0 Introduction
In modern industry, more than 90% of vanadium is extracted by vanadium titanium ore and its slag through roasting, leaching and other means. The rest of the vanadium is present as compounds in bauxite, phosphate, and uraniferous placers. Among them, iron vanadium and metal vanadium are mainly used in iron and steel metallurgy and aerospace industries, and vanadium-containing compounds are used in chemical and battery industries. First of all, in the iron and steel metallurgy industry, the addition of a small amount of vanadium can effectively improve the strength, toughness, ductility, heat resistance and wear resistance of steel, which accounts for 85% of the total amount of vanadium. In the non-ferrous metallurgy industry, the metal vanadium can be used to produce vanadium titanium alloy. Second, about 10% of vanadium is used in the chemical industry, mostly as a catalyst in the form of compounds or polymers. In addition, vanadium as a material additive can be used in cemented carbide, magnetic, superconducting and nuclear reactor materials. Vanadium oxides and their compounds can be effectively used as colorants in the glass and ceramic industries. Finally, as a new field, vanadium is also used to produce high-tech materials such as vanadium batteries, rare earth vanadium, vanadium nano and vanadium thin film materials.
1 Application of vanadium in the steel industry
Vanadium is widely used in various fields, but 85% of the vanadium produced is used in iron and steel metallurgy and related fields. In the alloy steel used, traces of vanadium can be seen, vanadium has a polyvalent state, so it can act as a deoxidizer, and vanadium has a cube structure, which plays a skeleton role in steel and strengthens the strength of steel. A small amount of vanadium can effectively refine the steel structure and fine grain, reduce overheating sensitivity; Improve toughness, strength and service performance; Increase tempering stability of hardened steel. Vanadium mainly exists in the form of alloys in steel, vanadium-containing alloys mainly include iron base alloys and non-iron base alloys, while iron base alloys account for the majority, of which iron vanadium is the largest in iron base alloys. At this stage, the produced ferrovanadium alloys are calcium vanadium silicon, ferrovanadium silicon, ferrovanadium manganese, ferrovanadium nitride, vanadium titanium silicon, etc., while the non-iron based series of vanadium alloys are mainly vanadium aluminum alloy, vanadium carbon and vanadium nitrogen alloys.
2 Application of vanadium in aerospace industry
In the aerospace industry, titanium alloy is widely used, usually used in engines, space capsule skeleton, rocket engine shell and steam pot turbine blades, and vanadium and aluminum are the key elements. Vanadium aluminum alloy has good ductility,
Good strength, corrosion resistance, lightness and many other advantages, therefore, 90% of the alloys in aerospace are vanadium aluminum alloy. The world's main production of vanadium aluminum alloy companies include: the United States Nonferrous alloy Company, Strategic minerals Company, Reading alloy Company, Germany's GFE company and Russia's VSMPO company. The main production of vanadium aluminum 65 alloy, the United States Reading and Germany GFE global share of 80%. The domestic production of vanadium aluminum alloy enterprises mainly include Baotitanium, Chengde Daya and Jinzhou ferroalloy, the main production of vanadium aluminum 55 alloy, most products for civilian use. At present, vanadium aluminum 65 alloy is the most widely used in international aerospace, and compared with traditional vanadium aluminum 55 alloy, it has low harmful impurities, less oxide film and nitriding film, and better composition uniformity.
3 Application of vanadium in the chemical industry (catalyst)
Vanadium based catalyst is a very important oxidation catalyst in chemical industry and related industries, and its catalytic mechanism is based on the coordination of vanadium. In sulphuric acid industry, V2O5 is an important vanadium solid catalyst for sulfur dioxide oxidation. By filling the activated carbon with vanadium pentoxide, the removal of sulfur and nitrogen oxides in flue gas can be effectively improved. Vanadium pentoxide can also be used as a catalyst for the oxidation of organic compounds (such as maleic anhydride and phthalic anhydride, etc.) [6]. The polymerization reaction is to convert simple compounds into polymer compounds. Vanadium can be used as a catalyst to catalyze polymerization to produce random alternating copolymers, and ethylene propylene rubber with uniform distribution of ethylene and propylene units can also be obtained. In addition, vanadium catalysts are also used in alkylation reaction, ammonification reaction, oxidative dehydrogenation reaction and acetic acid production. At present, among the industrial vanadium catalysts, 1/3 is used for sulfuric acid production, 1/3 is used for ethylene propylene rubber synthesis, and the rest is mainly used for maleic anhydride and phthalic anhydride production, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) nitrogen oxides. Vanadium-based catalysts for ammonia synthesis are mostly in the laboratory development stage, but the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a vanadium-based catalyst for ammonia synthesis and decomposition.
4 Applications of vanadium in batteries
Vanadium battery (all vanadium REDOX flow battery) is a device with high efficiency energy storage and high efficiency output, which has been widely applied and studied by researchers all over the world, and many commercial demonstration devices have been established. Internationally, Canada VRBPower Systems has built 200kW/800kW·h and 250kW/2MW·h all-vanadium flow energy storage battery systems in 2003 and 2001. In addition, Japan's Sumitomo Electric Company has built 4MW/6MW·h and 1MW/5MW·h all-vanadium flow battery energy storage system demonstration projects in 2005 and 2012. In China, vanadium battery research and development companies mainly include Beijing Puneng, Beijing Jinneng Fuel cell, Shanghai Linyang Energy storage, Nanjing Guodian Nanrui and Dalian Rongke energy storage and other high-tech companies. In addition, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully developed a 10kW all-vanadium flow battery system in 2006. Lithium-ion batteries have excellent characteristics of large energy storage and high cycle times. However, the material technology for the preparation of lithium-ion batteries is immature, the cost is high, and the battery discharge efficiency is poor at low temperatures, which restricts the overall performance of the battery and the development of real commercialization. According to the classification of lithium ion battery cathode materials, mainly including lithium nickel, lithium manganese and lithium cobalt oxide batteries. Among them, the preparation process of lithium nickel oxide battery is complex, the number of cycles of lithium manganese oxide battery is poor, and the preparation price of lithium cobalt oxide battery is expensive, which limits its large-scale
Commercialization. The vanadium anode material has a high specific capacity, and the preparation of lithium batteries can achieve high storage power, and the price is relatively low.
5 Application of vanadium in the field of materials
Rare earth vanadate materials are very different from other materials in their photocatalytic activity, susceptibility to phosgene and magnetic properties. The reason lies in its special atomic structure (d electron and f electron structure), large atomic magnetic moments and strong spin orbitals
Track and other characteristics. Therefore, the application field is wide, including luminous materials, photocatalyst materials, chemical sensing materials and dielectric materials. For example, among luminous materials, YVO4 has been industrialized early because of its excellent performance and relatively low preparation cost. The photocatalyst made of rare earth vanadate material can effectively degrade the chlorinated volatile organic compounds under mild conditions.
Traditionally, hydrogen can only be stored in cylinders and liquid state, but it has the disadvantages of poor safety, high energy consumption, low storage capacity and high cost. As a new type of energy material, vanad-based solid solution hydrogen storage alloy can absorb and desorption hydrogen efficiently under relatively mild conditions
Gas, and a large amount of hydrogen storage, about 1000 times its own volume. Therefore, it can be widely used in hydrogen storage and hydrogen transportation, and has broad application prospects in future hydrogen energy vehicles. As a heat-sensitive functional material, VO2 has good phase transition properties. On account of
Its special performance, a wide range of applications, mainly including optical devices, optical storage, photoelectric equipment, intelligent glass and so on. Thin films made of VO2 have the advantages of small size, light weight and low cost, and are widely used. As a solar control material, it can pass infrared radiation at low temperature and has the ability to block high radiation at high temperature, which can effectively improve indoor temperature. Because the resistivity of this material is sensitive to thermal radiation, it can be made into thermistor materials, such as fire alarms. And VO2 film with its unique phase change properties, therefore, can be made into optical disc dielectric materials. As we all know, nanomaterials are particle materials with a size of 1 ~ 100nm. It is found that nano-vanadium materials have a position that can not be replaced by other nanomaterials, and have broad application scenarios in optical data storage, optical components, photothermal switches, sensors and other fields. Among them, VO2, V2O3, V2O5 and composite vanadium nanomaterials have been studied more.
6 Applications of vanadium in other fields
In addition, in many fields such as medicine, pigments (glass and ceramic coloring), vanadium alloy materials for nuclear reactors, vanadium has an irreplaceable role. In medicine, vanadium is crucial in the body's metabolism. In biology, vanadium is mainly quaternary and pentavalent. Vanadium plays an irreplaceable role in tooth development. Vanadium can promote the metabolism of sugar and promote the growth of red blood cells. Among them, the research in the field of hypoglycemia is particularly active, vanadium has a good insulin-like effect, and can also protect islet cells and reduce blood sugar in the body. In terms of cost, vanadium has the advantage of relatively easy synthesis and low price. For example, Changchun Pharmaceutical Group has issued a new drug containing vanadium compounds - Lienwheat vanadium capsule, which has been put on the market and has remarkable hypoglycemic effect. In the field of pigments, vanadium is mainly used in the preparation of bismuth yellow and vanadium-zirconium blue pigments. Bismuth yellow is non-toxic and has good color, which is an ideal substitute for traditional toxic pigments such as chromium yellow and cadmium yellow. Therefore, bismuth yellow pigment has a wide market prospect, especially vanadium-zirconium blue pigment is widely used in ceramics industry. In addition, printing inks can not be separated from vanadium oxide and vanadium metavanadate, for example, the use of radium metavanadate, can produce fast drying ink. Because vanadium oxidizes aniline, it can produce black pigments. In the nuclear reactor material, as the covering and shielding wall of fusion reactor, vanadium base alloy is indispensable. Its advantages are irreplaceable in other materials, including small neutron capture area, corrosion resistance, high temperature creep strength and so on. And the cladding materials used for thermonuclear reactors require high temperature mechanical strength, can resist expansion caused by radiation, easy brittleness problems, and good compatibility with hydrogen, lithium and various coolants. For example, V15Cr5Ti and V3Cr1Si alloys developed by the United States, Germany and other countries have the advantages of high conductivity and low expansion coefficient.
7 Conclusion
At this stage, the main use of vanadium is the production of various vanadium steel, including ferrovanadium silicon, ferrovanadium nitride, ferrovanadium manganese, etc., which has the advantages of high strength, toughness, wear resistance, and the use of 85% of the total consumption. Mainly used in automobile, construction, bridge, machinery and national defense and other aspects. However, at present, the most used vanadium steel is carbon steel. In titanium alloys, vanadium is used as a stabilizing and strengthening agent, which can well increase the extension and plasticity of titanium alloys, and is widely used in the aerospace field. China's technology in the production of advanced vanadium titanium alloy needs to be improved, and with the vigorous development of the space industry, the demand for advanced vanadium titanium alloy steel will increase generously. In the chemical industry, the role of vanadium as a catalyst and colorant will be more significant. In addition, in atomic energy, superconducting materials, electronics industry, due to the advantages of metal vanadium corrosion resistance, easy processing and good phase change, it is widely used. Finally, with no
With the continuous development of technology, vanadium as a battery, its use will grow rapidly.
