This review proposes a new strategy for conversion of the heavy oil component into valuable chemicals. A silica monolayer solid acid catalyst was found to convert alkyl polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a heavy oil such as vacuum gas oil (VGO) selectively into long-chain alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. For application of practical VGO to the dealkylation, removal of basic compounds causing deactivation of solid acid catalyst was also investigated. Dealkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were converted into tetralin derivatives by partial hydrogenation, and then into useful benzene derivatives via ring-opening. The contributions of catalyst components were studied. Long chain alkanes were obtained and can be used as fuels for diesel vehicles and aviation, unlike conventional fluid catalytic cracking which derives a wide range of chain lengths as a result of alkane cracking. The strategy is illustrated with experimental results.

A data processing method to automatically assign molecular formulae and correct the abundances was developed and used to improve the reliability and quantitative accuracy of data obtained via Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. The technique was utilized to analyze fractions of atmospheric residue, and assigned molecular formulae for each fraction. The algorithm automatically identified nearly 20,000 heavy oil components. The reliability of the data processing technique was demonstrated by absolute mean mass errors in the range of 0.15-0.23 ppm. Distillation simulation was used to correct the abundances of assigned molecular formulae. The distillation properties were estimated from the molecular formulae, and corrections made to match the simulated results within 1 wt%. The correction factor indicated that lower boiling point components tended to require higher correction factors, suggesting that the ion transport efficiency of the instrument becomes lower in the lower molecular weight region.

Since the 2010s, the petroleum industry, which has fallen into a state of severe competition due to deregulation, has recovered to the level before the deregulation of indicators such as margins and profits due to the strategic changes of petroleum companies. However, for some reason, the number of service stations continues to decrease. This paper examines this by focusing on changes in the number of service station closures and new entrants, as well as factors behind closures. After the deregulation, “unprofitable” accounted for about 60 % of the closing factors, after that, the reason for closing due to “operational problems” was about 40 to 60 %, which reversed the situation. As a result of this change, the number of closings has been on a downward trend since 2006, when it peaked, and has remained below 1000 since 2016, 10 years later. At the same time, the number of new entries also declined after its peak in 2006, and has remained below 200 since 2016. It became clear that the overall number of service stations continued to decrease as a result of the fact that the number of closures and the number of new entrants decreased simultaneously.

The activities of CaO base catalysts prepared by thermal decomposition of calcium hydroxide, carbonate, oxalate, and formate were compared for the retro-aldol reaction of diacetone alcohol into acetone. The activity of CaO catalysts was oxalate > carbonate > hydroxide > formate. CaO from oxalate heat treated at 1123 K was the most active among the tested catalysts. Oxalate and formate were converted into carbonate in the thermal decomposition process. Consequently, the activity profile against treatment temperature was very similar for catalysts from carbonate, oxalate, and formate. The increase of specific surface area was observed in active CaO prepared from carbonate, oxalate, and formate treated at 1023 K or higher. Mesopore-sized gaps resembling wormholes were observed in the surface of active samples treated at high temperatures. The new surfaces containing active sites created by the formation of these gaps account for the increased activity.

Crude oil contains heavy waxes and asphaltenes, which eventually accumulate at the bottom of crude oil tanks as sludge. Therefore, it is necessary to remove sludge periodically to restore the original storage capacity of crude oil tanks or for tank inspection and overhaul. Conventionally, crude oil washing (COW) has been used to remove sludge from tanks. However, sludge is disposed of as industrial waste, resulting in significant costs. To solve this problem, sludge volume reduction technology (SVR) was developed as a new technology. The key point of this technology is to recover reusable oil from sludge using a centrifuge and mix it with crude oil without re-sludging. From the results of the study, it was found that re-sludge generation can be suppressed by mixing the recovered oil with the original crude oil under turbulent flow conditions while heating the oil when mixing it with the crude oil. Furthermore, the demonstration test of this technology was conducted in the UAE, and it was confirmed that about 5200 kL of recovered oil could be obtained from about 9000 kL of sludge accumulated in a crude oil tank, and that the technology was effective in reducing sludge by more than 50 %.

Understanding the mechanism for the formations of by-products as well as a main product can give us useful information for improvement in the catalytic performances. In the present study, formation pathway of by-products in oxidation of methacrolein (MAL) was investigated by using MAL with ¹³C-labeled methyl group as a reactant. The reaction pathway for the formation of the by-products was proposed based on GC-MS analysis as follows: The first step is oxidative cleavage of C=C double bond in MAL, giving pyruvaldehyde, and pyruvaldehyde is subsequently hydrolyzed to acetic acid.