Recovery of the vanadium ore washer

Given the industrial importance of vanadium, since its use in the production of light and high-strength steels, application in catalysts and in the aerospace industry, the extraction of this metal has prominence since Brazil is one of the largest holders of vanadium reserves, with 75% in relation to world reserves.

However, with the increase in mining of this noble metal, the volume of tailings generated in the explored areas also increases, so that there is still the presence of vanadium concentrate in the material, as well as titanium, considered another metal has value of market. In light of this, LAREX develops research lines for the recovery of these two metals from the mining waste of the vanadium ore.

For the development of possible extraction routes, the laboratory uses analysis equipment to characterize the samples, as in the identification of the elements that make up the material through X-Ray Fluorescence by Dispersive Energy (FRX), scanning electron microscopy with spectroscopy energy dispersive (SEM-EDS) in the morphological determination and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify the phases in which the elements are arranged. In addition, the plasma by inductive coupling (ICP-OES) is also used in the quantitative analyzes of leach liquors from the hydrometallurgical routes used in the metals extraction process.