Patent ID: 8802586

Claim:
A slurry catalyst for use in hydroprocessing a heavy oil feedstock, wherein: the slurry catalyst comprises a plurality of dispersed particles in a hydrocarbon medium, wherein the dispersed particles have an average particle size ranging from 1 to 300 μm, the slurry catalyst has a polymodal pore distribution with at least 80% of pore sizes in the range of 5 to 2,000 Angstroms in diameter, and the slurry catalyst is prepared from sulfiding and dispersing a metal precursor solution in a hydrocarbon diluent, the metal precursor solution comprising at least a water-soluble salt of a Primary metal selected from Group VIB, Group JIB metals and Group VIII metals, the metal precursor solution having a pH of at least 4 and a concentration of less than 10 wt. % of the Primary metal in solution.