Patent ID: 8575061

Claim:
A process for forming a hydroprocessing catalyst composition, the method comprises: co-precipitating at reaction conditions at least a Group VIB metal precursor feed and at least a Promoter metal precursor feed selected from Group VIII, Group IIB, Group IIA, Group IVA and combinations thereof, to form a mixture comprising a catalyst precursor, wherein the reaction conditions comprise a temperature between 25-350° C. and a pressure between 0 to 3000 psig and a pH of 0-12; isolating the catalyst precursor from the mixture, forming a supernatant containing at least a Promoter metal residual and at least a Group VIB metal residual in a total amount of at least 10 mole % of metal ions in the metal precursor feeds; contacting the supernatant with an ion exchange resin for a sufficient amount of time for at least 50 mole % of metal ions in the metal residuals to be bound onto the resin, forming a first effluent stream containing unbound metal residuals; eluting the resin to produce an eluate stream containing the metals ions previously bound onto the resin; treating the first effluent stream or the eluate stream to recover at least 80 mol % of metal ions in the stream to form at least a metal precursor feed; recycling the metal precursor feed to the co-precipitating step; and sulfiding the catalyst precursor forming the bulk catalyst.