Influence of Resin on ART Processing

The Asphalt Residual Treatment Process (ART) has been studied. Some feedstocks consisting of vacuum gas oil and resin were used. The heat carrier adopted was produced by Chalin Refinery. The influence of resin on ART was examined in a fixed fluidized bed reactor. Chromatography, ~1H-NMR and EPR spectrometry were used to analyze the composition of feedstocks as well as products and to characterize the change of resin during the reaction.Experimental results showed that the average chemical formula for the resin can be expressed as C_(102)H_(147)S_(0.63)N_(1.68). These large molecules are formed by repeating unit of similar structure of different numbers of condensed aromatic rings with alkyl side chains or naphthene rings. The molecules of resin link each other to form a colloid with dispersed micelles.The feedstock was subjected to thermal cracking; with increasing resin content, the gas and coke yields increase, while that of liquid oil decreases, and the impurity removal percentage (removal of carbon, nickel, sulfur and nitrogen) increases. Addition of resin can promote the formation of free radicals and speed up the thermal cracking reaction.