Research Projects

Objective: Develop viable and adaptable technology for complete value recovery from different types of spent oil refinery catalysts (HDS, HDT, FCC etc.) with minimum environmental load. This technology is based on carbothermic smelting of spent catalysts followed by post processing steps to produce saleable ferro-alloys (Fe-Ni-Co-Mo), and an alumina rich slag, more precisely calcium aluminate slag suitable for construction/cement industries.

Summary: Spent refinery catalysts contain several critical and strategic metals, such as Mo, Ni, Co, W, etc. in appreciable quantities (total metal content could be as high as 25 – 30%), therefore its’ efficient recycling has many facets of advantages. At present India is mostly relying upon imports to meet the demand of these metals, at the same time disposing of few thousand metric tons of these spent catalysts. The intent of this project is to develop a competitive and viable technology at pilot scale for production of marketable ferro-alloys and alumina rich slag for cement industry by recycling of spent refinery catalysts.