Process for removing thorium and recovering vanadium from titanium chlorinator waste

A process for recovery of vanadium from titanium chlorinator waste comprising:

• (a) leaching anhydrous titanium chlorinator waste in water or dilute hydrochloric acid solution and filtering to separate insoluble minerals and coke fractions from soluble metal chlorides;
• (b) beneficiating the insoluble fractions from step (a) on shaking tables to recover recyclable or otherwise useful TiO.sub.2 minerals and coke fractions;
• (c) treating filtrate from step (a) with reagents to precipitate thorium along with acid metals of Ti, Zr, Nb, and Ta by feeding separately and simultaneously with filtrate (a), a base and a precipitant into a reactor to obtain a boiling slurry of reaction products;
• (d) filtering precipitates containing thorium;
• (e) treating filtrate from step (d) with reagents to precipitate and recover an iron vanadate product by feeding separately and simultaneously with filtrate (d), a base and an oxidizing agent into a reactor to obtain a boiling slurry of reaction products;
• (f) filtering precipitates containing vanadium;
• and
• (g) treating filtrate from step (f) to remove any remaining cations except Na by addition of Na.sub.2 CO.sub.3 and boiling.