ABSTRACT
Solvent-based processes (such as solvent deasphalting and solvent dewaxing) take advantage of the insolubility of aromatic compounds, and many heteroatom-containing compounds are insoluble in paraffin liquids. For example, propane deasphalting is commonly used to precipitate asphaltene constituents and resin constituents from residua, heavy oils, extra heavy oils, and tar sand bitumen. The deasphalted oil (the soluble product of propane deasphalting that is reactively low in the presence of coke-forming constituents and metal-containing catalyst poisons) is then sufficiently clean to be sent to a hydrotreating unit or a hydrocracking unit or to be used as a blend stock for fuel oil (Speight and Ozum, 2002; Parkash, 2003; Hsu and Robinson, 2006; Gary et al., 2007; Speight, 2014).
