Selection of the Best Upgrading Processes, for Petroleum Heavy Residues in Iran

The most important view points of petroleum refining industries in the near future are: supplying the cleaner fuels growing market, gradual substitution of increasingly rare refinery feeds of light-low sulfur crude oils, by heavy-high sulfur petroleum, and paying attention to the descending demand for heavy fuel oil. One solution of the above problems is the use of heavy residue upgrading processes. Economic and strategic reasons confirm the exploitation of refineries heavy residue and vast heavy petroleum and very heavy petroleum resources. In this manner, the selection of proper processes is a major challenge for petroleum refiners. This article introduces the most suitable ones as: Delayed Coking, Integrated Combined Cycle & Gasification, Residue Catalytic Cracking\ and Slurry Hydrocracking (Hydro-Conversion) for the Islamic Republic of Iran refineries.