LABORATORY STUDY OF REAL-TIME OPTICAL MICROSCOPE TRACKING OF THERMAL REACTION PROGRESS OF VACUUM RESIDUA II: CHEMICAL RELEVANCE OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THERMAL REACTION SYSTEMS OF VACUUM RESIDUA

Abstract

ABSTRACT It has been indicated from analyses of the vicissitude of chemical states and their comparisons with the occurring physical processes in the thermal reaction systems of vacuum residua that the first characteristic state point coincides with the induction period of coke formation, and the third characteristic state point, immediately after which a large amount of coke is yielded, manifests the critical point at which concentration of the neo-asphaltenes generated in-situ by the fast-reaction resins is high enough to approach its phase separation. The industrial implication of the second characteristic state point is not clear enough. It is accordingly pointed out, in combination with the conclusions drawn in the first part of the serial, that the real-time optical microscope tracking of the thermal reaction progress of vacuum residua based on the first and third characteristic state points is feasible on the laboratory scale for forecasting the sudden changes of the physical and/or chemical states of the thermal reaction systems of vacuum residua, and is expected to find applications in the industrial visbreaking process.