Separation and recovery of metal values from natural bitumen ash
AssigneeU.S. Vanadium Corporation
InventorsMichael R. Woolery, Ledell Rigsby
Life of this patent
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Abstract
High yields of vanadium containing virtually no nickel or magnesium are obtained from natural bitumen ash consisting of up to 5% carbon, more than 95% of water-soluble compounds of vanadium, nickel and magnesium by mixing the ash with water to produce a 20% solids slurry of pH below 6.5 and temperature of 80-85° C. oxidizing any reduced vanadium in the slurry and then separating and removing the resulting polyvanadate precipitate from the liquid phase containing substantially all the nickel and magnesium values of the ash.
Claims4
A method of recovering vanadium values from natural bitumen ash containing vanadium, nickel and magnesium values which comprises the steps of slurrying the ash with water, then adding oxidizing agent and sulfuric acid to maintain the resulting slurry at a pH of between 2 and 3, thereafter agitating said slurry for 1-24 hours at temperatures between 20° C. and 100° C., and then separating and removing the solid phase of undissolved ash and insoluble vanadium values from the liquid phase containing essentially all the nickel and magnesium values in solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.