A series of innovative green metallurgical processes using novel reaction media including the NaOH/KOH sub-molten salt media and the NaOH-NaNO3 binary molten salt medium, for the extraction of vanadium and chromium from the vanadium slag have been developed. In comparison with the traditional sodium salt roasting technology, which operates at 850 ℃, the operation temperatures of these new processes drop to 200-400 ℃. Further, the extraction rates of vanadium and chromium utilizing the new approaches could reach 95% and 90%, respectively, significantly higher than those in the traditional roasting process, which are 75% and approximate zero, respectively. Besides, no hazardous gases and toxic tailings are discharged during the extraction process. Compared with the conventional roasting method, these new technologies show obvious advantages in terms of energy, environments, and the mineral resource utilization efficiency, providing an attractive alternative for the green technology upgrade of the vanadium production industries.
A novel process was developed for the decomposition of vanadium slag using KOH sub-molten salt under ambient pressure, and the effects of reaction temperature, alkali-to-ore mass ratios, particle size, and stirring speed on vanadium and chromium extraction were studied. The results suggest that the reaction temperature and KOH-to-ore mass ratio are more influential factors for the extraction of vanadium and chromium. Under the optimal reaction conditions （temperature 180 °C, initial KOH-to-ore mass ratio 4：1, stirring speed 700 r/min, gas flow 1 L/min, and reaction time 300 min）, vanadium and chromium extraction rates can reach up to 95% and 90%, respectively. Kinetics analysis results show that the decomposing process of vanadium slag in KOH sub-molten salt can be well interpreted by the shrinking core model under internal diffusion control. The apparent activation energies for vanadium and chromium are 40.54 and 50.27 kJ/mol, respectively.
