How does the GHU compare to other competing technologies with respect to upgrading and also desulfurization?
The ability to analyze the hydrogen addition upgrader on a comparitive basis is based on their results and cost in comparison to others of which we have many tests showing our conversion reates from heavy oil to light oil to be above 95% compared with other competing technologies which convert around 65%. There is hardly any upgrading in the field except for the tar sands where they use a coking process which rejects 30% of the oil at say Syncrude where the carbon or coke is returned to the mine from where it was taken, returning as a contaminated waste. Genoil by comparison has almost no waste and is much more efficient. With respect to desuflurization, Genoil desulfurizes at a rate of 99.5%. at a cost which is 75% cheaper than the competitions.
What is the current production levels of heavy compared to light?
There are about 90 million barrels of oil coming out of the earth each day and 80 million of that is light oil, with 10 million barrels a day of heavy oil being produced. Two million of the ten is being upgraded almost entirely in the tar or oil sands of Alberta, and the remaining eight million barrels a day are being burned as bunker fuel for ships.
What is the annual depletion rate of oil total world oil production?
The depletion per year in the oil industry that has to be replaced is about eight million barrels a day.
What about the metals?
The metals affect the catalyst fouling rate and thus effects the run length of the reactor. For feed containing metals of up to 200 ppm, a run length of 1 year is achievable. For feed metal up to 400 ppm two interchangeable guard systems can be used ahead of the main reactor to achieve the same 1 year run.
What about the Salt?
The salt contents in the feed oil can be removed by installing a deslating and filtration system ahead of the reactors. There is no limitation on salt content.
What are the Feedstock Limitations?
Sulfur content should be in the range of 2-10% nitrogen content should be around 1%, CCR should be less than 15%.
How can one determine the value of Genoil’s upgrader?
Genoil’s technology is capable of earning a $50.00 spread on each barrel of oil upgraded. If one were to calculate how much value this could create, one could conservatively estimate that this technology will grow oil producing countries GDP in excess of 10% profits.
Can the GHU operate as a bottomless design?
Yes, with the integration of an IGCC unit some utilities maybe self supported such as hydrogen, fuel gas, power steam however for startup the GHU will still need support from an external source.
For a non bottomless design what are the consumables?
Boiler feed water, hydrogen, natural gas, electrical power, steam, fuel gas, cooling water, nitrogen, instrument air, plant air.
What is the footprint of the GHU? The GHU is about 250 meters x 250 meters for every 20,000 bpd or 1 million tons per year.
Can the GHU treat fuel oil as well? Or does it only work on Crude oil?
Yes, the GHU Can treat fuel oil and just remove the sulfur. Cost per ton is around $100.00.
What is the cost for Hydrogen? Hydrogen is produced internally by residue gasification. Therefore the cost is included in the operating cost.
Is there a correlation between throughtput and cost per MT? No.
Is there a correlation between sulphur content of the feed and cost per metric ton? There is no direct proportionality on this question. The cost of hardware will be the same but the cost of the catalyst may be higher with a higher S. Content.
Can the GHU handle visbroken residue? Yes
How does Genoil see the heavy/light oil price spread in the future? As more and more refineries have the ability to process heavy oil, won’t this decrease the spread?
The spread in price between light-sweet crude oil and heavy-sour crude oil is not that critical for Genoil. Heavy oil is becoming the name of the game and, in fact, the only game in town once all the producers have depleted their easier to extract light sweet crude. We know from technical discussions with independent refinery engineers that the extremely low CAPEX of a GHU® facility makes it more attractive to build three (3), 30,000 bpd GHU® plants in front of an existing 100,000 bpd refinery rather than having to upgrade the existing refinery to process heavier crude (in order to get the same yield of premium-priced transportation fuel).
Alternatively, existing refineries can pipe their heavy bottoms into a single GHU® plant to be upgraded for further refining into higher value products. It keeps coming back to the end-consumer. These consumers don’t care and they don’t want to know anything about the oil business except the connection between the gas station pump and their car’s fuel tank. Even though NYMEX has controlled the price of crude oil since March 30, 1983 with their speculation, the little guy (consumer) controls the demand for gasoline and in doing so, it is the consumer who will create the shortages and drive the price at the pump.
What is the time frame to conduct a test? The time frame can vary. It’s usually around 2-3 months. It can be longer in certain circumstances.
Is Genoil promoting the environmental aspects of the GHU? Cokers vent pollutants into the atmosphere as they process heavy oil. The coke produced is either dumped in landfills or burned just as coal is which is very environmentally unfriendly. When the GHU processes heavy oil and gasifies the residue to produce Hydrogen, is this more environmentally friendly than how a coker processes heavy oil? Pound-for-pound, coking – the process of extracting additional liquid and gaseous products from heavy “bottom of the barrel” type oil – is the most energy intensive of any operation in a modern oil refinery. Large amounts of energy are required to heat the heavier, poor-quality crude oil and petroleum residuum in order to “crack” the heavy hydrocarbon molecules into lighter, more valuable products.
Today’s refineries must contend with increasing amounts of unwanted sulfur, metals and other impurities in crude oil feedstocks. These impurities often remain trapped in the coke, degrading its value and creating disposal problems.
The Genoil process for desulfurization and upgrading of heavy, sour crude oil is a much “greener” process. The Genoil GHU®: 1) occupies a smaller footprint, physically and environmentally, than a conventional heavy oil refinery, 2) operates at lower pressures and temperatures using less energy, 3) removes over 90% of sulfur, 4) produces no coke, and 5) allows the conventional refinery to receive higher quality feedstock with less impurities.