Sulfuric Acid Leaching of Mechanically Activated Vanadium-Bearing Converter Slag

The extraction of vanadium from mechanically activated converter slag was studied in dilute sulfuric acid solution. The effects of roasting and leaching parameters were investigated. The results show that Ca/V mole ratio, roasting temperature, leaching temperature, S/L ratio and leaching time significantly affected the dissolution of vanadium while only roasting time has relatively minor effects under the conditions in this work. The over-high roasting temperatures and Ca/V mole ratios performed negative effects on the dissolution of vanadium. The optimum conditions for roasting was found to be 800 degrees C, 60 min and 1:1 Ca/V mole ratio, and that for leaching conditions was pH 2.5, 60 degrees C, 20:1 L/S ratio,- 150 mesh and 40-80 min. More than 90% of vanadium was leached from the converter slag under these optimum conditions.