Production of Fe-Ni/Co-Mo Metallic Alloy & Saleable Alumina Rich Slag from Ni-Mo/Co-Mo Spent Catalysts

The main use of Fe-Ni/Co-Mo alloy in the manufacture of special grade alloy steels and calcium aluminate slag for cement making.

Hydrometallurgical treatment of spent hydro-refining catalysts generates residues containing a significant amount of Ni (2-5%), Co (2–5%), and Mo (0.5–1%). These residues are presently dumped or underutilized in construction-related industries. The pyro-metallurgical process developed at CSIR-NML is able to recover more than 90% of these metals as saleable alloys, besides generating calcium aluminate type slag.

A process also developed to treat spent HDS catalyst containing 4-18 % Mo, 1-10 % Ni, 1-18 % W, 0.5-5% Co, 30-35% Al and a minor amount of S, P and Si to produce a Co/Ni, Mo-W-Fe alloy with P less than 0.1% and alumina rich slag as a building material.

The economic recovery of strategic metals Ni, Co, and Mo from the waste source of processed spent hydro-refining catalysts. The slag generated is non-toxic and will be completely used in cement making.