Recovery of vanadium from direct acid leaching solutions of weathered crust vanadium‐titanium magnetite via solvent extraction with N235

In this study, we developed a new method for the efficient extraction and separation of V from direct acid leaching solutions of weathered crust VTi magnetite using N235/TBP, sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) as the extraction system and washing and stripping agents, respectively. The effects of various experimental conditions on the extraction results were investigated, and the extraction efficiency of V was approximately 70% with 96% of V and 96% of Fe and ~1% of V were removed. Moreover, upon stripping the purified organic phase with a 0.70 mol/L Na2CO3 solution, >98% of V was recovered. The effects of other impurities on the separation of V were negligible. Moreover, the stripped organic phase can be recycled sustainably during extraction. In this study, we selectively separated V and provided a new method for accelerating the purification and enrichment of V, which is present at low concentrations in acid leaching solutions. •Efficient separation and recovery of V from the acid leaching solution was proposed.•Over 96% of V and almost no other ions were co-extracted by N235/TBP.•Over 96% of the Fe and about 1% of the V were washed into the aqueous phase.•>98% of the V was stripped into the aqueous phase.•The total recovery efficiency and concentration of V reached 92.7% and 14.8 g/L.