The electrochemical dissolution of molybdenum in non-aqueous media

Electrochemical dissolution of molybdenum in 1.0 M solution of ammonium nitrate in liquid ammonia at − 35 °C was investigated. The electrolyte has good conductivity and it showed corrosive ability to great extent. The galvanostatic method was used to investigate the anodic dissolution of molybdenum in NH4NO3/NH3 system with a cell potential difference of + 4.0 V. The dissolution efficiency of 79% was noted, while electrodeposition efficiency of molybdenum at parent cathode went up to 76%. No new molybdenum salt was added to the solution; only the dissolved molybdenum was redeposited on parent cathode. Later the residue left was analyzed for possible molybdenum complex and XRF analysis showed the presence of molybdenum in the residue. Cyclic voltammetry was used to investigate kinetic parameters of Mo in NH4NO3/NH3 system. Electrochemical behavior of molybdenum in 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium/trifluoromethansulfonat was also investigated and it was noticed that molybdenum dissolves in NH4NO3/NH3 system at faster rates.

Research Highlights
► Molybdenum resources are limited in this world and molybdenum use in steel industry is enormous.
► it seems necessary to find ways to recover pure molybdenum from molybdenum scrape.
► This work gives a new way to dissolve molybdenum scrape anodically and then using that solution for the deposition of molybdenum.
► This is not the most efficient process that can be used but it is a step in the direction of molybdenum recovery from spent materials.