Distribution of vanadium between SiO 2 rich slags and carbon saturated liquid iron

In order to determine optimal slag compositions for the extraction of vanadium from hot metal to SiO 2 rich slags, vanadium distributions were determined between slags of the following systems: FeO*–SiO 2 [(%V) ã 1.7] FeO*–SiO 2 (sat)‐CaO,Na 2 O,MgO,Al 2 O 3 ,TiO 2 [(%V) ã 1.7] FeO*–SiO 2 –VO n [(%FeO*)/(%SiO 2 ) = 1.5–1.7] and carbon saturated liquid iron at 1 300°C using the solid iron foil technique. The distribution increased with FeO* content in the binary FeO*–SiO 2 system, while additions of CaO, Na 2 O, MgO and Al 2 O 3 to FeO*–SiO 2 based slags under SiO 2 saturation caused the distribution to decrease. A slight decrease in distribution was also observed with increasing vanadium oxide content in FeO*–SiO 2 based slags having a constant (%FeO*)/(%SiO 2 ) ratio. The highest vanadium distributions were found in SiO 2 saturated slags with high TiO 2 contents. Vanadium valencies in the slags were determined by a wet analytic titration technique and the results showed that V III+ is predominant. It was suggested that the predominating ionic species of vanadium in SiO 2 saturated slags are V 3+ and VO + while a change towards VO − 2 may occur for FeO rich slags.