Abstract
Research on extracting secondary raw materials from hazardous waste is gaining global importance. Spent catalysts containing heavy metals pose a great threat to environment. A key example is spent catalysts from sulfuric acid production, which contain 4.66% V(2)O(5). This work aims at recovering vanadium from spent catalyst discharged from sulfuric acid industry. Experiments used four different leaching acids: tartaric acid, oxalic acid, acetic acid, and citric acid. The effects of temperature, reagent concentration, leaching duration, and solid/liquid (S/L) ratio were tested. Under optimal conditions, an impressive 95% of vanadium was recovered through citric acid leaching, with the following parameters (2% S/L ratio, 1 M citric acid, 70 °C, pH, and a leaching duration of 120 min). Results indicated the potential for recovering vanadium pentoxide from spent vanadium catalysts used in the sulfuric acid industry in Egypt.