1. Cracking heavy crude oil into lighter oil
The world’s reserves are getting heavier and more sulphurous. Thick, viscous crude slows or clogs pipelines unless heated, most refineries cannot take it without costly diluent, and it yields less of the valuable transport fuels: gasoline, diesel and jet.
Instead of the capital-intensive thermal and hydrocracking routes, the cavitation reactor creates tiny bubbles in the oil which implode, and the localised energy breaks the long hydrocarbon chains into smaller molecules. The result is a crude that is easier to move and refine and gives more light fractions.
This application is registered in our name in the United States and the European Union, and we have executed projects on it. To be completed: patent numbers and project references
2. Uniform, scale-free heating of petroleum products
Heating of any petroleum fluid without fouling and without a thermal gradient. Because the heat is generated in the bulk of the fluid rather than at a hot surface, no scale or coke forms on surfaces, which means longer runs and fewer shutdowns.
3. Steam generation from impure water
Steam and hot water produced with the cavitation reactor, with no heating surface and no sensitivity to water quality:
- Hot water in domestic packages without surface heating
- Industrial steam boilers with higher efficiency and cost reduction of up to 80%
- Cavitation-generated steam for power generation at higher efficiency and lower investment
Superheated steam at 4 bar from a cavitation reactor was registered in our name at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2013. Heat-generation efficiency in these reactors is over 90% and their production cost is roughly one fifth of conventional methods. To be completed: patent number
4. Dynamic mixing of petroleum products
Continuous mixing of products and additives, especially thick and viscous fluids, to high uniformity in a short time; for blending, additive dosing and feed preparation.
5. Organic-salt concentrate for drilling mud
Concentration of the organic salts used in drilling fluids with the cavitation reactor. To be completed: short product description and capacity
6. Oil–water separation
Separation of oil and water in process streams and oily effluents using controlled mixing and emulsion breaking. To be completed: short description and references
7. Preventing coking inside equipment
Coking, the decomposition of oil and gas vapours at high temperature and pressure into solid deposits, cuts the efficiency of refining, transport equipment and turbines and shortens their life. The usual counter-measures are water, steam or oxygen injection, catalysts and purge gases, and tight temperature and pressure control. We have solved the problem with the hydrodynamic cavitation reactor: heating in the bulk of the fluid, with no hot surface, removes the main cause of coke formation.
8. Stable nano-emulsion fuel from fuel oil and diesel
A fuel nano-emulsion is a blend of fossil fuel and water with droplets of nanometre size. In the cavitation reactor, fuel oil (mazut) or diesel is combined with water and an emulsifier at high pressure and velocity, giving an emulsion with a uniform droplet-size distribution. The larger contact surface with air makes combustion more complete, cuts pollutants and raises fuel efficiency.
We have hands-on experience producing nano-emulsions of diesel and bunker fuel, and the technology is registered in our name internationally. For power plants, cement production lines, public and private transport fleets, shipping and mines, we design, build, install and commission nano-emulsion systems. To be completed: patent number
9. Desulfurisation of petroleum fluids
Sulfur reduction in petroleum fluids using the oxidising conditions and intense mixing of the cavitation reactor. To be completed: short description and results
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