Electrorefining of carbonitrothermic vanadium in a fused salt electrolytic bath

Abstract

Electrorefining of impure vanadium was carried out in a fused LiCl–KCl–VCl2 bath. The impure vanadium, a solid solution of vanadium, nitrogen, carbon and oxygen (V,N,C,O), was prepared by carbonitrothermic reduction of V2O5. The major impurities present in (V,N,C,O) were: (wt.%) carbon 1.6, oxygen 1.2 and nitrogen 2.5. The maximum purity, current efficiency and metal yield, after refining, were 99.85, 90 and 86 wt.% respectively. The evaluation and characterization of the electrodeposited vanadium were carried out by chemical analysis, scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy and hardness measurements.