Selective leaching and recovery of V as iron vanadate from industrially generated Mo-V residue

A commercial process was developed to treat a Ca-based Mo-V residue generated in Mo processing plant. Vanadium was selectively leached using acetic acid and recovered as iron vanadate by hydro process. Process conditions for selective V leaching and iron vanadate precipitation were investigated. V recovery efficiency of 90.3% was achieved with a V content of 26.5% and an Fe content of 29% in the iron vanadate cake suitable for ferrovanadium industry. The overall Mo recovery in the whole process was 98.6%. The obtained leach residue containing 14.3% Mo with negligible impurities can be used as a feed material for the Mo production process or ferromolybdenum industry. This simple and economical process generates two product streams from a single operation and has the potential to solve a long standing problem of handling such a mixed Mo-V residue.