Recycling of spent hydroprocessing catalysts: EURECAT technology

Abstract Disposal of spent catalysts is a growing concern for all refiners. Environmental regulations are becoming stricter and State recommendations are to develop disposal routes which would emphasize recycling as much as possible, and processing the wastes as near as possible to the production center. In this context, EURECAT has developed a recycling process for the hydroprocessing catalysts used in the oil refineries (NiMo, CoMo, NiW on alumina or mixed alumina silica). The process starts with a regeneration of the catalyst to eliminate hydrocarbons, carbon and sulfur. After a caustic roasting, the material is leached to obtain a solution containing mainly molydenum (or tungsten) and vanadium and a solid containing essentially alumina, cobalt and/or nickel. Molydenum and vanadium are separated by an ion exchange resin technique. The solid is processed in an arc furnace to separate the alumina. Nickel and cobalt are separated by conventional solvent extraction to obtain pure metal. Alumina is disposed of as an inert slag. The strength of the process lies in the combination of proven technologies applied by companies whose reliability in their respective field is well known. The aspects concerning spent catalyst handling, packaging and transport are also discussed.