Advances in Upgrading Process of Petroleum Residue: A Review

Due to the depletion of light crude oil reserves, heavy crude oil and residues are the alternatives to meet ?the ?increasing global demand for light oil products. Heavy crude oil and residues are characterized by the presence of heavy ?hydrocarbon ?compounds which contain high levels of impurities such as metals, nitrogen, and sulfur-containing compounds. ?Methods of ?upgrading are required to increase refining efficiencies and to obtain high-quality products.? Upgrading processes can be categorized into three categories; ?carbon rejection processes, hydrogen addition processes, and a combination of the two. The catalyst can be used with any of these processes for better improvement. Many types of research have been carried out to develop a high-performance process which is stable, high commercial products yield, and low solids formation. In this work, recent advances on petroleum residues upgrading with catalyst, solvents, and thermal cracking were reviewed. Advantages and disadvantages of each process were discussed along with conditions and main features. Nanoparticles catalysts and supercritical fluids based-processes are the trends of upgrading due to the excellent performance of these processes.