Catalysts are used in various industrial processes, particularly in the petrochemical, chemical, and refining sectors. Over time, these catalysts become deactivated or reach the end of their lifecycle. Rather than disposing them as waste, recycling offers a more sustainable approach.
Spent catalyst recycling involves the recovery and extraction of valuable metals and other components from these deactivated catalysts for reuse in new catalyst production or other applications.
Technologies convert spent catalyst and other vanadium containing residues into ferrovanadium, high purity vanadium pentoxide, and nickel and molybdenum products.
This provides refiners a sustainable, circular solution, by replacing hazardous waste disposal with recycling/reuse, significantly reducing pollution and CO2 emissions, and turning waste into value.
Typical refining catalysts, such as hydrotreating and hydrodesulfurization catalysts, contain from 3% to 20% Molybdenum. These refining catalysts are classified as hazardous waste reclaimed, along with some of the other contained metals such as Nickel, Vanadium, and Cobalt.
There are additional forms of molybdenum catalyst that contain from 20% to 52% Mo (as well as, in some cases, Cobalt, Bismuth, Tungsten, Nickel, Vanadium, etc.) All of these catalysts are recyclable along with molybdenum catalyst varying compositions.