Microstructural and chemical characterization of stabilized spent vanadium pentoxide catalyst in copper smelting slag

Abstract The purpose of this research is to perform a microstructural characterization of the stabilized spent vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) catalyst in the copper smelter slag. The spent V₂O₅ catalyst (SVC) is a discarded material from a sulfuric acid production plant. The used SVC is a catalyst material supported in SiO₂. The used copper smelting slag (CSS) was from a copper refining mine. The toxic V₂O₅ compound present in the SVC was stabilized via pyrometallurgical processing with the CSS in an electric furnace with a CSS/SVC 4:1 ratio at 1250 °C to obtain a fused compound. The microstructural and chemical characterization of the CSS, SVC used materials and the obtained fused compound, were performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled and Energy dispersed X-ray analyser (EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Differential Thermal Analyser (DTA-TGA). The fused compound was a complex slag that comprised of Fe₂SiO₄ and FeVO₄ phases.