Catalyst structure and method of upgrading hydrocarbons in the presence of the catalyst structure

1. A method of upgrading a first hydrocarbon product to form a second hydrocarbon product, the method comprising:

providing a feedstock of the first hydrocarbon product to a reactor; and

reacting the first hydrocarbon product in the reactor in the presence of a gas and a catalyst structure to produce the second hydrocarbon product;

wherein:

the catalyst structure comprises a porous support structure comprising an aluminosilicate material, and a plurality of metals loaded in the porous support structure, the plurality of metals comprising at least three metals selected from the group consisting of Ga, Ag, Mo, and Co, wherein each metal loaded in the porous support structure is present in an amount from about 0.1 wt % to about 20 wt % based upon the weight of the porous support structure;

the gas comprises methane, hydrogen or nitrogen; and

one or more properties of the second hydrocarbon product is changed in relation to the first hydrocarbon product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactor comprises one or a combination of the following: a batch reactor system, a continuous tubular reactor (CTR), a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR), a semi batch reactor, and a non-thermal plasma reactor.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the catalyst structure is provided within the reactor in the form of a fixed bed, a trickle-bed, a moving bed, a rotating bed, a fluidized bed, or as a slurry.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein a reaction temperature within the reactor is within a range of about 300° C. to about 500° C.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein a pressure within the reactor is between about 1 atm and about 200 atm.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the reactor comprises a batch reactor, and a mass ratio of heavy oil feedstock to catalyst structure is from about 200:1 to about 1:10.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the reactor comprises a continuous flow reactor, and a liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) of the feedstock is in a range from about 0.1 h −1 to about 100 h −1 .

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more properties of the second hydrocarbon product that is changed in relation to the first hydrocarbon product is selected from the group consisting of viscosity, density, sulfur content, amount of olefins, amount of one or more aromatic hydrocarbons, amount of one or more paraffins, total acid number (TAN), hydrogen to carbon ratio, and cetane number.

9. A method of upgrading a first hydrocarbon product to form a second hydrocarbon product, the method comprising:

(a) providing a feedstock of the first hydrocarbon product to a reactor;

(b) reacting the first hydrocarbon product in the reactor in the presence of a gas and a catalyst structure to produce the second hydrocarbon product;

(c) after the reacting of the first hydrocarbon product in the reactor in the presence of the gas and the catalyst structure to produce the second hydrocarbon product, regenerating the catalyst structure by performing the following steps:

rinsing the catalyst structure with toluene;

drying the rinsed catalyst structure in air to remove toluene from the catalyst structure; and

heating the dried catalyst structure in air at a temperature of at least about 500° C. for a time period of at least about 3 hours to form a regenerated catalyst structure; and

(d) repeating steps (a)-(c) a plurality of times utilizing the regenerated catalyst structure within the reactor;

wherein:

the catalyst structure comprises a porous support structure comprising an aluminosilicate material, and any two or more metals loaded in the porous support structure, the two or more metals selected from the group consisting of Ga, Ag, Mo, Zn, Co and Ce, wherein each metal loaded in the porous support structure is present in an amount from about 0.1 wt % to about 20 wt % based upon the weight of the porous support structure;

the gas comprises methane, hydrogen or nitrogen; and

one or more properties of the second hydrocarbon product is changed in relation to the first hydrocarbon product.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first hydrocarbon product comprises a heavy oil feedstock having a viscosity of at least 1×10 5 cP, and the second hydrocarbon product has a lower viscosity in relation to the first hydrocarbon product.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second hydrocarbon product has a viscosity of no greater than 500 cP.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first hydrocarbon product has a first density, the second hydrocarbon product has a second density, and the second density is decreased in relation to the first density.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein a percentage of hydrocarbon compounds having a boiling point below 220° C. increases from the first hydrocarbon product to the second hydrocarbon product by 5% to 30%.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second hydrocarbon product has a sulfur content that is less than a sulfur content of the first hydrocarbon product.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first hydrocarbon product comprises a light oil feedstock having a viscosity of less than 1×10 5 cP, and the second hydrocarbon product has a lower sulfur content in relation to the first hydrocarbon product.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second hydrocarbon product has an aromatic hydrocarbon content that increases in relation to an aromatic hydrocarbon content of the first hydrocarbon product.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of metals loaded in the porous support structure comprises Ga, Ag and Mo.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of metals loaded in the porous support structure comprises Ga, Ag, Mo and Co.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of metals loaded in the porous support structure comprises Ga, Ag, Mo and Ce.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of metals loaded in the porous support structure comprises Ga, Ag, Mo, Co and Ce.