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Recovery of vanadium from spent refinery catalysts: optimizing the process and analyzing the environmental impact

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Abstract

This study developed an effective and practical process for recovering vanadium as vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) from spent refinery catalysts. It involves four stages: leaching, purification, precipitation, and calcination. Vanadium was first leached using NaOH; then, the solution was purified by precipitation. Next, vanadium was recovered as ammonium polyvanadate, and finally, V2O5 was produced by calcination. The efficiency of the dissolution of vanadium reached 95% when the [NaOH] = 0.5 M, T = 25 °C, solid-to-liquid ratio = 1:10 g/mL, and time = 30 min. The pH of the leachate averaged ca. 10, but by decreasing it to 9, significant amounts of Al, Fe, and Si were removed from the solution. There was an estimated loss of 14% of vanadium during the precipitation of impurities, yet ca. 85% of it can be redissolved under the optimal leaching conditions. Finally, the purified leachate was subjected to the precipitation of vanadium by ammonium which was optimized using statistical software. The precipitation efficiency reached 76%; vanadium precipitated as ammonium polyvanadate. The resultant raffinate contained ca. 1.2 g/L of vanadium and was reconfigured for reuse within the process cycle. Next, the precipitate was calcined to produce V2O5 with a purity of over 99.5%. Experimental parameters were adjusted at each stage to optimize vanadium recovery while minimizing reagent consumption. By-products generated in each stage were reused in other processes, reducing waste production and vanadium loss. Finally, a life cycle assessment was conducted and revealed that the vanadium precipitation and calcination stages have the biggest impact on the environment in the developed process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Minerals and Metallurgical Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden

    Sina Shakibania

  2. School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Alireza Mahmoudi & Fereshteh Rashchi

  3. Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, USA

    Ehsan Vahidi

Authors
  1. Sina Shakibania
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  2. Alireza Mahmoudi
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  3. Fereshteh Rashchi
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  4. Ehsan Vahidi
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Contributions

SS conribted to Data curation-Equal, Formal analysis-Equal, Investigation-Equal, Resources-Equal, Visualization-Equal, Writing—original draft-Equal. AM conribted to Data curation-Equal, Formal analysis-Equal, Investigation-Equal, Resources-Equal, Visualization-Equal, Writing—original draft-Equal. FR conribted to Conceptualization-Equal, Funding Acquisition-Equal, Supervision-Equal, Writing—review & editing-Equal. EV conribted to Conceptualization-Equal, Methodology-Equal, Supervision-Equal, Writing—review & editing-Equal.

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Correspondence to Fereshteh Rashchi or Ehsan Vahidi.

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Shakibania, S., Mahmoudi, A., Rashchi, F. et al. Recovery of vanadium from spent refinery catalysts: optimizing the process and analyzing the environmental impact. Clean Techn Environ Policy 26, 291–306 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-023-02628-7

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