Project: Innovative extraction and management of vanadium from high vanadium iron concentrate and steel slags

Acronym	EXTRAVAN
Duration	01/12/2014 - 31/01/2017
Project Topic	Vanadium is an economically important metal for EU whose industry consumes about 13 % of the global vanadium production. Vanadium is mainly used for production of high strength and special steels, and advanced alloys for aerospace application. The vanadium production in EU is highly dependent on import of the raw materials. At the same time there are large amount of unexploited vanadium sources in EU member states. There are several titaniferrous ore deposits with around 1% V and large amount of steelmaking slag (BOF-slag) with up to 3 % V. This consortium (partners + subcontractors) consisting of three world leading research institutes (Swerea MEFOS/BRGM/GTK) in the fields of mineral processing, process metallurgy and environmental technology, a world recognised research group at KTH and a mining and metallurgical company Mustavaaran Kaivos Oy (owner of a Vrich titaniferrous ore deposit in Finland). This project seeks to develop breakthrough technologies which will enable economic and environmental friendly exploitation of these unused vanadium sources in Europe.
Project Results (after finalisation)	The EXTRAVAN aimed at developing novel technologies for production of vanadium in Europe based on V- bearing iron ore and V-bearing steel slag existing in the Nordic countries. EXTRAVAN focused on two major technological approaches. Route A is a “roasting-leaching” route including a novel approach for roasting of V- slag with very high vanadium content. This technology has been developed and demonstrated during the EXTRAVAN project. The industrial partner has contributed additional 35 000 € to make this pilot testing possible. The vanadium yield achieved is as high as 97%. All technical steps from high V-slag to roasting, leaching, AVP precipitation, V2O3 and V2O5 preparation, FeV making have been demonstrated in various scale with a very high overall vanadium yield. The results of the project have been an important and crucial part of the project development of MKOY (FERROVAN). The second focus (Route B) in the EXTRAVAN was development of a new approach for vanadium extraction using spent PVC waste stream as the chlorination agent. BRGM has demonstrated the concept capability in laboratory scale. High process flexibility has been demonstrated and a high V-recovery yield has been achieved. The technological achievements include a special roasting approach for high V-containing slag for the FERROVAN process aiming for a high overall vanadium recovery yield demonstrated in large pilot scale and a carbo- chlorination approach using spent PVC waste demonstrated in laboratory scale. The scientific achievements include: - A PhD thesis work (Mikael Lindvall, Swerim/Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden). - A Master thesis work (Martin Berg, KTH). - Two publications concerning “roasting-leaching” and optimized conditions for vanadium extraction (published). - Two publications on the PVC roasting approach (to be submitted by BRGM). - Over 10 presentations at various international conferences, seminars and workshops including those arranged by ERAMIN (Stockholm/Berlin). The main conclusions are as follows: - The technical feasibility of the whole chain of Route A – “reduction – selective oxidation – roasting – leaching/precipitation – FeV making” has been completely demonstrated. - The roasting, leaching, vanadate and V2O5/V2O3 preparation and FeV-making steps are successfully developed and proved in this project including a novel high temperature roasting (HTR) process has been developed. The innovation will shorten the roasting time by a factor of about 10. The vanadium recovery yield of the HTR roasted V-slag was up to 97%. - A novel oxy-chlorination process for direct roasting of high V-bearing BOF steel slag has also been demonstrated in laboratory scale with an overall vanadium recovery of up to 95%. In this process Cl-bearing wastes like PVC waste streams could used as the energy source and reagent. Further verification of this concept in larger scale is needed and recommended.
Network	ERA-MIN
Call	ERA-MIN 2nd Joint Call on Sustainable Supply of Raw Materials in Europe

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Swerea MEFOS	Coordinator	Sweden
2	Mustavaaran Kaivos Oy	Partner	Finland
3	Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières	Partner	France