Sustainable recycling of titanium from TiO_(2) in spent SCR denitration catalyst via molten salt electrolysis

Spent catalyst used for denitration by selective catalytic reduction(spent SCR denitration catalysts) is one of the important urban mines due to the high content of TiO_(2)(~85 wt%) and the massive accumulation amount(over 100,000 tons),therefore,value-added reutilization of titanium in spent SCR catalysts is considerably meaningful.In this paper,a novel method is proposed for converting the titanium oxide in spent SCR denitration catalysts to metallic titanium.Specifically,titanium dioxide(TiO_(2)) was firstly obtained from spent SCR denitration catalysts after removing the impurities by hydrometallurgy process.Then,TiO_(2) is converted to Ti_(2)CO by carbothermic reduction method,and Ti_(2)CO was further purified by oleic acid capture.Finally,by utilizing the as-prepared Ti_(2)CO as the consumable anode in the NaCl-KCl molten salt,high-purity metallic titanium was deposited at cathode,all confirming the feasibility for the conversion of low-grade TiO_(2) in the spent catalysts,from 60 wt% to high-purity metallic Ti(99.5 wt%), furthermore,the energy consumption of this process is 3950 kWh tonne-1 Ti,which is lower than that of most traditional titanium metallurgy methods.The method herein can provide new insights for the value-added recycling of titanium resources in urban mines.

Comprehensive recovery of W,V,and Ti from spent selective reduction catalysts

In this study,spent WO_(3)/V_(2)O_(5)-TiO_(2) catalysts used for selective catalytic reduction were treated by a hydrometallurgical process to comprehensively recover valuable metallic elements,such as W,V,and Ti.Al and Si impurities were preferentially removed by selective micro wave-assisted alkali leaching.W and V were leached by enhanced high-pressure leaching with efficiencies estimated at 95% and 81%.The leaching of W and V followed the nuclear shrinkage model controlled by the combination of product layer diffusion and interfacial chemical reaction.A synergistic extraction was applied to separate W and V using an extractant mixture of di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid P204 and the primary amine N1923.The extraction efficiencies of V and W reached 86.5% and 6.3%,respectively,with a separation coefficient(V/W) of 95.30.The product was precipitated after extraction to yield ammonium paratung state(APT) and NH_(4)VO_(3).The TiO_(2)catalyst carrier residue meets commercial specifications for reuse.This comprehensive recovery process with the characteristics of high-pressure leaching and synergistic extraction realizes the resourceful utilization of the spent catalysts.