PROCÉDÉ NON DESTRUCTEUR POUR ÉLIMINER DES MÉTAUX, DES IONS MÉTALLIQUES ET DES OXYDES MÉTALLIQUES DE MATÉRIAUX À BASE D'ALUMINE

摘要

The featured invention describes a non-destructive process for removing metals, metal ions and metal oxides present in alumina-based materials without destroying alumina whose main application is in the regeneration of alumina-based catalysts, in the recovery and/or recycling of metals and in the reuse of alumina catalysts employed mainly in oil industry processes as hydrotreating, isomerization and naphtha catalytic reforming catalysts.In this sense, it is important to emphasize that such catalysts are used mainly to remove sulfur, nitrogen and silicon compounds as well as to increase the octane number and isomerize compounds present in the feedstock currents of hydrotreating, isomerization and naphtha catalytic reforming processes used in the oil industry.According to what was mentioned above, it is important to point out that the known conventional procedures and/or methods for removing metals, metal ions and metal oxides present in alumina-based materials use some inorganic acid or its mixtures to carry out digestion, which modifies the properties of alumina and those of any other element contained in the material, destroying alumina and preventing its reuse.The non-destructive process featured in the present invention is characterized by using an extracting agent that sequesters metals, metal ions and/or metal oxides present in alumina-based materials without modifying their properties. The employed extracting agent is an alcohol, preferably a polyol, which is a commercially available material that does not require high purity degree to be used.The non-destructive process introduced in the present invention reaches metal (M) removal rates of at least 42 % when using a continuous flow reactor and of at least 27 % when a batch reactor is employed.