Vanadium(IV) ions extraction in the aqueous two-phase system based on poly(ethylene glycol)

Abstract Vanadium has found wide applications in various industries: metallurgy, electronics, batteries, and others. This element, being dispersed, does not form its minerals and, therefore, is mined along the way. An alternative approach of vanadium extraction is to separate it from heavy oil, by flushing the oil with strong acids solutions and further hydrometallurgical processing. The existing methods of oil dehydration solutions processing for the vanadium extraction are not perfect - they do not meet the “green” chemistry principles. Thus, we investigated V(IV) ions extraction in the aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) based on poly(ethylene glycol) 1500 (16.3wt%) – NaNO3 (36wt%) – H2O. The dependences of V(IV) extraction efficiency on phases time contact, and dependences V(IV) distribution coefficients on salt phase acidity have been obtained. This system is shown to be a prospective solution for the vanadium(IV) recovery from acidic waste steams problem as it is possible to extract vanadium with an efficiency of more than 81.6% per one extraction step (the distribution coefficient of vanadium (IV) was 4.84).