Recovery of vanadium during ammonium molybdate production using ion exchange

The recovery of vanadium in ammonium molybdate production with raw sodium molybdate solution was studied. Experimental results showed that the vanadium and some of impurities P, As and Si can be adsorbed along with the molybdenum from the feed liquid by the weak base resin D314 in the pH range of 2.5–3.5 and then they can be eluted from the loaded resin with ammonia liquor. The vanadium can partially natural-precipitate from the eluted solution. The lower the pH value is and, the longer the standing time is, the less the vanadium remained in the solution will be. Standing for 24 h in pH value 6.9, the vanadium in the solution was reduced to 0.51 g/L V2O5. It was found that the precipitate is ammonium isopoly-vanadate and it is impure. By washing the precipitate with hydrochloric acid and ammonia solution sequentially and then roasting at 500 °C for 2 h, the product of V2O5 with the purity 99.12% was obtained. The impurities P, As and Si in the stood solution were removed by purifying with MgCl2 under the pH value range of 8.0–9.0 at 60–80 °C for about 2 h, while the removal of the vanadium in the solution was performed by adsorbing with the strong base resin D296 in pH value about 7.0. The devanadiumized solution can be used to produce high-quality ammonium molybdate. The loaded vanadium resin was eluted with HCl 6 mol/L and, the eluted solution was returned to adjust the sodium molybdate solution pH value. The vanadium can be effectively separated and recovered in the process.

Research highlights
► The separation and recovery of vanadium in ammonium molybdate production were performed according to the flow sheet as shown in Fig. 1. Experimental results showed that the vanadium and some of impurities P, As and Si can be adsorbed along with the molybdenum from the feed liquid by the weak base resin D314 in the pH range of 2.5–3.5 and then they can be eluted from the loaded resin with ammonia liquor. The vanadium can partially natural-precipitate from the eluted solution. The lower the pH value is and, the longer the standing time is, the less the vanadium remained in the solution will be. Standing for 24 h in pH value 6.9, the vanadium in the solution was reduced to 0.51 g/L V2O5. It was found that the precipitate is ammonium isopoly-vanadate and it is impure. By washing the precipitate with hydrochloric acid and ammonia solution sequentially and then roasting at 500 °C for 2 h, the product of V2O5 with the purity 99.12% was obtained. The impurities P, As and Si in the stood solution were removed by purifying with MgCl2 under the pH value range of 8.0–9.0 at 60–80oC for about 2 h, while the removal of the vanadium in the solution was performed by adsorbing with the strong base resin D296 in pH value about 7.0. The devanadiumized solution can be used to produce high-quality ammonium molybdate. The loaded vanadium resin was eluted with HCl 6 mol/L and, the eluted solution was returned to adjust the sodium molybdate solution pH value. The vanadium can be effectively separated and recovered in the process.