Abstract

GONZALEZ, Lorenzo Perdomo; QUINTANA-PUCHOL, Rafael; PERDOMO-GOMEZ, Laura Ailin  and  MOLLINEDA-TRUJILLO, Ángel. Recovery of metallic elements from depleted vanadium catalysts by applying acid leaching. Min. Geol. [online]. 2019, vol.35, n.3, pp. 311-326. ISSN 1993-8012.

For producing sulfuric acid by the contact method, vanadium pentoxide catalysts are used, which are stored indefinitely in accordance with environmental regulations once exhausted. The present work evaluates the recovery of metallic elements contained in these catalysts by leaching with sulfuric acid at 15 % v/v and subsequent precipitation with 25 % ammoniacal solution m m. A mass balance was used for determining theoretical chemical composition and the masses of recovered product and the liquid and solid residuals. The processing allowed to obtain 1,756 g of concentrate (14,9 % of the residual) formed mainly by V2O5; Fe2O3; MnO, in addition Cr2O3, NiO, CaO, CoO and CuO. The metallic elements were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry, with the exception of vanadium, which was determined by visible ultraviolet spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence. This result constitutes an alternative to obtain metallic oxides from solid waste contaminants while contributing to preserve the environment.

Keywords : depleted catalysts; production of sulfuric acid; acid leaching; recovery of vanadium.

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