Hydrothermal Leaching Kinetics of Vanadium from an Iron Vanadate Mineral Using Oxalic Acid

Hydrothermal leaching vanadium using oxalic acid is a novel method reported recently to overcome the serious environmental problems caused by traditional extracting processes. In view of its promising application potential, the hydrothermal leaching kinetics of vanadium from a concentrate mainly composed of Fe_3−xV_xO₄ mineral via oxalic acid were investigated in this study. Firstly, the effects of the temperature and concentration of oxalic acid on the leaching behavior of vanadium were studied by measuring the leaching efficiency of vanadium at various times. Then, by fitting the measured leaching efficiency data to the proposed kinetic model, the leaching mechanism was analyzed and the rate-controlling step of the leaching process, the apparent activation energy, and the order of the chemical reactions were determined. Finally, a kinetic model was proposed to describe the present investigated leaching process. Detailed results are as follows: (1) an interfacial chemical reaction was the rate-controlling step of the present hydrothermal leaching process within temperatures ranging from 363 to 403 K, and the leaching efficiency was less than 85%; (2) the apparent activation energy of the interfacial chemical reaction was 45.6 kJ/mol; (3) the order of the interfacial chemical reaction to the concentration of oxalic acid was around 1.66.