The present invention relates to a platform for oil production having a base body, which base body comprises an oil production facility, and having a support structure for the base body.

Such platforms for oil production are well known in the prior art. As a rule, such platforms are used offshore and have a support structure with which they are either fixed on a subsoil or can float in the water. For the present invention, the support structure is not essential, so that will not be discussed in detail.

The platforms for oil production each have an oil production facility, with which oil can be removed from an oil reservoir. This is done on a regular basis with the aid of a drilling device, which can penetrate into deeper layers of soil and crude oil being extracted from the deposit to the surface and transported via pipelines to a storage location. The technology of the oil production facility is not relevant to the present invention per se, so that will not be discussed in detail.

The disadvantage of a platform of the prior art operating for oil production is that the oil extracted via such a platform must be transported via pipelines or a combina tion of tankers and pipelines to a refinery which has been set up on the mainland for the processing of crude oil at a distance from the platform. Transporting the crude oil produced at the platform to a remote refinery involves cost and material losses. The costs are incurred through the construction and operation of pipelines and labor costs associated with reloading or forwarding. Material losses are caused by leaks, by non-recyclable residual quantities in intermediate storage, etc.

The object of the present invention is therefore to optimize the recovery of an organic fuel based on crude oil. The object is achieved in that the base body additionally comprises a crude oil re finery.

The idea underlying the present invention is to integrate a complete crude oil refinery into a platform for oil production. This sounds visionary at first, but can be technically implemented on the basis of known methods, for example, from DE 10 2006 054 506 Al, DE 10 2005 056 735 A1 and EP 1 538 191 Al. The present invention is concerned with the structural adaptation of a platform for oil production for additional implementation, for example, of a method known from the aforemen tioned prior art. Of course, other methods for processing crude oil can be imple- mented on a platform for oil production according to the invention, but in any case, the method mentioned in the aforementioned publications of the prior art can be performed when the space is limited. The adaptation of the limited space on an oil platform is required for the implementation of the already known method. That is the goal of the present invention. An advantage of the present invention is that the crude oil refinery is arranged concentrically to the base body. The concentric arrangement to the base body of the platform ensures a favorable weight distribution on the base body and thus on the platform.

A further advantage of the present invention is that the crude oil refinery comprises a ring container essentially arranged around the body. The ring container is used to accommodate crude oil or a crude oil mixture with various by-products, for exam- pie, a catalyst and lime, which can flow in the ring container in a main direction.

A further advantage of the present invention is that the crude oil refinery has at least one mixing turbine. In a mixing turbine, parts of the fluid flowing in the ring container are mixed with additives, such as a catalyst and lime, and returned to the ring container.

A further advantage of the present invention is also that the crude oil refinery has at least one distillation column. Vapor fractions of the fluid flowing in the ring container can be distilled in the distillation column.

A further advantage of the present invention is that the distillation column and the at least one mixing turbine are arranged on a plane of the base body. A geometric arrangement with respect to the platform is more easily possible through the arrange- ment of the distillation column and the at least one mixing turbine on a plane of the base body.

A further advantage of the present invention is that the ring container forms a ring barrier around the plane of the base body. As a result, the ring container closes the plane of the base body provided for the crude oil refinery spatially outwards and enables a geometrical arrangement of further components in the center of the ring container. Further advantages of the present invention become apparent from the further features of the subclaims.

An embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to the single figure.

The figure shows a plan view of a platform according to the present invention with a crude oil refinery integrated into the platform.

The illustration in the Figure is purely schematic and serves to clearly illustrate the present invention. In this respect, all the details of an oil production facility, a support structure, but also a crude oil refinery, which are common for the construction and operation and are therefore known in the art, are omitted here. A conventional platform for oil production can be utilized for the implementation of the present invention, in which a crude oil refinery can be integrated by the usual means, but taking into account the design requirements of the present invention. It is therefore not essential in which form the individual lines are connected to re spective components or which diameters individual lines have for the execution of the present invention. The exact guidance of the lines on the platform is also not essential. In addition, there is a variety of valves, control devices for controlling a flow rate, a temperature, a pressure and other parameters, which are not relevant to the present invention here. Conventional valves, drives and/or control devices can be used.

The platform for oil production according to the present invention has a base body 1, which is illustrated schematically as a rectangle. In practice, the base body in plan view does not represent an ideal rectangle, but has a polygonal contour. The ideal representation as a rectangle serves only to better explain the present invention.

A crude oil refinery 3 is connected to the base body 1. The connection of the crude oil refinery 3 to the base body 1 is effected by a mechanical connection, which is known to one skilled in the art. Supporting components (not shown) of the crude oil refinery 3 are thus welded to the base body 1, for example. Alternatively, the crude oil refinery 3 (not shown) with supporting components can be connected to the base body 1 via a detachable connection, for example, by a screw. Such a detachable connection by means of screwing to support components is also generally known to the person skilled in the art.

The crude oil refinery 3 is arranged concentrically with respect to the base body 1. The outermost part of the crude oil refinery 3 forms a ring container 5, which is arranged in a ring-like plan view around the base body 1.

The base body 1 forms a working plane 7, on which eight mixing turbines 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8 are arranged in the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, the ring container 5 protrudes upward in the viewer's direction over the working plane 7 and forms a ring barrier around the working plane 7. In other embodiments, fewer or more than eight mixing turbines 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8 can be arranged on the working plane 7. An oil conveying device 10 is arranged on the working plane 7, which oil conveying device communicates via a supply tube 10.1 with the ring container 5 to lead extracted crude oil into the ring container 5.

In the present embodiment, a distillation column 11 is arranged in the center of the working plane 7, which distillation column extends upwards in the direction of the observer. In other embodiments, a plurality of distillation columns 11 can be ar ranged geometrically offset on the working plane 7, so that a favorable weight dis- tribution is maintained. In other embodiments, a different number of mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 may be useful. In the embodiments in which a larger plurality of mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 is provided, such as in the present embodiment, said mixing turbines are arranged concentrically on the working plane 7. In a preferred embodiment, as shown in the Figure, the eight mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 are arranged tangentially to an inner side of the ring container 5. In general, the mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 are formed cylin drical. However, embodiments are also conceivable in which the mixing turbines

9.1 to 9.8 are adapted to the circular arc on which they are arranged concentrically. The ring container 5 is connected to the mixing turbine 9.1 via a first fluid discharge line 12.1. Likewise, the ring container 5 is connected to all other mixing turbines

9.2 to 9.8 via a respective fluid discharge line 12.2 to 12.8. The mixing turbine 9.1 is connected to the ring container 5 via a fluid supply line 13.1. Likewise, the mix ing turbines 9.2 to 9.8 are each connected to the ring container 5 using a fluid sup- ply line 13.2 to 13.8.

The distillation column 11 is connected to a tank 17 via an output end 15. A fin ished product, for example, diesel oil, can be removed from this tank 17. The ring container 5 is connected via a vapor line to the distillation column 11, so that fluid fractions are led off into the distillation column 11 in the vapor phase.

The distillation column 11 per se is not described in detail in the present invention, since this is already well known in the prior art. Conventional distillation columns from the methods of the prior art mentioned in the introduction can be used. The distillation column 11 also includes a condenser, which is not illustrated, but which should be multi-water cooled in the present construction. The mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 ensure deep mixing of the catalyst with air. This deep mixing essentially takes place through the catalytic C0 ₂ formation. The tangential arrangement of the mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 to the ring container 5 leads to the oil-catalyst mixture in the ring container 5 being excited to a rapid movement in the direction of arrow (clockwise in the present embodiment), so that newly enter- ing crude oil is well mixed with the oil-catalyst mixture (the fluid in the ring space

5)·

In terms of process technology, the mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 receive so much air through injection by system pressure modification that the reaction temperature is always set at about 270°C, at which complete conversion of the heavy components of the crude oil takes place. The lighter fractions of crude oil vaporize at this tem perature and the heavy fractions of crude oil follow the evaporation after the catalyt ic reaction. The system pressure of the air injection adapts the crude oil refinery to the varying quantities of crude oil produced. If the production rate of the crude oil drops, the air injection pressure in the mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 is lowered again and the reaction temperature is thus held in the normal range between 250°C and 300°C. In terms of process technology, it is important that the supply of lime and catalyst is regulated as a function of the production conditions. A pH value of > 8 should thus be set.

The throughput should also be set at a standard temperature of 270°C by addition of catalyst to a predetermined level. The mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 according to the invention arranged on the platform consume about 1 MW in addition to the power requirements of the platform 1 with all additional units. This current is generated in an additional generator using the input material of the diesel produced, that is, the product to be taken from the tank 17, or in the case of gas utilization, using gas.

The mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 or the at least one mixing turbine 9.1 to 9.8 suck in the oil-catalyst mixture from the ring container 5, convert this mixture into fuel, water and C0 ₂ and push the vapor-containing mixture again tangentially into the ring container 5, so that a flow velocity is generated in the arrow direction in the ring container 5, which corresponds to that in a stirred container. A mineral known from nature for osmosis is used as a catalyst. It is a cation aluminum silicate with the cathodes potassium, calcium and iron. This is also present as a mineral in the coal. In addition to the catalyst, lime or limestone is added to bind the acids so that the pH value is above 8. The proportion of the catalyst in the oil-catalyst mixture (fluid in the ring container 5) is about 3% by weight in the present embodiment.

The introduced lime is converted into salt by the sulfur and chlorine content of the crude oil, which salt is discharged as a function of a viscosity measurement from the system. This is carried out by a current consumption of a circulation pump, which opens the bitumen valve when a limit value is reached.

In a preferred embodiment, the ring of the ring container 5 has an outer diameter of about 50 m (inner diameter about 48 m) and a height of about 2 m. The distillation column 11 has a diameter of about 1.6 m. The condenser has a cooling capacity of about 2 MW. 16 mixing turbines 9.1 to 9.8 are available. A compressed air injection takes place with 0.2 to 2 bar. Electric motors of the 16 mixing turbines have a power requirement of 2 MW, which is covered by three diesel generators of 1 MW each.

In a preferred embodiment, the extracted crude oil is input into the ring container 5 together with 30 kg of catalyst and 30 kg of limestone (crushed) via a screw conveyor to produce middle distillate with a throughput of about 5,000 to 15,000 1/h of medium.

List of reference numbers

I base body

3 crude oil refinery

5 ring container

7 working plane

9.1 first mixing turbine

9.2 second mixing turbine

9.3 third mixing turbine

9.4 fourth mixing turbine

9.5 fifth mixing turbine

9.6 sixth mixing turbine

9.7 seventh mixing turbine

9.8 eighth mixing turbine

10 oil conveying device

10.1 supply tube

I I distillation column

12.1 first fluid discharge line

12.2 second fluid discharge line

12.3 third fluid discharge line

12.4 fourth fluid discharge line

12.5 fifth fluid discharge line

12.6 sixth fluid discharge line

12.7 seventh fluid discharge line 12.8 eighth fluid discharge line 13.1 first fluid supply line 13.2 second fluid supply line

13.3 third fluid supply line

13.4 fourth fluid supply line

13.5 fifth fluid supply line

13.6 sixth fluid supply line 13.7 seventh fluid supply line

13.8 eighth fluid supply line

15 output end

17 tank