Vanadium Extraction from a Fe–V (2.0 Mass%)–P (0.1 Mass%) Melt and Investigation of the Phase Relations in the Formed FeO–SiO2-Based Slag with 20 Mass% V

An innovative and sustainable way for production of vanadium is to co-process vanadium titanomagnetite ores with vanadium-bearing slag from steel industry, via reduction, producing a hot metal containing about 2 mass% vanadium, 0.1 mass% phosphorus, and 0.4 mass% silicon. A vanadium-extraction method was developed for these hot metals using a semi-industrial-scale converter. Oxidation was carried out with an air jet enriched to 50 vol% oxygen and by top-charging up to 70 kg iron ore pellets per ton hot metal. The complete dissolution of pellets was achieved by deliberately creating good stirring conditions utilizing high momentary decarburization rates. The temperature could be controlled to around 1677 K at the blowing endpoint after the pellet coolant had been dissolved. Produced vanadium slags contained as high as 20 mass% V. The semifinished product contained about 3 mass% carbon and 0.1 mass% vanadium, corresponding to a vanadium yield of 94%. The phosphorus distribution to the slag was low when good stirring was maintained. The slag composition had a more significant impact than the temperature on the vanadium distribution. Laboratory-scale study also showed that the temperature impact on the composition of the liquid phase was minor.