Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has produced high-purity 99.5% V2O5 marketing samples in the final stage of metallurgical testing for the Australian Vanadium Project bankable feasibility study (BFS).
The company has produced high purity V2O5 averaging 99.5% as an end-product from sequential beneficiation, pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy pilot programs.
These results validate product quality and finalise the BFS process engineering design.
"Opens markets"
“AVL differentiates itself from its peers by demonstrating a detailed technical understanding of the proposed processes we intend to build. The ability to produce V2O5 at this purity opens markets for AVL’s vanadium in both critical minerals and battery minerals markets,” AVL managing director Vincent Algar said.
“Samples of our own V2O5 product generated from our planned process can now find their way to customers for validation and completion of offtake agreements for long term supply.”
AVL has signed MOUs with a number of VRFB manufacturers such as CellCube, E22 and VFlow Tech to help meet demand.
This work finalises the metallurgical test-work program for the BFS.
It was partly funded by the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Projects scheme, which is now continuing outside the BFS on programs such as downstream electrolyte production and value-adding to process waste streams.
The technical details
The V2O5 was recovered from leach solutions generated in AVL’s recent hydrometallurgy pilot program via the ammonium metavanadate (AMV) process.
This work in turn followed the pyrometallurgy pilot runs conducted at Metso Outotec’s Dansville facilities in the USA and the beneficiation pilot program conducted at ALS Metallurgy in Perth.
The feed materials for this sequence of pilot programs comprised two composites of drill core, designed to be indicative of the average first five years of production and life of mine production. A sample of V2O5, alongside AVL’s pelletised vanadium concentrate and a sample of ore is shown below.
Sample of V2O5 precipitate generated from pilot program alongside roasted pellets and a vanadium ore sample.
The AMV precipitation process was selected over other options due to its applicability to high-purity leach solutions, such as those generated in AVL’s pilot program. It is conducted at ambient temperature, near-neutral pH and has simple process control requirements.
Silica is removed beforehand by a well-established method known as 'desilication', achieved by the addition of aluminium sulfate to the leach solution, leading to selective silica precipitation and removal. The final metallurgical process is to heat the AMV precipitate at 650°C to convert it to high-purity V2O5.
The suite of assays for the V2O5 product is shown below.
Assays for V2O5 product (%).
Meeting market specifications
AVL’s pilot program V205 has been proven to meet market specifications to produce high strength steel alloys.
The company is working closely with research partners in the CRC-P to further increase the product purity for the battery industry, a move that will lead to the design of an ultra-high purity process to feed AVL’s future electrolyte plant.
Supply and quality of V2O5 are critical for the development of the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) market which is expected to grow rapidly in coming years.
Estimates vary between 27,000 tonnes V2O5 per annum by 2030 from Roskill and 44,000 tonnes V2O5 per annum by 2025 from TTP Squared, the latter approximately 15% of the expected global vanadium market in 2025.
AVL intends to produce 11,000 tonnes of V2O5 per annum, with a portion dedicated to the battery market.