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Separation and Recovery of Vanadium, Nickel, and Aluminum from Acid Leaching Solution of Spent Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst by a Solvent Extraction-Oxalic Acid Precipitation Process

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Abstract

In order to realize the resource utilization of spent hydrodesulfurization catalyst, a solvent extraction-oxalic acid precipitation process is studied in this paper for efficiently recovering vanadium, nickel, and aluminum from the acid leaching solution of spent hydrodesulfurization catalyst. The process conditions for extracting vanadium with Cyanex 272 and precipitating nickel using oxalic acid as a precipitation agent were explored in detail. The results show that vanadium (IV) in the sulfuric acid medium containing nickel and aluminum was efficiently and selectively extracted by Cyanex 272. After three-stage countercurrent extraction, the extraction efficiency of vanadium was 99.76%, and the co-extraction efficiencies of nickel and aluminum were only 2.47% and 1.87%, respectively. Thermodynamic calculation shows that the extraction of vanadium (IV) from the sulfuric acid medium with Cyanex 272 is an endothermic reaction. The innovative method of oxalic acid precipitation was used to recover nickel from the raffinate, achieving selective extraction of nickel from the solution containing a high concentration of aluminum. The precipitation efficiency of nickel was 98.58%, while that of aluminum was only 0.75% under optimal conditions. The proposed flowsheet for the separation of vanadium, nickel, and aluminum from acid leaching solution may provide a new idea for the comprehensive recovery of valuable metals from spent hydrodesulfurization catalyst.

Highlights

• Separation of V, Ni, and Al from the acid leaching solution of spent hydrodesulfurization catalyst.

• The V was efficiently extracted from the sulfuric acid solution containing Ni and Al using Cyanex 272.

• The V extraction process by Cyanex 272 from sulfuric acid solution is an endothermic reaction.

• Oxalic acid can selectively extract Ni from the raffinate containing a high concentration of Al.

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Funding

This research was supported by China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association under Grant No. JS-KTHT-2019–01.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil and Resource Engineering School, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jinrong Ju, Yali Feng, Chenglong Xu & Shunliang Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jinrong Ju, Haoran Li & Chenglong Xu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jinrong Ju, Haoran Li & Chenglong Xu

Authors
  1. Jinrong Ju
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  2. Yali Feng
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  3. Haoran Li
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Correspondence to Yali Feng or Haoran Li.

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Ju, J., Feng, Y., Li, H. et al. Separation and Recovery of Vanadium, Nickel, and Aluminum from Acid Leaching Solution of Spent Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst by a Solvent Extraction-Oxalic Acid Precipitation Process. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 40, 65–79 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-022-00700-2

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