Thermodynamic analysis on the direct preparation of metallic vanadium from NaV03 by molten salt electrolysis

A novel and environmentally friendly route to directly prepare metallic vanadium from NaV03 by molten salt electrolysis is proposed. The feasibility about the direct electro-reduction of NaV03 to metallic vanadi- um is analyzed based on the thermodynamic calculations and experimental verifications. The theoretical decomposition voltage of NaV03 to metallic vanadium is only 0.47 V at 800 ℃ and much lower than that of the alkali and alkali earth metal chloride salts. The value is slightly higher than that of low-valence vanadium oxides such as V203, V305 and VO. However, the low-valence vanadium oxides can he further electro-reduced to metallic vanadium thermodynamically. The thermodynamic analysis is verified by the experimental results. The direct preparation of metallic vanadium from NaV03 by molten salt electrolysis is feasible.