Analysis of the Leaching Stage Effect on the Vanadium Extraction from Technogenic Raw Materials

Abstract

As a result of titanomagnetite iron ore processing, technogenic waste is formed in the form of vanadium-containing slags. The industrial processing of these slags is important to improve the environmental situation in industrial regions and expand vanadium raw material base. The study purpose was the vanadium extraction from slags of titanomagnetite ore processing (ITmk3 process slag and JSC “EVRAZ NTMK” slag) in the soluble vanadate form. Research tasks: hydrometallurgical vanadium extraction from slags of different chemical composition using soda technology; determination of the leaching mode effect (temperature and duration) on the vanadium extraction degree. Experimental samples in the form of slag and soda Na2CO3 mixture were processed to oxidative roasting and subsequent water leaching at different temperatures from 50 °C to 80 °C for 1, 2 and 3 hours. In the resulting solutions the vanadium content was determined with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). Analysis of the research results showed that the slag chemical composition and the water leaching conditions had a significant effect on vanadium extraction degree. The vanadium extraction degree from the JSC “EVRAZ NTMK” slag was 2 – 2.5 times higher than from the ITmk3 process slag after applying the same leaching modes. The highest degree of vanadium extraction was obtained after leaching at a temperature of 80 °C for 3 hours. These leaching modes increased the vanadium extraction degree from the JSC “EVRAZ NTMK” slag to 65 – 87%, and from the ITmk3 process slag to 31 – 33%.