National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Moscow, Russia):

V. S. Rimoshevskiy, Post-Graduate, Dept. of Steel Metallurgy, New Production, Technologies and Metals Protection, e-mail: v.rimoshevsky@gmail.com
A. V. Pavlov, Dr. Eng., Prof., Dept. of Steel Metallurgy, New Production, Technologies and Metals Protection, Head
of Materials Diagnostics Laboratory, e-mail: pav-gnts@misis.ru
R. M. Mustafin, Cand. Eng., Associate Prof., Senior Researcher of Dept. of Steel Metallurgy, New Production, Technologies and Metals Protection
E. A. But, Cand. Eng., Associate Prof., Senior Researcher of Dept. of Steel Metallurgy, New Production, Technologies and Metals Protection

Abstract: More than 75 % of the reactions in the oil refining industry are catalytic. Spent catalysts that are unsuitable for further exploitation in oil refining should be disposed at specialized landfills. Given that the volume of the formed spent catalysts is 4% mass. from all wastes of the petrochemical industry, it seems relevant to develop a processing method that allows to extract all the useful elements — cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, as well as to obtain slag that is suitable for further use in ferrous metallurgy. Processing technology that meets the described criteria will avoid the need for the disposal of the waste. The paper describes a method of pyrometallurgical processing of spent catalysts using calcium as a reducing agent in order to simultaneously lower the melting point of the slag and fully reduce the nickel, cobalt and molybdenum oxides contained in the catalysts. Mathematical planning of the experiment was applied in accordance with the method of mixture design of experiments on simplex. The chemical compositions of the catalysts, the charge, the resulting metal and slag are given in this paper. The dependences of the chemical composition of the final products on the ratio of components in the initial mixture are determined. The limits of changes in the composition of the charge, allowing to obtain the final product of a given composition. The limitations on the chemical composition of the final products are also given. A description of the methodology for conducting experiments. Cocobalt-nickel-molybdenum ligatures based on copper, suitable for further extraction of pure elements by electrolytic refining, were obtained. Limealumina slag suitable for steel refining was obtained.

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