Effect of parametric modeling of WET ball-milling on vanadium recovery from vanadium bearing steel slag

Powder formation using a ball mill has found applications in various industries such as extractive metallurgy, nanomaterials, chemicals, materials science, and pharmaceuticals, but the particle size reduction rate, speed, and milling/ignition time required for each industrial application are very crucial. A novel environmentally-friendly parametric modeling of wet ball-milling- Na₂CO₃(aq) leaching at low temperature without roasting operation was carried out to recover vanadium from vanadium-bearing steel slag (VBSS). The paradigm shift in the source of strategic metals (SMs) globally validates the fact that the gangue of today is the valuable mineral of tomorrow. Due to the depletion of primary resources, the world has shifted focus towards recovering SMs from secondary resources to cater to its upsurge demands and sustainability worldwide satisfactorily. VBSS has proven to be a promising secondary resource from which SMs especially vanadium can be recovered more economically and environmentally via mechanical activation-assisted leaching. In previous research works, a rigorous process (high temperature, high stirring speed pressure MA- leaching with/without roasting) has been used to recover vanadium from VBSS. This present research work investigated the effective processing of VBSS by paying meticulous attention to the processing parameters via particle size reduction (reactivity) equation derivation considering the chemical solution. A vanadium recovery efficiency above 80 % was achieved from VBSS at a reaction/milling time of 30 min, ball size 10 mm, BPR 7.8, speed 140 rpm, leaching time 2hrs, leaching temperature 80 °C–90 °C, and stirring speed 300 rpm. Generally, the experimental and derived theoretical model results follow the same trend in perfect agreement.