A catalyst structure includes a porous support structure, where the support structure includes an aluminosilicate material and any two or more metals loaded in the porous support structure selected from Ga, Ag, Mo, Zn, Co and Ce. The catalyst structure is used in a hydrocarbon upgrading process that is conducted in the presence of methane, nitrogen or hydrogen.

The present invention is related to the application of solid polymers or copolymers prepared from monomers having in their structure a polycyclic aromatic ring, an aromatic ring of the type of naphthalene, or polyesters, polyethers, polyamides or polyvynil derivatives having naphthalene units in their structure, in the hydrotreatment or hydrocracking of heavy hydrocarbons, such as heavy or extra-heavy crude oils or residues from the distillation of petroleum; these polymers or copolymers may be supported, anchored or in a physical mixture with metallic oxides such as alumina, silica, titania or kaolin, and they have an application as heterogeneous hydrogen donors in reactions of hydrotreatment or hydrocracking of heavy or extra-heavy crude oils, residues from the distillation of petroleum and cuts and streams deived from this distillation. These solid polymers or copolymers operate in the presence of hydrogen or methane-rich gas. These hydrogen donor polymers, being solid, may be recovered from the reaction mixture to be reused and have a thermal stability that allows for their use in reactions at temperatures above 450 C. These heterogeneous hydrogen donors improve the physical properties of crude oils, such as API gravity, viscosity, and distillates yield, inhibiting the formation of coke.

A hydroconversion catalyst with a bimodal pore structure: an oxide matrix predominantly of calcined aluminium; a hydro-dehydrogenative active phase of at least one group VIII metal being at least partly commixed within the said oxide matrix mainly made up of calcined aluminium, an S.sub.BET specific surface greater than 100 m.sup.2/g, a mesoporous median diameter in volume between 12 and 25 nm inclusive, a macroporous median diameter in volume between 250 and 1500 nm inclusive, a mesoporous volume as measured by mercury intrusion porosimeter greater than or equal to 0.55 ml/g and a total measured pore volume by mercury porosimetry greater than or equal to 0.70 ml/g;
a method for preparing a residue catalyst for hydroconversion/hydroprocessing by commixing the active phase with a particular alumina,
the use of the catalyst in hydroproces sing, including hydroproces sing heavy feeds.