Metal recovery from hydroconverted heavy effluent

A process for recovering metals from a starting material comprising the steps of:

• conducting a hydroconversion process by contacting a heavy hydrocarbon feedstock, an unsupported catalyst emulsion and an organic additive under hydroconversion conditions to produce upgraded product and a solid carbonaceous material and unconverted residue, the solid carbonaceous material and unconverted residue being a starting material and containing the organic additive and metals to be recovered, the metals being selected from the group consisting of vanadium, group 8-10 metals and group 6 metals;
• converting the starting material into ash containing the metals to be recovered;
• leaching the ash with a leaching solution to form a first solid containing the group 8-10 metals and carbonaceous solid material and a supernatant containing the vanadium and group 6 metal;
• mixing the supernatant with an ammonium sulfate solution to produce a precipitate containing the vanadium, and a further supernatant containing the group 6 metal;
• and
• mixing the further supernatant with an alkali solution, ammonium sulfate solution and a sulfuric acid solution to produce a precipitate containing the group 6 metal.