An improved method for recovering metals from spent catalysts, particularly from spent slurry catalysts, is disclosed. The method and associated processes comprising the method are useful to recover spent catalyst metals used in the petroleum and chemical processing industries. The method generally involves a combination of a pyrometallurgical and a hydrometallurgical method and includes forming a potassium carbonate calcine of a KOH leach residue of the spent catalyst containing an insoluble Group VIIIB/Group VIB/Group VB metal compound combined with potassium carbonate, and extracting and recovering soluble Group VIB metal and soluble Group VB metal compounds from the potassium carbonate calcine.

Integrated recycling method and processes including recycling spent catalyst to produce one or more water-soluble metal salts and one or more water-insoluble tail byproducts, and recycling rechargeable batteries to produce one or more battery-grade metals and one or more pure metallic byproducts, wherein the water insoluble tail byproduct is a feedstock in recycling the rechargeable batteries, the impure metallic byproduct is a feedstock in recycling the spent catalyst, or both.

A process for treating spent catalyst containing heavy metals, e.g., Group VIB metals and Group VIII metals is provided. In one embodiment after deoiling, the spent catalyst is treated with an ammonia leach solution under conditions sufficient to dissolve the group VIB metal and the Group VIII metal into the leaching solution, forming a leach slurry. After solid-liquid separation to recover a leach solution, chemical precipitation and solids repulping is carried out to obtain an effluent stream containing ammonium sulfate (Amsul), ammonium sulfamate, Group VB, Group VIB and Group VIII metals. Following sulfidation, the Group VIII metal is fully removed and Group VB and Group VI metals are partially removed from the Amsul stream. In the additional steps of oxydrolysis and iron precipitation, an effective amount of ferric ion at a pre-select pH is added to form insoluble complexes with the Group VB and Group VIB metals, which upon liquid-solid separation produces an effluent ammonium sulfate stream containing less than 10 ppm each of the Group VB and Group VIB metals.

There is a process for the selective recovery of transition metals from an organic stream containing transition metals. The organic stream and possibly a first extractor if solid, are melted up to the liquid state. The extractor consists of an ionic liquid or a mixture of two or more ionic liquids and the ionic liquid contains an ammonium salt as cation and as anion an anion with chelating properties. A melted organic stream and a first extractor, optionally melted, are fed to a first liquid-liquid extraction unit working at a temperature of at least 150° C. where the liquid-liquid extraction is carried out obtaining a liquid mixture containing an ionic liquid, or a mixture of two or more ionic liquids, and metals. After extraction, the liquid mixture is cooled at a temperature between 0° C. and 70° C. and becomes biphasic; then the cooled mixture is sent to a first separation unit, to separate a liquid phase that contains ionic liquids and metals, and a metal-depleted solid phase. After the first separation, the separated metal-depleted solid phase is optionally sent to a washing unit to which a solvent is fed, so as to eliminate the residual ionic liquid by transferring it into the solvent and obtaining a metal-depleted solid phase. Then the separate liquid phase containing ionic liquids and metals is sent into a liquid-liquid precipitation and separation unit, adding a counter-solvent, thereby obtaining a solid phase containing the metals and a liquid stream containing counter-solvent and ionic liquids.

An improved method for recovering metals from spent supported catalysts, including spent supported hydroprocessing catalysts. The method and associated processes comprising the method are useful to recover spent supported catalyst metals used in the petroleum and chemical processing industries. The method generally involves a combination of a pyrometallurgical and a hydrometallurgical method and includes forming a potassium carbonate calcine from the spent supported catalyst containing Group VIIIB/Group VIB/Group VB metal compound(s) combined with potassium carbonate, and extracting and recovering soluble Group VIB metal and soluble Group VB metal compounds from the potassium carbonate calcine.

Provided are a selective recovery method of vanadium and cesium from a waste sulfuric acid vanadium catalyst by a hydrometallurgical method including water leaching, solid-liquid separation, vanadium solvent extraction, vanadium selective stripping, and cesium alum production, and a high-quality vanadium aqueous solution and cesium alum produced thereby.

Provided are a selective recovery method of vanadium and cesium from a waste sulfuric acid vanadium catalyst by a hydrometallurgical method including water leaching, solid-liquid separation, vanadium solvent extraction, vanadium selective stripping, and cesium alum production, and a high-quality vanadium aqueous solution and cesium alum produced thereby.

An improved method for recovering metals from spent catalysts, particularly from spent slurry catalysts, is disclosed. The method and associated processes comprising the method are useful to recover catalyst metals used in the petroleum and chemical processing industries. The method generally involves a pyrometallurgical method and a hydrometallurgical method and includes forming a soda ash calcine of a caustic leach residue of the spent catalyst containing an insoluble Group VIII/Group VIB/Group VB metal compound combined with soda ash, and extracting and recovering soluble Group VIB metal and soluble Group VB metal compounds from the soda ash calcine.

The present invention provides a method for selective recovery of a valuable metal from a waste denitrification catalyst through alkali fusion, the method comprising the steps of: (a) adding an alkali metal to a waste denitrification catalyst, followed by mixing and alkali fusion, to generate a calcination product; (b) subjecting the calcination product to water-leaching to recover an alkali leachate and a residue; (c) adding a precipitator to the alkali leachate, followed by stirring, to recover calcium metavanadate (Ca(VO.sub.3).sub.2) or calcium tungstate (CaWO.sub.4) through precipitation; and (d) subjecting the recovered calcium tungstate to acid decomposition to prepare tungstic acid. Therefore, vanadium and tungsten can be recovered at high efficiency by a method in which a precipitator is added to a leachate, which is obtained by adding an excess amount of an alkali metal to a waste denitrification catalyst and carrying out calcination and water-leaching, and then a reaction rate is controlled.

Integrated recycling method and processes including recycling spent catalyst to produce one or more water-soluble metal salts and one or more water-insoluble tail byproducts, and recycling rechargeable batteries to produce one or more battery-grade metals and one or more pure metallic byproducts, wherein the water insoluble tail byproduct is a feedstock in recycling the rechargeable batteries, the impure metallic byproduct is a feedstock in recycling the spent catalyst, or both.