Patents by Inventor Aaron Akah

Aaron Akah has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11939539
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a method of processing a hydrocarbon feed includes fractionating the hydrocarbon feed into a light stream and a heavy stream, hydrotreating the heavy stream to form a hydrotreated heavy stream, combining the light stream and the hydrotreated heavy stream to form a upgraded feed stream, and feeding the upgraded feed stream to a single Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone, thereby producing a product stream comprising light olefins. The light stream may comprise hydrocarbons boiling at less than 343° C. and the heavy stream may comprise hydrocarbons boiling at greater than 343° C. The FCC reaction zone may be operated in a down-flow configuration and the FCC may be operated under high severity conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Ali Al Jawad, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami
  • Patent number: 11905475
    Abstract: A method of processing a hydrocarbon feed may comprise fractionating the hydrocarbon feed into a light stream, a middle stream and a heavy stream; hydrotreating the heavy stream to form a hydrotreated heavy stream; feeding the light stream to a first Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone; feeding the middle stream to a second FCC reaction zone; and feeding the hydrotreated heavy stream to a third Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone. The light stream may comprise hydrocarbons boiling at less than 200° C. The middle stream may comprise hydrocarbons boiling at from 200° C. to 370° C. The heavy stream may comprise hydrocarbons boiling at greater than greater than 370° C. Each of the first and second FCC reaction zones may operate under more severe operating conditions than the third FCC reaction zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Ali Al Jawad, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami
  • Patent number: 11898110
    Abstract: A method of processing a hydrocarbon feed may comprise fractionating the hydrocarbon feed into a light stream, a middle stream, and a heavy stream; hydrotreating the heavy stream to form a hydrotreated heavy stream; and feeding the light stream, middle stream, and the hydrotreated heavy stream to a single Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone, thereby producing a product stream comprising light olefins. The light stream may be exposed to more severe FCC cracking conditions than the middle stream and the middle stream may be exposed to more severe FCC cracking conditions than the hydrotreated heavy stream, within the same FCC reaction zone. The single FCC reaction zone may be operated in a down-flow configuration and under high severity conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Ali Al Jawad, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami
  • Publication number: 20240010926
    Abstract: A process for converting crude oil to light olefins, aromatics, or both, includes contacting a crude oil with an FCC catalyst composition in a catalytic cracking system at a temperature of greater than or equal to 580° C., a weight ratio of the FCC catalyst to the crude oil of from 2:1 to 10:1, and a residence time of from 0.1 seconds to 60 seconds. Contacting causes at least a portion of hydrocarbons in the crude oil to undergo cracking reactions to produce a cracked effluent comprising at least olefins. The FCC catalyst composition for producing olefins and aromatics from crude oil includes ultrastable Y-type zeolite impregnated with lanthanum, ZSM-5 zeolite impregnated with phosphorous, an alumina binder, colloidal silica, and a matrix material comprising Kaolin clay.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2022
    Publication date: January 11, 2024
    Applicant: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah
  • Patent number: 11866663
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a method of processing a hydrocarbon feed includes fractionating the hydrocarbon feed into a light stream and a heavy stream, hydrotreating the heavy stream to form a hydrotreated heavy stream, combining the light stream and the hydrotreated heavy stream to form a upgraded feed stream, and feeding the upgraded feed stream to a single Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone, thereby producing a product stream comprising light olefins. The light stream may comprise hydrocarbons boiling at less than 540° C. and the heavy stream may comprise hydrocarbons boiling at greater than 540° C. The FCC reaction zone may be operated in a down-flow configuration and the FCC may be operated under high severity conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Ali Al Jawad, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami
  • Patent number: 11866651
    Abstract: A process for converting crude oil may comprise contacting a crude oil with one or more hydroprocessing catalysts to produce a hydroprocessed effluent and contacting the hydroprocessed effluent with a fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst composition in an FCC system to produce cracked effluent comprising at least olefins. The crude oil may have an API gravity from 30 to 35. The FCC system may operate at a temperature of greater than or equal to 580° C., a weight ratio of the FCC catalyst composition to the crude oil of from 2:1 to 10:1, and a residence time of from 0.1 seconds to 60 seconds. The FCC catalyst composition may comprise ultrastable Y-type zeolite (USY zeolite) impregnated with lanthanum; ZSM-5 zeolite impregnated with phosphorous; an alumina binder; colloidal silica; and a matrix material comprising Kaolin clay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al Herz, Aaron Akah, Qi Xu, Lianhui Ding, Bander A. Al Ghamdi
  • Patent number: 11866662
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of processing a hydrocarbon feed may comprise fractionating the hydrocarbon feed into a light stream, a middle stream, and a residue stream, hydrotreating the residue stream to form a hydrotreated residue stream; and feeding the light stream, middle stream, and the hydrotreated residue stream to a single Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone, thereby producing a product stream comprising light olefins. The light stream and the hydrotreated residue streams may be exposed to more severe FCC cracking conditions than the middle stream, within the same FCC reaction zone. The single FCC reaction zone may be operated in a down-flow configuration and the single FCC reaction zone may be operated under high severity conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Ali Al Jawad, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami, Lianhui Ding
  • Patent number: 11866659
    Abstract: A method of processing a hydrocarbon feed may comprise fractionating the hydrocarbon feed into a light stream and a heavy stream, where the light stream includes hydrocarbons boiling at less than 370° C., and the heavy stream includes hydrocarbons boiling at greater than greater than 370° C., hydrotreating the heavy stream to form a hydrotreated heavy stream, feeding the light stream to a first Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone, thereby producing a light product stream which includes light olefins, and feeding the hydrotreated heavy stream to a second Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone, thereby producing a heavy product stream which includes light olefins, where the first FCC reaction zone operates under more severe operating conditions than the second FCC reaction zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Ali Al Jawad, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami
  • Patent number: 11866660
    Abstract: A process for converting crude oil may comprise contacting a crude oil with one or more hydroprocessing catalysts to produce a hydroprocessed effluent and contacting the hydroprocessed effluent with a fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst composition in an FCC system to produce cracked effluent comprising at least olefins. The crude oil may have an API gravity from 25 to 29. The FCC system may operate at a temperature of greater than or equal to 580° C., a weight ratio of the FCC catalyst composition to the crude oil of from 2:1 to 10:1, and a residence time of from 0.1 seconds to 60 seconds. The FCC catalyst composition may comprise ultrastable Y-type zeolite (USY zeolite) impregnated with lanthanum; ZSM-5 zeolite impregnated with phosphorous; an alumina binder; colloidal silica; and a matrix material comprising Kaolin clay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al Herz, Aaron Akah, Qi Xu, Lianhui Ding, Bander A. Al Ghamdi
  • Patent number: 11866661
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of processing a hydrocarbon feed includes fractionating the hydrocarbon feed into a light stream and a heavy stream; hydrotreating the heavy stream to form a hydrotreated heavy stream; feeding the light stream and the hydrotreated heavy stream to a single Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reaction zone, thereby producing a product stream which includes light olefins. The light stream may be exposed to more severe FCC cracking conditions than the heavy stream, within the same FCC reaction zone. The single FCC reaction zone may be operated in a down-flow configuration and the FCC may be operated under high severity conditions. The light stream may include hydrocarbons boiling at less than 371° C. and the heavy stream may include hydrocarbons boiling at greater than 371° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Ali Al Jawad, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami, Zhonglin Zhang, Luis A. Rojas Cordova
  • Patent number: 11827855
    Abstract: A process for converting crude oil to light olefins, aromatics, or both, includes contacting a crude oil with an FCC catalyst composition in a fluidized catalytic cracking system at a temperature of greater than or equal to 580° C., a weight ratio of the FCC catalyst to the crude oil of from 2:1 to 10:1, and a residence time of from 0.1 seconds to 60 seconds. Contacting causes at least a portion of hydrocarbons in the crude oil to undergo cracking reactions to produce a cracked effluent comprising at least olefins. The FCC catalyst composition for producing olefins and aromatics from crude oil includes ultrastable Y-type zeolite impregnated with lanthanum, ZSM-5 zeolite impregnated with phosphorous, where the nano-ZSM-5 zeolite has an average particle size of from 0.01 ?m to 0.2 ?m, an alumina binder, colloidal silica, and a matrix material comprising Kaolin clay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al-Herz, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami, Qi Xu, Aaron Akah
  • Patent number: 11814593
    Abstract: According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a process for processing a crude oil with an API between 30 and 35 degrees includes contacting the crude oil with one or more hydroprocessing catalysts to produce a hydroprocessed effluent. The hydroprocessed effluent is passed to an HS-FCC unit, where the hydroprocessed effluent is contacted with a cracking catalyst composition comprising nano-ZSM-5 zeolite and an ultrastable Y-type zeolite (USY zeolite) to form a cracked effluent comprising at least one product. The HS-FCC catalyst composition further comprises nano-ZSM-5 zeolite that has an average particle size of from 0.01 micrometers (?m) to 0.2 ?m, USY zeolite impregnated with lanthanum, an alumina binder, colloidal silica, and a matrix material comprising Kaolin clay. The cracked effluent comprises at least olefins, aromatic compounds, or both.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al Herz, Aaron Akah, Qi Xu, Lianhui Ding, Bander Al Ghamdi
  • Patent number: 11814594
    Abstract: According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a process for processing a crude oil with an API between 25 and 29 degrees includes contacting the crude oil with one or more hydroprocessing catalysts to produce a hydroprocessed effluent. The hydroprocessed effluent is passed to an HS-FCC unit, where the hydroprocessed effluent is contacted with a cracking catalyst composition comprising nano-ZSM-5 zeolite and an ultrastable Y-type zeolite (USY zeolite) to form a cracked effluent comprising at least one product. The HS-FCC catalyst composition further comprises nano-ZSM-5 zeolite that has an average particle size of from 0.01 micrometers (?m) to 0.2 ?m, USY zeolite impregnated with lanthanum, an alumina binder, colloidal silica, and a matrix material comprising Kaolin clay. The cracked effluent comprises at least olefins, aromatic compounds, or both.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mansour Ali Al Herz, Aaron Akah, Qi Xu, Lianhui Ding, Bander Al Ghamdi
  • Patent number: 11370975
    Abstract: A steam-assisted catalytic cracking process for a hydrocarbon feed is provided. The process includes: introducing the hydrocarbon feed, a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst, and steam to a FCC reactor with a mass ratio of steam to hydrocarbon feed between 0.05 and 1.0; cracking the hydrocarbon feed in the presence of the FCC catalyst and steam to produce a cracked hydrocarbon feed and spent FCC catalyst, the spent FCC catalyst comprising coke deposits and hydrocarbon deposits; stripping the hydrocarbon deposits from the spent FCC catalyst with steam in a stripper to obtain a hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst; regenerating the hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst in a regenerator by subjecting the stripped spent FCC catalyst to heat in the presence of oxygen to combust the coke deposits on the stripped spent FCC catalyst and produce a regenerated FCC catalyst; recycling the regenerated FCC catalyst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Inventors: Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami, Qi Xu
  • Publication number: 20220098493
    Abstract: A steam-assisted catalytic cracking process for a hydrocarbon feed is provided. The process includes: introducing the hydrocarbon feed, a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst, and steam to a FCC reactor with a mass ratio of steam to hydrocarbon feed between 0.05 and 1.0; cracking the hydrocarbon feed in the presence of the FCC catalyst and steam to produce a cracked hydrocarbon feed and spent FCC catalyst, the spent FCC catalyst comprising coke deposits and hydrocarbon deposits; stripping the hydrocarbon deposits from the spent FCC catalyst with steam in a stripper to obtain a hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst; regenerating the hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst in a regenerator by subjecting the stripped spent FCC catalyst to heat in the presence of oxygen to combust the coke deposits on the stripped spent FCC catalyst and produce a regenerated FCC catalyst; recycling the regenerated FCC catalyst.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2020
    Publication date: March 31, 2022
    Applicant: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
    Inventors: Aaron AKAH, Musaed Salem AL-GHRAMI, Qi XU
  • Publication number: 20220064555
    Abstract: A hydrocarbon material may be processed by a method that includes separating the hydrocarbon material into at least a lesser boiling point fraction, a medium boiling point fraction, and a greater boiling point fraction. The method may further include steam cracking at least a portion of the lesser boiling point fraction, catalytically cracking at least a portion of the medium boiling point fraction, and hydrocracking at least a portion of the greater boiling point fraction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Applicant: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musead Salem Al-Ghrami
  • Publication number: 20220064554
    Abstract: A feed stream including crude oil may be processed by a method that includes separating the feed stream into at least a C1-C4 hydrocarbon fraction, a lower boiling point fraction, and a higher boiling point fraction. The method may further include steam cracking at least a portion of the C1-C4 hydrocarbon fraction to form a steam cracked product, steam enhanced catalytically cracking at least a portion of the lower boiling point fraction to form a steam enhanced catalytically cracked product, and hydrocracking at least a portion of the higher boiling point fraction to form a hydrocracked product. The method may further include passing at least a portion of the steam cracked product and at least a portion of the steam enhanced catalytically cracked product to a product separator to produce one or more product streams. Systems for processing a feed stream comprising crude oil are further described herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Applicant: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musaed Salem Al-Ghrami
  • Patent number: 11242493
    Abstract: A hydrocarbon material may be processed by a method that includes separating the hydrocarbon material into at least a lesser boiling point fraction, a medium boiling point fraction, and a greater boiling point fraction. The method may further include steam cracking at least a portion of the lesser boiling point fraction, catalytically cracking at least a portion of the medium boiling point fraction, and hydrocracking at least a portion of the greater boiling point fraction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Qi Xu, Aaron Akah, Musead Salem Al-Ghrami
  • Publication number: 20120165583
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for the recycling of plastics materials, in particular waste plastics materials, into chemical feed stocks and hydrocarbon fractions. The present invention also relates to novel zeolite based catalysts used in such methods. The present invention also relates to methods of manufacturing such zeolite based catalysts. Plastics waste is traditionally disposed of by land-fill, incineration or recycling by re-processing the waste into raw material for reuse. Each of these disposal methods has its disadvantages. The drawbacks of land-fill are self apparent. Although incineration may include energy recovery, there still remains the obvious problem of CO2 emission and the emission of other toxic pollutants. Additionally, recycling the plastics requires sorting of the plastics waste because certain types of plastics materials are not recyclable, and mixtures of plastics can be problematic.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2010
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Applicant: University of Manchester
    Inventors: Arthur Garforth, Jesus Hernandez-Martinez, Aaron Akah, Michael Cooke, David Cresswell