KALVERAENERGY TECHNOLOGIES Commercial inquiries

KHU™ modular upgrader · For producers, refiners and EPCs

Upgrade heavy crude where it’s produced.

Kalvera’s patented KHU™ process upgrades extra-heavy crude at the field, in modular units built and tested in the United States. The upgraded barrel can replace imported diluent, so producers move more crude with less diluent, simpler logistics and better project economics.

Discuss a project See how it works

Patented process · Commercially demonstrated · Built in the USA

Fig. 1 — KHU Modular Upgrader
Illustrative. Proprietary engineering details, catalyst formulations and reactor design are not shown.

Problem

Heavy crude can need up to ~40% diluent just to reach a pipeline.

Solution

KHU™ upgrades it at the field, and the upgraded barrel can become the diluent.

Opportunity

Modular units bring upgrading to stranded heavy barrels and refinery residue, train by train.

02The heavy-oil challengeDetail B · Feedstock

An enormous resource, held back by its own weight.

Extra-heavy crude is one of the world’s largest energy resources. But at ambient temperature it barely flows.

To move it by pipeline, producers blend in lighter hydrocarbons, called diluents. In some applications diluent approaches 40% of the transported blend, and every barrel of it has to be bought, delivered and moved.

Run the diluent arithmetic
Photo 1 — Heavy-crude tank farmField
Aerial view of a heavy-crude tank farm in flat, forested oilfield country at low sun, with a tanker truck on a dirt road heading toward the tanks.
Diluent is often trucked or piped in from outside the field. Representative.
Fig. 2 — Transported heavy-crude blendSchematic
In some applications, diluent approaches 40% of the transported blend.
General notes

  1. Viscosity

    Hard to produce, hard to move. Extra-heavy crude resists flow at ambient temperatures.

  2. Diluent dependence

    Diluent is often imported, and it can be costly, unreliable or hard to secure in sufficient volume.

  3. Centralized capital

    Conventional upgrading, such as delayed coking, means large, capital-intensive facilities far from remote fields.

03Our technologyDetail C · Ref. Fig. 1–2

A different approach to upgrading.

Specialized catalysts and a purpose-built reactor convert extra-heavy crude into lighter, more marketable streams. The upgraded product can serve as the blending component itself, reducing or even eliminating externally sourced diluent.

KHU™ · Kalvera Heavy Upgrading. A patented process: proprietary catalysts, a purpose-built reactor and modular delivery.

Fig. 3 — KHU process train · technical animationFull sequence on Our Technology
Watch the full process
  1. 1

    Feed

    Extra-heavy crude enters from the field.

    Ref. Fig. 1 · Items 1–2

  2. 2

    Convert

    The KHU reactor and proprietary catalysts break heavy molecules into lighter fractions.

    Ref. Fig. 1 · Items 3–4

  3. 3

    Separate

    Upgraded streams are recovered, and heavy residues are managed on site.

    Ref. Fig. 1 · Items 5–6

  4. 4

    Blend & ship

    The upgraded stream brings the blend within pipeline and market specifications.

    Ref. Fig. 1 · Items 7–8

Illustrative. Proprietary engineering details, catalyst formulations and reactor design are not shown.

04Specification comparisonTable D-1

Conventional blending vs KHU.

Table D-1 · Diluent blending compared with KHU modular upgrading
ParameterConventional diluent blendingWith KHU modular upgrading
D-1.1DiluentConventionalSourced externally, up to ~40% of blendWith KHUProduced on site from the crude itself
D-1.2LogisticsConventionalDiluent trucked or piped in, often recycled backWith KHUFewer inbound shipments
D-1.3Upgrading capexConventionalLarge, centralized facilities (e.g. delayed coking)With KHUCapacity scaled train by train
D-1.4ProductConventionalBlended heavy crude, discountedWith KHULighter, more marketable crude
Conventional vs KHU flows · Heavy Crude
05Two marketsDetail E

One process, two markets.

For producers

Extra-heavy crude upgrading

Upgrade at or near the field to cut diluent requirements, improve transportation economics and make marginal production attractive.

Heavy Crude
For refiners

Refinery residual processing

Turn selected residual streams into higher-value products such as base-oil precursors.

Refinery Residuals
A steel skid process module with a vertical vessel and pipe spools, carried on a multi-axle lowboy trailer along a straight desert road under a clear sky.
Modular deployment

Built in the USA. Deployed where the oil is.

Fig. 4 — KHU module in transit to the field · representativeBuilt and tested in the United States

Commercially demonstrated at industrial scale, KHU is now being introduced as a modular platform: fabricated and tested in a US shop, trucked to the field, and installed close to production, train by train.

Modular Solutions Projects & applications
06Commercial inquiries

Start with your data, under NDA.

Share your crude properties and project context. Our engineering team will outline what KHU could do for your economics.

All discussions are under NDA

Start a commercial inquiry

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