Recovery of metal values from spent hydrodesulfurization catalysts

Claim 1

A process of recovering metal values from spent hydrodesulfurization catalyst which comprises: forming in a pressure vessel an aqueous slurry of finely divided spent catalyst and sodium carbonate; the spent catalyst containing by weight about 2 to 10% Mo, up to about 12% V, about 0.5 to 4% Co, up to about 10% Ni, occluded oil, coke, sulfide sulfur and the balance essentially alumina; the amount of sodium carbonate being at least sufficient to convert Mo and any V present to soluble Na 2 MoO 4 and NaVO 3 and to neutralize SO 3 produced during oxidation, the amount of sodium carbonate being at least that required stoichiometrically; heating said slurry in the presence of an oxygen-containing gas to a temperature of about 200° C. to 350° C. and a pressure of about 800 psig to 2500 psig for a time at least sufficient to solubilize said Mo and any V present; the amount of oxygen being over about 1.1 times the stoichiometric amount sufficient to oxidize the metal values and sulfur to the maximum oxidized state and oxidize the oil and free carbon to CO 2 and H 2 O; the lower range of pressure being employed where oxygen is used and the high pressure range being used when air is used as the oxidation agent; removing the reacted slurry from the pressure vessel and separating the solids therefrom to provide a filtrate containing NaVO 3 and Na 2 MoO 4 and solids containing alumina, NiO and CoO; recovering each of the metal values Mo and V from the filtrate solution by selectively extracting said vanadium using an organic solvent containing a quaternary amine at a pH of about 8.5 to 9.5 and provide an aqueous raffinate containing said molybdenum which is extracted therefrom using an organic solvent containing a secondary or tertiary amine at a pH of about 2 to 4; or, in the alternative, selectively precipitating said Mo value from the filtrate solution as MoS 3 by adjusting the pH to less than about 1 by the addition of H 2 S to provide a filtrate containing V which is recovered as a hydrated oxide by neutralizing the solution with a neutralizing agent selected from the group consisting of NaOH and Na 2 CO 3 or precipitated as a red cake by first oxidizing the vanadium to its higher valance and then adjusting the pH thereof with said neutralizing agent.