Process for the hydrogenation of heavy and residual oils

A process for upgrading heavy crudes, residue crudes, waste oils, shale oils and tar sand, each having a relatively high content of heavy metals (V+Ni) of more than 200 ppm, asphaltness in amounts greater than 2%, conradson carbon contents of more than 5% and less than 20 API, which comprises:

• (i) contacting one of said hydrocarbonaceous materials with a catalyst/additive which is at a concentration ranging from 0.1%-10.0% in an upflow slurry reactor system in which the catalyst/additive is added to said reactor in two or three different particle size fractions where each particle size fraction is added to said reactor through a separate and independent feeding system, wherein one of said particle size fractions is composed of particles of a size of 100 microns or less and another, larger particle size fraction ranges in size between 50 microns and 2,000 microns, and wherein 10-40 wt.% of said particles have a particle size greater than 1,000 microns, said mixture of fractions not being represented by a straight line when its accumulative weight versus particle size, which is plotted on log (-log) versus log graph paper has a correlation coefficient less than 0.96 as determined from the equation:
• ##EQU4## wherein n is the number of experimental points, y is ln and x is ln (dp) said catalyst/additive being selected from the group consisting of red mud, Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, iron ores, hard coals, lignites, cokes from hard coals, lignites optionally impregnated with heavy metals, carbon black, soots from gasifiers and cokes produced by the hydrogenation of virgin residues;
• and
• (ii) hydrogenating said hydrocarbonaceous material with hydrogen fed into said upflow slurry reactor system at a partial pressure ranging from 50 bar to 300 bar at temperatures between 300.degree. C. and 500.degree. C. at space velocities of 0.1-5 t/m.sup.3 h at gas/liquid ratios between 100 and 10,000 nm.sup.3 /t and at gas velocities greater than 3 cm/sec.