Adsorption process for purifying vanadium from chromium-contaminated leaching solutions using zirconium-based adsorbents

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2025.01.008

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering ›› 2025, Vol. 82 ›› Issue (6): 125-137.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2025.01.008

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Adsorption process for purifying vanadium from chromium-contaminated leaching solutions using zirconium-based adsorbents

Biao Yuan¹, Fujin Sun², Pingting Chen¹, Kunpeng He¹, Pan Wu¹, Changjun Liu¹, Jian He¹, Wei Jiang¹

1. Low-carbon Technology and Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China;
2. College of Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China

Received:2024-11-25 Revised:2025-01-19 Accepted:2025-01-22 Online:2025-03-08 Published:2025-08-19
Contact: Jian He,E-mail:jianhe@scu.edu.cn
Supported by:
This work was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22178229) and the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province (2022NSFSC1190). We would like to thank the Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, for XRD and UV-vis DRS analysis. Moreover, we are particularly grateful to the Center of Engineering Experimental Teaching, School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, for inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICAP7400, Thermo Scientific, USA) and FT-IR by teacher Xiang Lin, scanning electron microscopy (SEM, JSM-7610F, JEOL, Japan) and transmission electron microscope (TEM, JEM-F200, JEOL) by teacher Yanping Huang.

Adsorption process for purifying vanadium from chromium-contaminated leaching solutions using zirconium-based adsorbents

Biao Yuan¹, Fujin Sun², Pingting Chen¹, Kunpeng He¹, Pan Wu¹, Changjun Liu¹, Jian He¹, Wei Jiang¹

1. Low-carbon Technology and Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China;
2. College of Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China

通讯作者: Jian He,E-mail:jianhe@scu.edu.cn
基金资助:
This work was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22178229) and the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province (2022NSFSC1190). We would like to thank the Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, for XRD and UV-vis DRS analysis. Moreover, we are particularly grateful to the Center of Engineering Experimental Teaching, School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, for inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICAP7400, Thermo Scientific, USA) and FT-IR by teacher Xiang Lin, scanning electron microscopy (SEM, JSM-7610F, JEOL, Japan) and transmission electron microscope (TEM, JEM-F200, JEOL) by teacher Yanping Huang.

Abstract

Abstract: With the development of vanadium redox flow battery technology, the demand for pure vanadium is rapidly increasing. The separation of vanadium from vanadium-chromium leaching solutions are critical step in the production of purity-vanadium. This study presents an innovative adsorption process that utilizes amorphous ZrO₂ (AZrO) for the selective separation of V(V) and Cr(VI). In this process, a high adsorption capacity for V(V) at 64.5 mg·g^-1 was achieved, while the capacity for Cr(VI) is relatively low at 24.1 mg·g^-1, demonstrating good separation performance. This is mainly caused by the large specific surface area and mesoporous structure, which are favorable for molecular diffusion and mass transfer. The kinetic analysis shows that the adsorption process follows pseudo-second-order kinetic process with chemisorption being the rate-controlling process. AZrO showed excellent separation performance in mixed solutions over a wide range of concentrations. After five cycles, AZrO retained over 73% of its capacity, indicating good stability. In mixed solutions containing up to 40 g·L^-1 of V(V) and 3 g·L^-1 of Cr(VI), the innovative adsorption process successfully achieved effective separation and purification. By an adsorption-desorption process using 0.1 mol·L^-1 NaOH, a 99.02% V(V)-rich solution was obtained from a high concentration sodium vanadium slag leaching solution, demonstrating its effectiveness for practical industrial applications.

Key words: Adsorption, Amorphous ZrO₂, Leaching solution, Separation, Purification

摘要： With the development of vanadium redox flow battery technology, the demand for pure vanadium is rapidly increasing. The separation of vanadium from vanadium-chromium leaching solutions are critical step in the production of purity-vanadium. This study presents an innovative adsorption process that utilizes amorphous ZrO₂ (AZrO) for the selective separation of V(V) and Cr(VI). In this process, a high adsorption capacity for V(V) at 64.5 mg·g^-1 was achieved, while the capacity for Cr(VI) is relatively low at 24.1 mg·g^-1, demonstrating good separation performance. This is mainly caused by the large specific surface area and mesoporous structure, which are favorable for molecular diffusion and mass transfer. The kinetic analysis shows that the adsorption process follows pseudo-second-order kinetic process with chemisorption being the rate-controlling process. AZrO showed excellent separation performance in mixed solutions over a wide range of concentrations. After five cycles, AZrO retained over 73% of its capacity, indicating good stability. In mixed solutions containing up to 40 g·L^-1 of V(V) and 3 g·L^-1 of Cr(VI), the innovative adsorption process successfully achieved effective separation and purification. By an adsorption-desorption process using 0.1 mol·L^-1 NaOH, a 99.02% V(V)-rich solution was obtained from a high concentration sodium vanadium slag leaching solution, demonstrating its effectiveness for practical industrial applications.

关键词: Adsorption, Amorphous ZrO₂, Leaching solution, Separation, Purification

Biao Yuan, Fujin Sun, Pingting Chen, Kunpeng He, Pan Wu, Changjun Liu, Jian He, Wei Jiang. Adsorption process for purifying vanadium from chromium-contaminated leaching solutions using zirconium-based adsorbents[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2025, 82(6): 125-137.

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Adsorption process for purifying vanadium from chromium-contaminated leaching solutions using zirconium-based adsorbents

Adsorption process for purifying vanadium from chromium-contaminated leaching solutions using zirconium-based adsorbents

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