Hazy-free at 0° C heavy base oil and a process for producing

1. A process for producing a base oil composition, comprising:

(a) providing a deasphalted oil (DAO) feed;

(b) hydrotreating a portion of the DAO feed in the presence of hydrotreating catalysts to produce a hydrotreated product;

(c) hydrocracking the hydrotreated product in the presence of hydrocracking catalysts to produce a hydrocracked product;

(d) fractionating the hydrocracked product wherein at least one fraction comprises hydrowax;

(e) catalytically dewaxing the hydrowax in the presence of noble metal-based catalysts to produce a dewaxed product, wherein the noble metal-based catalysts comprise a graduated mixture comprising ZSM-12 and modified ZSM-12 zeolite based catalysts and EU-2 and/or ZSM-48 zeolite based catalysts;

(f) hydrofinishing the dewaxed product in the presence of hydrofinishing catalysts to produce a hydrofinished product;

(g) fractionating the hydrofinished product wherein at least one fraction comprises the base oil composition; and

wherein the base oil composition is a hazy-free at 0° C. heavy base oil comprising: (a) a kinetic viscosity ranging from 15 to 21 cSt at 100° C., (b) a viscosity index of at least 95, (c) a pour point of less than −12° C., (d) a cloud point of less than −18° C., and (e) a total aromatics content of 2 wt % or less;

wherein the hazy-free at 0° C. heavy base oil maintains a hazy-free appearance when stored undisturbed at 0° C. during a test period; and

wherein the hazy-free at 0° C. heavy base oil composition is a Group II/III base oil.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the base oil composition is a hazy-free at 0° C. heavy base oil comprising: (a) a kinetic viscosity ranging from 19 to 20 cSt at 100° C., (b) a viscosity index ranging from 100 to 119 for the Group II base oil and at least 120 for the Group III base oil, (c) a pour point of less than −24° C., (d) a cloud point of less than −21° C., and (e) a total aromatics content of 1 wt % or less; and

wherein the hazy-free at 0° C. heavy base oil maintains a hazy-free appearance when stored undisturbed at 0° C. during a test period.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the base oil composition comprises a sulfur content below 5 ppm and a nitrogen content below 5 ppm.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the base oil composition comprises a sulfur content below 1 ppm and a nitrogen content below 1 ppm.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the base oil composition comprises a saturates content ranging from about 98 wt % to about 99.9%.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the test period is at least 5 hours.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the test period is at least 7 hours.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the DAO feed comprises at least 50% by weight of hydrocarbons boiling above 450° C., at least 400 ppm of nitrogen, at least 0.5 wt % of sulfur, and a (nickel (Ni)+vanadium (V)) metal content ranging from 2-250 ppm.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the DAO feed comprises more than 65% by weight of hydrocarbons boiling above 450° C.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the DAO feed comprises at least one of a pure DAO or a blend of DAO and vacuum gas oil (VGO) and wherein the blend of DAO and VGO comprises a ratio of about 6:1 to about 1:6.

11. The process of claim 8 , wherein the DAO feed comprises a blend of DAO, VGO, and part of the hydrowax, in any combination thereof.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the hydrotreated product comprises nitrogen ranging from 0.1-30 ppm, sulfur ranging from 10-200 ppm, and a total uptake of at least 30% of the (Ni+V) metal content.

13. The process of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocracking catalysts at step (c) comprise a zeolite component.

14. The process of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocracking catalysts at step (c) comprise an additional zeolite component selected from zeolite beta, zeolite ZSM-5, or zeolite Y.

15. The process of claim 1 , further comprising a bed of hydrotreating catalysts at step (c) to produce the hydrocracked product.

16. The process of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocracking conditions of step (c) comprise a temperature in the range of from 250-500° C., a pressure in the range of from 35-250 bar, a weighted average bed temperature (WABT) in the range of from 350-420° C., a gas to oil ratio in the range of from 500-1500 NI/kg, and a weight hourly space velocity in the range of from 0.2-10 hr −1 .

17. The process of claim 1 , wherein the hydrowax at step (d) comprises a kinetic viscosity of at least 4.0 cSt at 100° C., a viscosity index of at least 120, a nitrogen content below 20 ppm, and a sulfur content below 100 ppm.

18. The process of claim 1 , further comprising stripping residual products from the hydrocracked product at step (d), wherein the residual products comprise at least one of ammonia (NH 3 ), hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), methane (CH 4 ), ethane (C 2 H 6 ), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), naphtha, and gas oil.

19. The process of claim 1 , wherein the noble metal-based catalysts of step (e) comprise the graduated mixture and noble metal aromatics hydrogenation catalysts.

20. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalytically dewaxing conditions of step (e) comprise a temperature in the range of from 200-500° C., a pressure in the range of from 10-200 bar, a weighted average bed temperature (WABT) in the range of from 320-370° C., a gas to oil ratio in the range of from 500-1500 NI/kg, and a weight hourly space velocity (WHSC) in the range of from 0.2-10 hr −1 .

21. The process of claim 1 , wherein the hydrofinishing conditions of step (f) comprise a temperature in the range of from 125-390° C., a pressure in the range of from 70-200 bar, a weighted average bed temperature (WABT) in the range of from 220-270° C., a gas to oil ratio in the range of from 500-1500 NI/kg, and a weight hourly space velocity (WHSC) in the range of from 0.3-3.0 hr −1 .

22. The process of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the hydrofinishing catalysts of step (f) is a noble metal aromatics hydrogenation catalyst.

23. A base oil composition, comprising:

(a) a kinetic viscosity ranging from 15 to 21 cSt at 100° C.;

(b) a viscosity index of at least 95;

(c) a pour point of less than −12° C.;

(d) a cloud point of less than −18° C.;

(e) a total aromatics content of 2 wt % or less comprising a mono-aromatic content and a polycyclic aromatic content; and

wherein the base oil composition is a hazy-free at 0° C. heavy base oil that maintains a hazy-free appearance when stored undisturbed at 0° C. during a test period; and

wherein the hazy-free at 0° C. heavy base oil composition is a Group II/III base oil.

24. The base oil composition of claim 23 , further comprising:

(a) a kinetic viscosity ranging from 19 to 20 cSt at 100° C.;

(b) a viscosity index ranging from 100 to 119 for the Group II base oil and at least 120 for the Group III base oil;

(c) a pour point of less than −24° C.;

(d) a cloud point of less than −21° C.;

(e) a total aromatics content of 1 wt % or less,

wherein the base oil composition is a hazy-free at 0° C. heavy base oil that maintains a hazy-free appearance when stored undisturbed at 0° C. during a test period.

25. The base oil composition of claim 23 , wherein the test period is at least 5 hours.

26. The base oil composition of claim 23 , wherein the test period is at least 7 hours.

27. The base oil composition of claim 23 , further comprising a sulfur content below 5 ppm and a nitrogen content below 5 ppm.

28. The base oil composition of claim 23 , further comprising a sulfur content below 1 ppm and a nitrogen content below 1 ppm.

29. The base oil composition of claim 23 , further comprising a saturates content ranging from about 98 wt % to about 99.9%.