Frost & Sullivan selected Nevada-based SulphCo, Inc as the recipient of the 2006 Excellence in Crude Oil Refining Technology of the Year Award for its development of the high performance Sonocracking technology that helps upgrade sour heavy crude oils into sweeter lighter crude oils.

Sonocracking aids in reducing sulphur, nitrogen, asphaltenes, metals, and heavy residuum compounds prevalent in crude oils, and facilitates desulphurisation. It also leads to an increase in the quantity of usable oil that can be economically refined per barrel of processed crude oil by almost seven gallons. This is a significant accomplishment in terms of lowering the amount of crude oil feed stock needed to meet current production by as much as 20percent.

“A major challenge encountered by crude oil refiners is the cost associated with building or revamping old or functional
high-pressure/high-temperature
hydro-desulphurisation (HDS) units,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Anil Naidu. “SulphCo’s technology operates at conditions of low temperature and pressure, thereby proving to be highly cost effective in comparison to the existing refinery HDS units.”

Additionally, this technology helps minimise the need for expensive hydrogen generation plants resulting in considerable capital and operating cost savings. Collectively, these factors culminate in lower costs.

Sonocracking employs high-power ultrasonic energy on a mixture of crude oil and water in conjunction with inexpensive proprietary catalysts. Free radicals are formed as a result of the breaking of molecular bonds in the water vapour at the thermolic centre of the cavitation bubbles. While a large portion of these free radicals rapidly reform into water vapour, a few bring about the displacement of sulphur and nitrogen in the hydrocarbons. It also results in cracking the bonds of residuum elements, thereby enhancing the crude quality. The transfer of hydrogen from water to the numerous petroleum streams leads to the removal of sulphur and nitrogen from the crude oil.In addition to desulphurisation, the process also brings about the rupturing of the complex hydrocarbon bonds, resulting in upgrading the value of the hydrocarbon fractions owing to increased product volume and American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity.

SulphCo’s closed-loop desulphurisation units can also be scaled for treating small as well as large volumes of petroleum products at considerably low temperatures and pressures. These units possess smaller ‘footprints’ compared to conventional hydrotreating equipment. While their price depends upon specific design parameters, these units are expected to be more cost effective than conventional hydrotreating plants. 

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