Vanadium removal from spent catalyst used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid by electrical potential application

Abstract

Vanadium has many industrial applications and its contribution to environmental contamination is growing every day. Spent catalyst used in the sulfuric acid production is considered a hazardous residue due to the presence of vanadium pentoxide which is the most toxic form of the vanadium. Because of this, currently, these wastes are incinerated. Thus, the removal of vanadium from catalysts is justified from environmental and economic viewpoints. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect caused by the application of the electrokinetic remediation technique in the removal of vanadium of spent catalyst used in sulfuric acid industry when submitted to different conditions of electrical potential. The experiments were performed under 6.7 and 20.0 V m−1 constant potential gradient. The results showed that the maintenance of a potential gradient of 20.0 V m−1 resulted in an increase of 16% in vanadium removal but an increase in energy consumption per kg of remediated catalyst of about 80 times compared to the application of 6.7 V m−1. It was also observed that the intensity of the applied electrical potential modify the pH of the medium.