Abstract: Pilot plant tests of removing naphthenic acid from the 4th vacuum side cut of Karamay heavy crud were carried out on a 200 kg/h microchannel reactor. Test results showed that the acid removal rate of this single stage microreactor process was more than 85%, which was better than that of the industrial two-stage extraction process with the same feedstock. Besides, this new process simplified the acid removal process, its solvent to oil ratio and energy consumption were much lower. It offers a new choice to remove large naphthenic acid molecules from heavy crude fractions effectively.

Key words: microreactor, asid removal, pilot plant test