This may not be exactly what you are asking about but I believe that Chevron is experimenting with an ultrasonic method to increase the yield from heavy crude. The ultrasound is used to treat the residuum which is thick unusable content in the crude. I think I read that the increase yield is 7 galons per barrel.
This is maybe a little off the thread, but here in Kazakhstan, we have been contacted by a local company who claim to be able to perform cracking of VGO and Fuel Oil by a combination of low temperature thermal cracking together with a massive input of acoustic energy. They claim the order of 70% conversion levels, with low coke yield. We are investigating. Has anyone else heard of this?
I saw an article of a company that can break certain sulfur molecules in gasoline components apart by ultrasound. Again, off the thread but very interesting. Don't know if it works on industrial scale and what the encon would look like.
Hard..... Well, I guess anything can be done in a lab, but in a plant I would tend to ask: how reliable is it? I haven't heard of any industrial references, but I may have just missed them.
“Earth and sand containing bitumen, tar, and/or oil is broken down to particle sizes that can be suspended in water as a carrier for the particles, so that the suspension can be pumped upwardly through an inclined duct or separator where the suspended particles are subjected to horizontal ultrasonic vibrations of between about 18 and 27 kilohertz for a period between 5 and 10 minutes. These vibrations completely separate the hydrocarbons from the earth and sand, and entrap gases in the heavier-than-water hydrocarbons so that all the hydrocarbons float to the top of the duct or ultrasonic separator to form a layer, which can easily be withdrawn. The cleaned earth and solid particles settle behind a baffled and perforated partition along and above the lower side of the duct or unit, from which lower side these cleaned particles can be removed. The water carrier is withdrawn near the upper end of the separator below the hydrocarbon layer, and recirculated to the lower end of the separator for suspending more hydrocarbon-containing particles.”
I also suppose that Chevron with UOP, are researching on the application of ultrasonic energy for an efficient separation of crude oil.
There are also works performed with ultrasonic treatment in oil wells, please see the site bellow.
