Magdalena in Colombia. It is heavy and sour crude oil with 43
wt.% of vacuum bottoms. It cannot be processed at the conventional refinery without being mixed with other lighter
crudes, and should be upgraded to produ ce synth etic crude with h igher concentration of distillates an d lower acidity and
carbon content. In this paper eight upgrading alternatives are presented. The alternatives include the processing of the
crude, reduced crud e and vacuu m botto ms of the Jazmin crude oil using the following technologies: Distillat ion, solvent
deasphalting, visbreaking, Delayed Coking, and Hydrotreating. The experiments were conducted at pilot scale, and
there were used standard analysis techniques such as ASTM. In this study it was found that Jazmine crude oil and its
heavy components produce high distillate yields when th ey were processed with thermal conversion processes. In addi-
tion those processes reduce the products acidity. Within the analyzed scheme the one corresponding to the visbreaking
of the crude oil and the Delayed Coking of the vacuum bottoms from the visbreaking is perhaps the most attractive,
giving 5.9 wt.% of gas, 78.2 wt.% of distillates and 15.9 wt.% of coke.
Keywords: Jazmin Crude; Upgrading; Visbreaking; Deasphalting; Coking; Thermal Conversion; Heavy Crude; Acidity
1. Introduction
The depletion in reserves of light and medium crude oils
has focused interest in heavy oils [1,2]. Furthermore,
there is currently high demand for 20˚ - 25˚ API quality
crude oil because the production of Maya and other
similar crude oils has been declining in recent years. Ex-
ports of Maya crude oil have decreased by about 1 mil-
lion of barrels per day over the past seven years [3].
Crude oils located in the Middle Magdalena region of
Colombia, such as Teca, Nare and Jazmín, are typically
viscous and therefore require diluents for their transport
by pipeline. They are considered as heavy crude oils.
These crude oils do not have high concentrations of coke
promoters, so they are sometimes mixed with a pool of
crudes suitable for submission to a conventional refining
process. However, they are characterized by high acidity
(NN > 3.9 mg KOH/g of oil), which is a problem for
transportation and refining. An important aspect of the
implementation of the thermal processes to acid cru des is
that they eliminates or substantially reduces its acidity [4,
5].
Heavy crude oils like Jazmin are cheaper and have
lower profits per barrel than conventional oil. However,
their refining margin cou ld be improved if they are prop-
erly handled. For such a purpose, the conventional proc-
esses are based on carbon rejection, hydrogen ad dition or
processes with both technologies [6-12]. Carbon reject
technologies includes processes such as visbreaking,
thermal cracking and coking while hydrogen addition
technologies are classified depending on the type of the
reactor used.
In the group of carbon reject technologies, delayed
coking and fluid-bed coking continue to be the major
process route for producing distillates from vacuum bot-
toms [13]. Delayed coking (DC) is a thermal process
which converts vacuum residue or other residue feed-
stocks into gas, light products and petroleum coke. DC
distillates have a large proportion of olefins which under
conditions of temperature, residence time and pollutants
tend to polymerize forming gums and degrade their qual-
ity. To control these reactions, the DC liquid effluents
should undergo hydrotreating processes which stabilize
them by the saturation of their double bonds. The coke
production ranges from 18 to 30 wt.% of the residual oil,
depending on the composition of the feedstock and the
operating conditions.
Fluid-bed coking is a continuous process where petro-
leum coke is combusted to provide process heat, avoid-
*Corresponding a uthor.
C
opyright © 2013 SciRes. ACES

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 47
ing the used of fuel or natural gas as used in DC. With
fluid-bed coking results three are lower coke yields,
higher liquid and gas production than with DC.
Visbreaking (VBR) is probably the lowest cost con-
version technology. It is a thermal cracking process at
low temperatures to reduce the viscosity of the feedstock
and produces gases, naphtha and fuel oil and in some
cases gas oils which can be used as feedstock for Fluid
Catalytic Cracking (FCC). Usually the VBR feedstock is
constituted by vacuum bottoms with CCR of 20 wt.% but
in some cases it consists of pitch with CCR of 40 wt.%.
Solvent deasphaltin g p rocess (SDP) is still hav ing h igh
importance in the wor ld [14-16]. SDP is a physical sepa-
ration process by means of a solvent. Its products are
deasphalted oil (DAO) and pitch or deasphalting bottoms
(DAB) rich in aromatics with high concentration of im-
purities such as metals (Ni, V), sulfur, asphaltenes and
Conradson carbon. The DAO can either be used for the
production of lube oil and paraffinic waxes or as feed-
stock for the FCC process or for the hydrocracking. The
DAB is used either to prepare asphalt or as feed to the
visbreaking process. Pitches like DAB had been gener-
ally expected to have processing problems in the delayed
Coker as unstable feeds due to the concentrated asphal-
tenes and double b onds.
Foster Wheeler had patented the integration of SDA
and DC and claimed that there was a synergistic benefit
from combining these two technologies that produced a
lower coke yield. The technology is marketed by Foster
Wheeler as the ASCOTSM process [16]. The effort to
improve these processes continues as it is shown in the
works of Bjoror O. for the precipitation of asphaltenes
from Athabasca bitumen using α,α,α-trifluorotoluene
[17].
2. State of the Art
Heavy crude oils are the alternative to supply refineries
in the world. At present heavy crud es of the Orinoco and
those from Canadian tar sands undergo upgrading proc-
esses to produce synthetic crude oils, which are already
commercialized [18]. The main problem for upgrading
heavy crude oils is their high concentration of carbon
within the vacuum bottoms, however, the heavy crude oil
from the Middle Magdalena despite being viscous have
low levels of coke promoters (Vacuum bottoms with
CCR 17.9 wt.%, and insoluble in n-C7 4.6 wt.%), which
made them suitable for either a process of Delayed Cok-
ing (DC) or hydrotreatment (HDT). Thermal processes
break down the molecules that cause acidity [17], so the
distillates of a Delayed Coking technology should pre-
sent low values of NN, compared with the same of the
original oil.
For crude oil vacuum bottoms handling, the processing
facilities installed at the conventional refinery allow the
production of asphalts for the pavement of the roads as
well as the production of fuel oil, diluting the vacuum
bottoms with appropriate solvents or by vacuum bottoms
visbreaking. However, the fuel oil consumption in the
world is going down and the refinery should be located
near shore to facilitate it shipping.
For the upgrading of these crudes different technolo-
gies are combined such as fractionation, SDP, thermal
cracking (DC and VBR), and HDT mainly. As a result of
the application of these technologies, relatively light
crudes with low levels of vacuum bottoms, high concen-
trations of middle distillates and stable diesel, and low
sulfur concentratio ns, low NN, and low nitrogen concen-
tration are obtained. Th ese characteristics allow their use
as part of the pool of crudes to a refinery and thus in-
crease middle distillates yields such as diesel and Jet.
3. Experimental
For the upgrading of Jazmin crude oil, operational
schemes that combine commercial technologies, u sing as
raw material either crude oil or reduced crude or vacuum
bottoms were studied. These cuts were obtained by Jaz-
min crude oil ASTM distillation. The distillation yields
and the properties of the Jazmin crude oil are given in the
Table 1, column 2. The yields of refined cuts are: at-
mospheric distillates 19.6 wt.%, and vacuum distillates
35.1 wt.%, so the amount of vacuum bottoms are 45.3
wt.%.
The runs were carried out at pilot plants designed and
built in ECOPETROL-ICP [19-22]. The analyses were
performed following ASTM methods in the laboratories
of ECOPETROL-ICP, certified by ISO 9001.
The operating conditions used in the pilot plants were:
1) For Delayed Coking: load 2000 g, temperature
510˚C, pres su r e 10 psi g and r un time of 2 h.
2) For Visbreaking: temperature 480˚C and residence
time 60 seconds.
3) For Solvent Deasphalting: Solvent/Feed ratio was
6/1 vol/vol, the bottom temperature 60˚C and the top
temperature 100˚C. The solvent used for deasphalting
was nC4.
The analyzed operational schemes for the upgrading of
the Jazmin crude oil were:
1) Processing of the crude:
a) Visbreaking (VBR) of the crude and Delayed Cok-
ing (DC) of the Visbreaked vacuum bottoms.
b) nC4 Crude Deasphalting and DC of its De metallized
oil (DMO), and
c) nC4 Crude Deasphalting and DC of the bottoms
from Deasphalting (DAB).
2) Processing of the reduced crude:
a) nC4 Solvent deasphalting of the reduced crude and
DC of the bottoms from deasphalting, and
b) Delayed Coking of the reduced crude.

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 48
Table 1. Alternatives for the upgrading of the crude Jazmín.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Visbreaking Deasphalting and DC of the DMO Deasphalting and DC of
the DAB
Atmospheric
Distillation Crude Visbreaking DC of the
visbreaking
bottoms
VB of the
crude, and
DC of the
bottoms from
the VB
Crude
Deasphalting
DC of
the
DMO
Deasphalting
and DC of the
DMO
DC of
the
DAB
Deasphalting
and DC of the
DAB
Gases 2.14 12.7 5.9 10.5 8.2 6.6 1.5
Naphthas 12.3 18.9 14.3 19.0 12.2 16.8 2.2
Jet 2.54 1.7 8.3 2.6 11.0 7.0 8.2 1.1
Diesel 7.18 24.9 12.5 26.3 18.0 11.5 14.3 1.9
AGO 9.92 11.3 11.8 12.6 17.0 10.9 14.5 1.9
Vacuum
distillation
LGO 12.18 12.4 13.3 13.8 16.0 10.2 16.6 2.2
MGO 12.85 13.3 1.4 12.0 7.7 15.3 2.0
HGO 10.03 4.8 16.5 6.6 5.0 3.2 11.1 1.5
Vacuum
bottoms 45.3 29.4 5.4 0.6 2.0 1.3 3.2 0.4
DMO 78 78
DAB 22 22.0
DC
Distillates 36.8 82.1 60.5
Coke 1.1 50.5 15.9 7.4 5.8 32.9 7.2
Total 100 100 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0100.0 100.0 100.0
DC—Delayed Coking; V B—Visbreaking; DMO—Demetallized Oil; DAB—Deasphalter bo ttoms.
3) Processing of the vacuum bottoms:
a) Delayed coking of the vacuum bottoms.
b) nC4 Deasphalting of the vacuum bottoms, and DC
of the deasphalti ng bot t oms.
c) Visbreaking of the va cuum bottoms.
4. Results and Analysis
4.1. Processing of Crude Jazmín
For the upgrading of the Jazmín crude the schemes pre-
sented in the Table 1 were considered:
4.1.1. Visbre a ki ng of th e Crude and Delayed Coking
of the Visbreaked Vacuum Bottoms
In this scheme, the crude Jazmín is subjected to the vis-
breaking process (column 3 of Tabl e 1), and the vis-
breaked vacuum bottoms corresponding to 29.4 wt.% of
the crude oil are subjected to DC.
In the column 2 of Ta b l e 1 is shown the composition
of Jazmín crude oil; column 3 shows the yields of vis-
breaked crude. It is clear that the achieved conversion in
the visbreaking process of the crude is high as the vac-
uum bottoms are reduced from 45.3 wt.% in the virgin
crude to 29.4 wt.% in the visbreaked crude. That means a
conversion of 35.1 wt.%. Moreover, vacuum distillates
are reduced from 35.1 wt.% to 17.2 wt.%. That means a
conversion of 51 wt.%. As a result of this conversion
atmospheric distillates are increased from 19.6 wt.% to
50.2 wt.%.
In the fourth column Table 1 in bold are given the

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 49
yields corresponding to the DC of the visbreaked vacuum
bottoms, and in normal is given the simulated distillation
of the DC distillates. Although the feedsto ck to the DC is
a visbreaked product, the coke production is relatively
low and corresponds to 50.5 wt.%.
In the fifth column of Table 1 is given the composi-
tion of the synthetic crude corresponding to the studied
scheme. The yield of diesel is quiet high, 26.3 wt.%, of
which most is produc ed in the visbreaking. In addition, it
was found that the vacuum bottoms from the visbreaked
Jazmín crude have a relatively high conversion capacity
in the DC process. The yield of coke regarding the vis-
breaked vacuum bottoms is 50.5 wt.% and regarding the
synthetic crude of the scheme is 15.9 wt.% (columns 4
and 5).
This is a scheme that reduces the amount of diluents
for the transport and it requires low investment in up-
grading technology, because DC processes only 29.4
wt.% of the crude oil. Both distillates (from the Vis-
breaking and from DC) are unstable and required treat-
ment with hydrogen.
As reference for comparison in the first column of the
Table 2 are given the properties of the vacuum bottoms
from the virgin crude. The promoters of coke increases
significantly in the visbreaked vacuum bottoms as fol-
lows: CCR goes from 17.9 wt.% to 34.9 wt.% (an in-
crease of 95 wt.%), and asphaltenes from the SARA
analysis goes from 14.5 wt.% to 19.4 wt.% (Table 2).
For this reason, the coke yield in the process of vis-
breaked vacuum bottoms DC is high, and reaches 50.5
wt.%, a value that agrees with the rule of thumb on ex-
pected coke (1.5 × CCR = 52.4 % m).
Another important aspect of this scheme is the acidity
reduction as it is shown in the case of the vacuum bot-
toms. In the crude oil vacuum bottoms NN was 3.93 mg
KOH/g of oil, and in the visbreaked va cuum botto ms was
0.8 mg KOH/g of oil. That result confirms that thermal
processes reduce the acidity of the feedstock.
4.1.2. nC4 Crude Deasph alting an d De layed Coki ng of
the Demetallized Oil (DMO)
The yields of nC4 crude oil Deasphalting are 78.0 wt.%
of DMO and 22.0 wt.% of bottoms (DAB, Table 1, col-
umn 6). Within the same table, in the column 7 in bold
the DC yields are given (gas: 10.5 wt.%, distillates: 82.1
wt.%, and coke: 7.4 wt.%), which totalize 100%. The
others results correspond to the simulated distillation of
the DC distillates, which also correspond to 100%. Be-
cause the promoters of coke have been removed from the
feed in the previous process of Deasphalting, coke pro-
duction in the last process is only 7.4 wt.%. The CCR in
the feedstock to the DC process is 4.4 wt.% as can be
seen from Table 2, so the amount of coke is 1.6 times de
amount of CCR in the feedstock. The sum of Jet and
Diesel is 23.8 wt.% and the yield of naphtha is 15.6 wt.%.
Within the distillates, the yield of atmospheric distillates
is 65 wt.% and the yield of vacuum distillates is 33.0
wt.%.
In the consolidate of the synthetic crude is shown a
coke production of 5.8 wt.% regarding to the original
crude (column 8 of Table 1), which is a rather low value
for the upgrading schemes, however, it should be taking
in account the production of 22.0 wt.% of bottoms from
deasphalting (DAB), with which the bottoms yield gives
a total of 27.8 wt.% respect to the crude oil. DC distil-
lates should be processed in HDT for their stabilization.
This is a scheme of high production of naphtha and
high-capacity o f the upgrading.
4.1.3. nC4 Crude Oil Deasphalting and Delayed
Coking of the Bottoms from the Deasphalting
The yields from the DC of the deasphalting bottoms are
presented in the column 9 of Table 1 and the composi-
tion of the consolidated synthetic crude is given in the
column 10. Coke production in the DC of the deasphalt-
ing bottoms is 32.9 wt.%, which is a rather low value
considering that the DC feed correspond to the bottoms
from the Deasphalting, however, acco rding to the rule of
thumb, the expected cok e yield is 1.5 * CCR in the feed-
stock, It means 30 wt.%.
In the consolidated scheme the coke yield is 7.2 wt.%
and the main product is the DMO with a yield of 78 wt.%
(column 10).
This is the scheme that produces the less quantity of
solids (coke or bottoms from the Deasphalting process).
It is also a low investment process with an average con-
version, providing feed to the FCC process. DC distil-
lates require hydrotreating.
4.2. Processing of the Reduced Jazmín Crude
370˚C+
The reduced crude is 80.4 wt.% of the whole crude. The
analyzed schemes are (Table 3):
1) nC4 Solvent deasphalting of the reduced crude and
DC of the bottoms from Deasphalting, and
2) Delayed Coking of the reduced crude.
The product quality of the studied schemes is pre-
sented in the Table 4.
4.2.1. nC4 Sol vent Deasphalting of the Reduced Crude
and DC of the Deasphalter Bottoms
In the column 2 of Table 3 in bold are given the yields of
the Deasphalting process, and the others results corre-
spond to the DMO composition. In the column 3 the
composition of the bottoms from the Deasphalting proc-
ess is given. In the column 4 the yields of the DC of the
deasphalter bottoms are given. In the column 5 the com-
position of the synthetic crude is given.
Regarding reduced crude, the DMO yield is 69.5 wt.%

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 50
Table 2. Quality of the products from the upgrading of the crude Jazmín.
Vacuum
Bottoms Visbreaked Vacuum
Bottoms DC of VBR vacuum bottoms DMO DAB DC of DMO DC of DAB
Density at 5˚C, g/cm3 1.0262 1.0745 0.9395 0.9684 1.049 0.92 0.925
API 6.3 0.1 19 3.3 21.3
CCR, wt.% 17.9 34.9 4.9 4.4 20 2.2 1.97
Sulphur, wt.% 1.7 2.1 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.646
Ashes, wt.% - 0.458
Ca, ppm 2666.0 1128 54.4 1109
Ni, ppm 130.7 213 17.379 214.88
V, ppm 167.27 243 15.684 280.7
Na, ppm 38.5 29
Ni + V, ppm 298.0 456 33 496
Refractive index 1.5184
i-nC7, wt.% 4.6 25.7 16.25
i-nC5, wt.% 11.3 32.3 36.07
Viscosity-1, cP 30800 @100˚C 225000 @120˚C 33
Viscosity-2, cP 4950 @120˚C 69500 @130˚C 82 @80˚C
Basic N, wt.% 0.284 0.4 0.2 0.124 0.389 0.11 0.18
Total N, ppm 7451 1.2 6130 3679 5302
N.N, mg KOH/g 3.93 0.8
SARA analysis, wt.%
S 8.9 5.3
A 55.2 45.3
R 21.4 30.0
A 14.5
19.4
VBR—Visbreaked; DC—Delayed Coking; DMO—Demetallized Oil; D AB—Deasphalter bottoms.
and the deasphalting bottoms yields are 30.5 wt.%.
Within the DMO, 37 wt.% are vacuum bottoms. This
result corresponds to low concentration of CCR within
the feedstock (11.2 wt.%). Within de DAB, the main
component correspond to the vacuum bottoms (75 wt.%,
column 3 of Tabl e 3).
The Delayed Coking of the DAB produces 31.7 wt.%
of coke, which is a low value consid ering that the feed is
deasphalter bottoms and this is due to the low concentra-
tion of coke promoters within th e feed stock (CCR = 26.3
wt.%, Table 4) and to the fact that many of the compo-
nents of the CCR are soluble in cyclohexane [23]. Ac-
cording to the rule of thumb, the expected coke is 39.45
wt.%.
In the consolidated scheme (synthetic crude oil—col-
umn 5 of Table 3), coke production i s only 7.8 wt .%.
The main processes in this scheme are physical sepa-
rations, and the conversion is very low and corresponds
to the DC process. The upgrading costs in this scheme
are low. This is because in the DC is processed only 21.2
wt.% of the feedstock. The vacuum bottoms are reduced
from 45.3 wt.% to 21.5 wt.%. That is a substantial reduc-
tion. DC distillates must be subjected to hydrotreating.
The metals concentration within the DMO is normal for
the FCC feedstock or for its Hydrocracking.
4.2.2. Delayed Coking of Reduced Cru de
In the column 6 of Table 3 in bold are given the delayed
Coking yields of the reduced crude, and the other results
correspond to the co mposition of the DC distillated.
In this alternative the production of coke is very low
(11.7 wt.% with respect to the virgin crude—Table 3,

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 51
Table 3. Alternatives for the upgrading of the Jazmín reduced crude oil.
Reduced Crude
DMO, 69.5 wt.%
DMO, 69.5 wt.%
Reduced crude is 80.4 wt.% of the original crude
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Deasphalting of the reduced crude and DC of the bottoms
from the Deasphalting DC of the reduced crude
Deasphalting
and DMO
composition
Bottoms from
Deasphalting
Delayed
Coking of
the DAB
Sintetic
Crude from
the scheme
DC of the
reduced
crude
Synthetic
crude from
the scheme
Atmospheric distillation Crude
Gases 9.2 2.3 12.1 9.7
Naphtahs 10.6 2.6 20.0 11.7
Jet 2.5
4.1 3.6 8.0 7.3
Diesel 7.2 7.1 8.9 11.0 13.7
AGO 9.9 9.0 3.0 8.3 17.0 14.0 18.2
Vacuum Destilation
LGO 12.2 16.0 4.0 8.3 11.0 18.0 10.6
MGO 12.9 26.0 9.0 11.2 17.3 16.0 9.4
HGO 10.0 12.0 9.0 5.9 8.2 13.0 7.7
Vacuum bottoms 45.3 37.0 75.0 3.5 21.5 0.0 0.0
DC Distillates 73.4
DMO 69.5
Bottoms from Deasphalting 30.5
Coke
31.7 7.8 14.5 11.7
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
DC—Delayed Coking; D M O — d emetalized Oil; D A B—Bottoms from Deasphalting.
column 7), and the co nversion is high, especially to mid-
dle distillates (Jet + Diesel), which goes from 9.7 wt.% in
the original oil to 21.0 wt.% in the synthetic crude. The
vacuum bottoms are totally converted. According to the
rule of thumb, the expected coke was 1.5 * CCR within
the feedstock, it means 16.8 wt.%, and the explanation
for this behavior consist in the fact that many compo-
nents of the CCR are soluble in cyclohexane [23].
This alternative produces high yields of atmospheric
distillates; it is costly because it involves processing all
reduced crude, which accounts 80.4 wt.% of the whole
crude. Distillates from DC must be subjected to hy-
drotreating.
When comparing the quality of the studied schemes
products (Table 4), we observed expected behaviors. The
Ni + V concentration within the DMO is 31.2 ppm, so we
should consider it hydro treating to ade quate feed to cata-
lytic cracking process.
4.3. Processing of the Vacuum Bottoms from the
Jazmin Crude Oil
The analyzed schemes were (Table 5):
1) Delayed coking of the vacuum bottoms.
2) nC4 Deasphalting of the vacuum bottoms, and DC
of the deasphalter bottoms.
3) Visbreaking of the vacuum bottoms.
In the column 3 of Table 5 in bold the main products
of DC are shown: gas, distillates and coke, and the other
results correspond to the simulated distillation of distil-

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 52
Table 4. Quality of the products from the upgrading of re duc ed c rude.
Reduced crude (RC) DMO DAB DC of DAB DC of RC
Density @ 15˚C, g/cm3 1.0086 0.9817 1.0608 0.9314 0.936
API 8.7 1.8 20.3 19.6
CCR, wt.% 11.2 4.7 26.3 2.99 3.6
Sulphur, wt.% 2.25 1.6 2.3 1.533 1.5
Ca, ppm 345 41.5 1541
Ni, ppm 79 17.0 195.78
V, ppm 93 14.2 253.25
Na, ppm 69
Ni + V, ppm 31.2 449.0
Refractive Index 1.5269
insolubles in nC7, wt.% 2.6 11.8
insoluubles in nC5, wt.% 6.2 23
Viscosity-1, cP 577 a 120˚C 92
Viscosity-2, cP 79200 a 135˚C 270
Basic N, wt.% 0. 218 0.1 0.4 0.2 0.17
N Total, ppm 6387 3828 5414 5570
N. N, mg KOH/g 7.4
Pour point, ˚C 42
SARA analysis, wt% DMO-Demetallized Oil
S 18.5 34.9 DAB-Bottoms from
A 54 51.1 deasphalting
R 25.1 14 DC-Delayed Coking
A 2.4 RC-Reduced crude
lates from DC. Column 4 shows the synthetic crude from
this scheme before hydrotreating and column 5 the same
products after Hydrotreating. Columns 6 to 9 present data
from the scheme of vacuum bottoms deasphalting and
DC of deasphalter bottoms. Column 9 shows the syn-
thetic crude from this scheme.
Column 10 presents the data corresp onding to the Vis-
breaking of the vacuum bottoms and column 11 shows
the synthetic crude regarding to this scheme.
The composition of all synthetic crude is given con-
sidering not only the products of the given scheme of
processing, but also include the components of oil which
do not fall in the transformations given.
4.3.1. Delayed Coking of the Vacuum Bo tt oms
(Table 5)
Coke production in relation to vacuum bottoms is of 22.2
wt.% (column 3), which is a fairly low value for this type
of feed. This is due to the low concentration of coke
precursors. The insolubles in n-C7 are completely soluble
in cyclohexane [23]. The CCR in the vacuum bottoms is
17.9 wt.%, and the insolubles in n-C7 are 4.6 wt.% (Ta-
ble 6). The typical values of CCR in the vacuum bottoms
are above 25 wt.% (for the Castilla crude oil they are 37
wt.%).
In the consolidated for crude oil, the coke production
is only 10.1 wt.%, a value similar to the production of
coke in the consolidated scheme of DC of reduced crude.
In the synthetic crude the production of naphtha is 6.2
wt.% and the yield of middle distillates (Jet and Diesel)
is increased from 9.7 wt.% to 16.8 wt.% (column 5). Hy-
drogen treatments applied to DC distillates do not sig-
nificantly alter their composition (columns 4 and 5 of
Table 6).
This is a scheme of high conversion where only vac-
uum bottoms are processed; thereby the size of the up-

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 53
Table 5. Vacuum bottoms upgrading alternatives.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Delayed Coking (DC) of the
vacuum bottoms Deasphalting of vacuum bottoms and DC of DAB Visbreaking (VR) of the vacuum bottoms
Atmospheric
Distillation Crude oil DC Synthetic crude
Synthetic
crude +
HDT Deas-phalting DAB DC of
DAB Consolidated VR Synthetic Crude
Gases 9.9 4.5 4.5 9.5 2.8 2.0 0.9
Naphtha 20.0 6.2 5.5 19.0 3.1 5.7 2.6
Jet 2.5 9.0 5.3 5.3 2.5 8.0 3.9 0.9 2.9
Diesel 7.2 12.0 10.9 11.5 7.2 13.0 9.3 3.7 8.9
AGO 9.9
12.0 13.6 13.9 9.9 11.0 11.7 4.7 12.1
Vacuum
distillation
LGO 12.2 13.0 16.2 16.8 12.2 14.0 14.5 3.5 13.8
MGO 12.9
14.0 17.2 17.5 12.9 2.0 13.0 15.0 12.2 18.4
HGO 10.0 20.0 16.2 15.0 10.0 10.0 14.0 12.3 15.7 17.1
Vacuum
bottoms 45.3 88.0 8.0 1.3 49.7 22.5
DMO
36.0 16.3
DAB 64.0
DC distillates 67.9 57.0
Coke
22.2 10.1 10.1 33.5 9.7 1.8 0.8
Total 100
100 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
DC—Delayed Coking; DAB—Bottmos from Deasphalting; VR—Visbreaking; HDT—Hydrotreating.
grader is reduced with respect to the processing of re-
duced crude.
4.3.2. nC4 Deasphalting of the Vacuum Bottoms and
DC of the Bottoms from the Deasphalter
(Table 5)
The DMO yield with respect to the vacuum bottoms is
36.0 wt.% and the yield of deasphalter bottoms is 64.0
wt.%. This low yield of DMO is an indicative of the high
aromaticity of this type of vacuum bottoms, which is
confirmed by the SARA analysis (Table 6), where the
sum of aromatics + Resins + asphaltenes is 91.1 wt.%.
This type of crude shou ld not be processed in a low con-
version scheme because the fuel oil production is quiet
high. The deasphalter bottoms yield with respect to the
crude oil is 29.0 wt.%, a very high value.
Within the DC of the DAB are produced 9.5 wt.% of
gases, 57.0 wt.% of distillates and 33.5 wt.% of coke
(Table 5, Column 8), and within the distillates 51 .0 wt.%
correspond to atmospheric distillates and 41.0 wt.% to
the vacuum distillates.
In the synthetic crude produced in this scheme (col-
umn 9), is observed that this scheme produces very low
quantity of residues, only 9.7 wt.%, but the DMO con-
centrates very high amount of metals (282 ppm, Table 6)
and this is neither g ood for the FCC feedstock no t for the
Hydrocracking.
4.3.3. Visbrea k i ng of the Va cuum B ot to m s (Ta bl e 5)
The Visbreaking of the vacuum bottoms produces a
semi-synthetic crude oil in which th e conc entratio n of the
cut corresponding to the vacuum bottoms is significantly
reduced. It changes from 45.3 wt.% in the original crude
oil to 22.5 wt.% in the semi-synthetic crude oil. On the
other hand, the gas oils are increased from 45.0 wt.% in
the raw material to 61.3 wt.% in the semi-synthetic crude
(columns 2 and 11). The yield of coke is normal for this
type of process.
The V isbreak ing bo ttoms in the Table 6 correspond to
liquid effluents from the Visbreaking process, excluding
naphtha.
This scheme is an ideal arrangement for a low conver-

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 54
Table 6. Properties of the products from the vacuum bottoms upgrading.
Vacuum
Bottoms DC of vacuum bottoms DMO DAB Visbreaking bottoms Vacuum bottoms from VBR
Density @ 15˚C, g/cm3 1.0262 0.9227 1.0284 1.0314 1.0459 1.0745
API 6.3 21.8 6 5.6 3.7 0.1
CCR, wt.% 17.9 4 18.3 25.8 25.9 34.9
Sulphur, wt.% 1.73 1.64 2.0 2.1 2.1 2.1
Ca, ppm 2666.0 852.5 337 982 1128
Ni, ppm 130.7 124.7 111.7 153 212.7
V, ppm 167.3 157.8 158.6 200 242.8
Na, ppm 38.5 33.2 43.5 32 29.4
Ni + V, ppm 298 282 270 354 455
i-nC7, wt.% 4.63 9.16 17.3 25.7
i-nC5, wt% 11.27 21.43 20.9 32.3
Viscosity-1, cP 30800 a 100˚C 322000 @80˚C4780 @120˚C 0
Viscosity-2, cP 4950 a 120˚C 30100 @100˚C1880 @140˚C 225000
Básico N, wt.% 0.284 0.186 0.284 0.312 0.373 0.441
N Total, ppm 7451 6681 1.21
N.N, mg KOH/g 3.93 2.88 0.8
Pour point, ˚C 51 126
Flash point, ˚C 173 323
SARA analysis, wt.%
S 8.9 15.1 5.3
A 55.2 45.3 45.3
R 21.4 22.7 30.0
A 14.5 12.4 19.4
DC—Delayed Coking; D M O — D e metallized oil; V BR—Visbreaking.
sion refinery.
5. Cost of Technologies for
Evaluated Schemes
The calculations were performed with the values pre-
sented in Table 7 and on the basis of 50.000 BOPD.
In the Table 8 are given the values of the different
technological alternatives for the processing 50 KBOPD
of crude Jazmín. The lower cost alternative is the Vis-
breaking of the Vacuum, bottoms and Hydrotreating of
the distillates obtained from the VBR, followed by the
alternatives of Visbreaking of the crude and DC of the
DAB.
6. Conclusions
1) Jazmin crude oil and its heavy components are sub-
jected to thermal processes with excellent results due to
the low concentration of coke promoters. Coke produc-
tion in relation to va cuum bottoms is of 22.2 wt.%, which
is a fairly low value for this type of feed. This is due to
the low concentration of coke precursors. The insolubles
in n-C7 are completely soluble in cyclohexane.
2) The scheme corresponding to the visbreaking of the
crude oil and the DC of the vacuum bottoms from the
visbreaking is perhaps the most attractive for its applica-
tion because it has low capital cost and solves from the
beginning the problem of crude acidity.
3) The best scheme to use depends on the needs of
each refinery and its installed facilities.
4) Of the studied schemes, the less expensive because
of the used technology is the Visbreaking of the vacuum
bottoms, and Hydrotreating of the liquid effluents to sta-
bilize all future products.

J. A. CARRILLO, L. M. CORREDOR 55
Table 7. Technology costs.
Value of the
technology Taken
value
US$/Bl US$/Bl
Atmospheric Distillation 1000
Atmospheric and Vacuum Distillation 750 - 2200 2000
Deasphalting 1850 - 8000 4000
Delayed Coking 5800 - 12,000 8000
Hidrotreating 3000 - 3500 3000
Visbreaking 1800 - 3500 3000
Crude for the process, bl/day 50,000
Table 8. Investment cost of the proposed schemes.
Economic impact of the studied upgrading
alternatives of the Jazmi n crude MMUS$
1 Visbreaking (VR) of the vacuum bottoms and
HDT of the distillates from V R 236
2 Visbreaking of the crude and Delayed Coking of
the Visbreaked vacuum bottoms 275
3 Deasphalting of the crude 199˚C+ and DC of the
bottoms obtained in the deasphalting. 319
4 DC o f the Vacuum bottoms
and HDT of DC distillates 327
5 n- C4 D e a s p h a l t i n g o f t h e v ac u um bottoms; DC
of the DAB, and HDT of the distillates from DC 331
6 n-C4 Deasphalting of the reduced crude and DC
of the Deasphalted bottoms 334
7 Delayed Coking of reduced crude 478
8 Deasphalting of crude 199˚C+
and DC of its DMO 608
5) Thermal upgrading schemes not only increase dis-
tillates yield and reject carbon, but also reduce th e acidity
of the products.
REFERENCES
[1] http://www.pacificrubiales.com/operations/colombia/prod
uction.html
[2] http://www.pacificrubiales.com/operations/colombia/prod
uction.html
[3] J. Plotkin, “Exploiting Unconventional Heavy Oils,” PTQ-
Q1, 2007, pp. 65-67.
[4] M. Aldescu, “High-Quality Products from Sour Heavy
Crudes,” PTQ Q3, 2012, pp. 115-120.
[5] J. A. Carrillo, L. G. Garzón, L. M. Corredor and H. J.
Picon, “Visbreaking of Jazmin Crude Oil: Transport Al-
ternatives,” Preprints of Papers-American Chemical So-
ciety, Division of Fuel Chemistry, Vol. 52, No. 2, 2007,
pp.
[6] M. G. Bienstock, et al., Patent USA 6086751, 2000.
[7] M. Aldescu, “Challenges of Heavy Crude Processing,”
Sour/Heavy, 2012, pp. 127-132. www.ptq.com
[8] L. Castañeda, J. Muñoz and J. Ancheyta, “Combined
Process Schemes for Upgrading of Heavy Petroleum,”
Fuel, Vol. 100, 2012, pp. 110-127.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.02.022
[9] R. Martínez-Palou, et al., “Transportation of Heavy and
Extra-Heavy Crude Oil by Pipeline: A Review,” Journal
of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 75, No. 3-4,
2001, pp. 274-282.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2010.11.020
[10] M. Rana, et al., “A Review of Recent Advances on Proc-
ess Technologies for Upgrading of Heavy Oils and Re-
sidua,” Fuel, Vol. 86, No. 9, 2007, pp. 1216-1231.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2006.08.004
[11] J. Le Page, S. Chatila and M. Davidson, “Residue and
Heavy Oil Processing,” Technip, Paris, 1992.
[12] M. Gray, “Upgrading Petroleum Residues and Heavy
Oils,” Marcel-Dekker, 1994.
[13] J. Speight, “Chapter 5: Thermal Cracking The Refinery of
the Future, and Hydrotreating (HDT),” 2011, pp. 147-
180.
[14] R. Radmanesh, E. Chan and M. Gray, “Modeling of Mass
Transfer and Thermal Cracking during the Coking of
Athabasca Residues,” Chemical Engineering Science, Vol.
63, No. 6, pp. 1683-1691.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2007.11.019
[15] J. Gearhart and L. Garwin, “Resid-Extraction Process
Offers Flexibility,” Oil & Gas Journal, Vol. 74, No. 24,
1976, pp. 63-66.
[16] R. Newcomer and R. Soltau, “Heavy Oil Extraction ups
FCC Feed at First Three-Stage Grass Roots ROSE Unit,
in Kansas,” Oil & Gas Journal, Vol. 80, No. 26, 1982, pp.
108-110.
[17] J. S. Plotkin, “Exploiting Unconventional Heavy Oils,”
PTQ Q1, 2007, pp. 65-67.
[18] J. Elliott and M. McGrath, “Cost Effective Conversion of
Heavy Residues,” March, 2009, pp. 51-58.
[19] “Liquid-Liquid in Continuous Extraction Pilot Plant,”
Gaceta 448 del 9 del Julio, 1997, p. 216.
[20] Patent Colombian, “Visbreaking Pilot Plant,” Gaceta 444
del 7 de Mayo, 1997, p. 200.
[21] J. A. Carrillo, J. Cáceres, G. Vela and H. Bueno, “Sol-
ventes de Desasfaltado,” CT&F, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1996, pp.
67-76.
[22] J. A. Carrillo and F. Pantoja, “Evaluación de Fondos de
vacÍo en la Viscorreducción,” Ingeniería Química, Mayo.
1996, pp. 97-103.
[23] J. A. Carrillo, H. J. Picón, L. G. Garzón and L. M.
Corredor, “Delayed Coking: Castilla and Jazmín Crude
oils,” ACS National Meeting, Fuel Chemistry, Boston, 23
August 2007.