NZET Closed-Loop Process – Clean Refineries, Inc. (CRI)

The NZET process is based upon vacuum separation, not fractionation. The products derived are dependent upon the feedstock crude characteristics. Heavier crude feedstocks will provide more heavier products like asphalt (bitumen), while lighter grades will offer lighter products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The central reactor offers flexibility to handle gravities from 8-50 API.

Because it is a closed loop process, noxious flue gases are captured and removed. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is rendered inert by chemically reacting it into sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda. The baking soda acts as an adsorbent for the NOx, SOx, and other impurities.

The key to the process is the NZET reactor. Settled, dewatered and desulfurized feedstock is heated and pressurized up to 550 F and up to 1,000 psi then sprayed into the reactor held at vacuum conditions. This causes the liquid to vaporize almost instantaneously. Vaporization is further aided by use of CRI’s proprietary, patented blower system that injects lean gas into the reactor and greatly accelerates liquid to vapor phase change. Once vaporized, the feedstock is condensed into various products for market. Because the reactor separates, not fractionates, CRI can focus on the production of specific higher-margin products based on the feedstocks used.

Key takeaways:

• Proven process – Talley Plant in Taft, CA operating since 2018
• Heat exchangers maximize heat capture and reuse
• Process temperatures are about half those required of traditional fractionation
• Much smaller facility footprint required
• Modular construction; scalable
• Less capital / faster construction of facilities
• Emissions really are “Net Zero”, measured in pounds, not tons
• The process generates carbon credits (CCs)
• Total process costs are over $1/bbl cheaper than traditional (not including CCs)