Intevep, S.a.

Universidad Central De Venezuela

Alfredo Morales Ruiz

Jose Guitian

Carlos Zerpa

Marcos Rosa-Brussin

Otto Rodriguez

Gonzalo Sepulveda

Nereida Carrion

Pedro Roa

A natural active stable catalyst for use in the hydrodemetallization (HDM) and the hydroconversion (HC) of heavy crudes and residues and, in particular, a method for the preparation of the catalyst from natural clay and a process for the treatment of heavy crudes and residues with the catalyst. The catalyst is free of hydrogenating metals of Groups VIB and VIII of the Periodic Table and comprises primarily iron, silica and alumina derived from the composition of the natural clay. The catalyst possesses a surface area of between 20 to 100 m.sup.2 /g, a total pore volume of between 0.20 to 0.90 cc/g, where 50 to 100% of the total pore volume contains pores of diameter greater than 400 .ANG.. The catalyst has a ratio I(Fe)/I(Si+Al) of between 0.2 to 0.9 as determined by XPS.

Process for the demetallization and hydroconversion of heavy crudes and

Catalyst formed of natural clay for use in the hydrodemetallization and

Growing community of inventors

Caracas, Venezuela

Alfredo Morales Ruiz