Veolia Signs Marketing Agreement to Recycle Hydrotreating Catalyst

18 February 2011 Veolia Environmental Services and Oklahoma Materials Recycling have signed an exclusive marketing agreement to recycle hydrotreating catalyst material from the oil refining industry. The hazardous waste division of Veolia Environmental Services North America (VESNA) - Veolia ES Technical Solutions LLC - has signed an agreement with Oklahoma Materials Recycling (OMR) whereby Veolia will exclusively provide up-front sales and marketing services for OMR's catalyst recycling plant currently under construction in Atoka, Okla. The new plant uses proprietary Advanced Thermochemical Reactor System (ACTR) technology developed by Advanced Fibers and Powders, and licensed by OMR. This technology involves a thermal chemical process instead of a hydrometallurgical process to recover molybdenum, According Veolia, this approach to catalyst recycling provides a new option for the petroleum refining industry to recycle spent hydrotreating catalysts containing the valuable base metal molybdenum (Mo). The advantages of the plant are said to be: The plant produces no liquid discharges, thereby mitigating environmental issues that can be problematic for competing technologies Minimises the use of water in the process of producing molybdic oxide saving precious water resources The technology is capable of separating tungsten from molybdenum allowing refinery companies to recycle hydrotreating and hydrocracking catalysts that contain both metals. Current hydrometallurgical technologies are not able to effectively process spent catalysts with both metals present. Robert Lupini, Managing Director of OMR said: "We evaluated several options and believe that the marketing capabilities and experience of Veolia in the recycling of waste products as well as the handling and transport of hazardous waste will enhance our ability to fill our capacity. Veolia has an outstanding reputation in the marketplace for service and has significant sales and marketing resources available to OMR." "The petroleum refining industry is a key market for Veolia," says Loren Alexander, Global national program manager for Veolia ES Technical Solutions. "Our refining customers have indicated great interest in having more options for managing spent catalysts and we feel OMR provides a unique technology with several advantages over the existing one. We are excited to respond to our customer requests with an improved option to meet their needs." Alexander added. The plant is currently under construction, and due for completion in late second quarter 2011.