Recovery by acid leaching of vanadium contained in spent catalysts

In the production of sulfuric acid by the contact method, catalysts with more than 4 % vanadium pentoxide are used, which go out of service once they are completely exhausted. In the present work, the recovery, by acid leaching, of the vanadium contained in exhausted catalysts from the Patricio Lumumba Factory was evaluated. A full factorial design of experiments was carried out (23) where the following were analyzed as independent variables: temperature, solid/liquid ratio and sulfuric acid concentration and as dependent variables: vanadium concentration and leaching performance. The processing allowed obtaining a liquid phase composed of the sulfates of the metals leached with sulfuric acid, which have vanadium concentrations between 1,448 mg/l and 3,730 mg/l. The evaluated processing allows, from the liquid phase obtained, recovering the vanadium for its industrial use, where the solid waste generated is not polluting, which is favorable for the protection of the environment