Extraction of vanadium from direct acid leach solution of converter vanadium slag

Direct acid leaching of converter vanadium slag by titanium dioxide waste is eco-friendly and efficient, but with low selectivity. This novel technique can result in a vanadium solution which contains chromium(III), aluminium(III), magnesium(II), manganese(II) and high amount of iron(II) and iron(III). Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) and tri-butyl-phosphate (TBP) diluted with sulphonated kerosene were applied for vanadium extraction from the multi-element leach solution. The effects of the initial pH, concentration of D2EHPA, ratio of organic to aqueous phase, and the extraction time on the extraction efficiency of vanadium were investigated in saponification and unsaponifiable systems, respectively. The results showed that the vanadium extraction percentage can be up to 97% and the iron extraction percentage can be less than 10% in a thirteen-stage counter-current simulation test and the separation coefficient between vanadium and iron can reach to 109.8. Furthermore, vanadium(IV) can also be separated from other impurities such as aluminium(III), magnesium(II), manganese(II), chromium(III) efficiently. The loaded organic phase was stripped by 184?g?L^?1 sulphuric acid solution in a three-stage counter-current stripping process and with the total vanadium stripping percentage of greater than 99.5%. In the end, the vanadium pentoxide products with a purity of 99.14% were obtained.