The Recycling of Vanadium from Steelmaking Slags: A Review

Vanadium is an extremely valuable industrial metal typically obtained from processing metallurgical slags. This article provides a comprehensive review and critical evaluation of the technologies of vanadium extraction from slags aiming to identify the most prospective technology. The review covers traditional approaches for treating V-bearing slags, such as salt roasting followed by acid leaching and ammonium precipitation, as well as promising alternative methods in this field, such as bioleaching, ultrasound-assisted leaching, and vaporization. The current industrial practice remains energy-intensive and is associated with chemical waste generation, thus leaving room for further improvements. Overall, this work provides valuable insights into the recycling of vanadium from steelmaking slags including extraction efficiencies of industrial and lab-scale methods, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each method setting the stage for future advancements in this field. The vaporization method is one of the most promising among those reviewed.