Studies on recovery of vanadium from desilication residue obtained from processing of a spent catalyst

• Published in: Hydrometallurgy 2009-03, Vol.96 (1), p.166-170
• Main Authors: Shao, Yanhai, Feng, Qiming, Chen, Yun, Ou, Leming, Zhang, Guofang, Lu, Yiping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonium metavanadate; Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Metals. Metallurgy; Production of metals; Sodium bicarbonate leach; Spent catalyst; Vanadium recovery
• ISSN: 0304-386X; 1879-1158
• DOI: 10.1016/j.hydromet.2008.10.005

Recovery of vanadium from desilication residue obtained from the processing of a spent catalyst was investigated by leaching, purification and precipitation. In the leaching process, 96.4% vanadium can be extracted when the desilication residue (1:4 g/mL) was stirred at 800 rpm for 45 min at 80 °C with 100 g/L sodium bicarbonate. After purifying leach liquor in a two stage precipitation process, over 99% Al, 95% Si, 93% P and 95% As were removed under optimum conditions with less than 4% loss of vanadium. Adding 50 g/L NH 4NO 3 to the purified leach liquor and adjusting the pH to 8.2, promoted the crystallization and precipitation of 99.7% vanadium as ammonium metavanadate. After roasting ammonium metavanadate at 500 °C for 2 h, the purity of the V 2O 5 product was up to 98.3%. In terms of desilication residue and spent catalyst, the recovery of vanadium in the process reached 92.5% and 88.7%, respectively. The proposed leaching, purification and precipitation steps provide a feasible recovery of vanadium from desilication residue and a new approach for the comprehensive utilization of spent catalyst.