Vanadium

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Ferro-Vanadium
Vanadium Pentoxide
Ferro-Molybdenum
Molybdenum Disulfide
Molybdenum Trioxide
Sodium Molybdate
Ferro Niobium
Niobium Pentoxide
Lithium Hydroxide
Lithium Carbonate
Manganese Metal Lumps
Electrolytic Manganese Metal Flakes
Low Carbon Ferro Chrome
Chromium Metal

Vanadium is a chemical element that has the symbol V and atomic number 23. A soft and ductile element, vanadium naturally occurs in about 65 different minerals and is used mainly to produce certain alloys. It is one of the 26 elements found in most living organisms.

Notable Characteristics:

Vanadium is a soft and ductile, silver-grey metal. It has good resistance to corrosion by alkalis, sulfuric and hydrochloric acid. It oxidizes readily at about 933 K (660 C). Vanadium has good structural strength and a low fission neutron cross section, making it useful in nuclear applications. Although a metal, it shares with chromium and manganese the property of having valency oxides with acid properties.

Common oxidation states of vanadium include +2, +3, +4 and +5. A popular experiment with ammonium vanadate NH4VO3, reducing the compound with zinc metal, can demonstrate colorimetrically all four of these vanadium oxidation states. An oxidation state of +1 is rarely seen.

Applications

Approximately 80% of vanadium produced is used as ferrovanadium or as a steel additive. Other uses:

In such alloys as
- Specialty stainless steel, e.g. for use in surgical instruments and tools.
- Rust resistant and high speed tool steels.
- Mixed with aluminium in titanium alloys used in jet engines and high-speed airframes
Vanadium steel alloys are used in axles, crankshafts, gears, and other critical components.
It is an important carbide stabilizer in making steels.
Because of its low fission neutron cross section, vanadium has nuclear applications.
Vanadium foil is used in cladding titanium to steel.
Vanadium-gallium tape is used in superconducting magnets (175,000 gauss).
Vanadium pentoxide V2O5 is used as a catalyst in manufacturing sulfuric acid (via the contact process) and maleic anhydride. It is also used in making ceramics and glass manufacturing.
Glass coated with vanadium dioxide VO2 can block infrared radiation (and not visible light) at a specific temperature.
Electrical fuel cells and storage batteries such as vanadium redox batteries.
Added to corundum to make simulated alexandrite jewelry.
Vanadate electrochemical conversion coatings for protecting steel against rust and corrosion
Lithium vanadium oxide is proposed for use as a high energy density anode for lithium ion batteries, at 745Wh/l when paired with a lithium cobalt oxide cathode.
Used to make lacrosse shafts
Possibly used to make Wootz steel and Damascus steel.

Biological Role:

In biology, a vanadium atom is an essential component of some enzymes, particularly the vanadium nitrogenase used by some nitrogen-fixing micro-organisms. Vanadium is essential to ascidians or sea squirts in vanadium chromagen proteins. The concentration of vanadium in their blood is more than 100 times higher than the concentration of vanadium in the seawater around them. Rats and chickens are also known to require vanadium in very small amounts and deficiencies result in reduced growth and impaired reproduction.

Ten percent of the blood cell pigment of the sea cucumber is vanadium. Just as the horseshoe crab has blue blood rather than red blood (colored by iron in hemoglobin) because of copper in the hemocyanin pigment, the blood of the sea cucumber is yellow because of the vanadium in the vanabin pigment. Nonetheless, there is no evidence that vanabins carry oxygen, in contrast to hemoglobin and hemocyanin. A form of vanadium, vanadyl sulfate, seems to improve glucose control in people with type 2 diabetes.

Several species of macrofungi, namely Amanita muscaria and related species, are known as effective accumulators of vanadium (up to 500 mg/kg in dry weight). Vanadium is present as an organometallic compound (called amavadine) in fungal fruit-bodies. However, the biological importance of the accumulation process is unknown.

Mineral Supplement in Drinking Water

Most continental waters show a vanadium concentration of less than 3 ppb. However, the groundwater of Mt. Fuji contains a very high concentration of vanadium—up to 150 ppb. This vanadium is solubilized from the basalt by the groundwater. The vanadium content in Mt. Fuji becomes higher at places nearer the summit and deeper in the ground. Recently this high-vanadium water of Mt. Fuji has been sold by many companies as an agent to cope with diabetes. However, there is no concrete evidence for its efficacy. The rainbow trout living in the Mt. Fuji water showed much higher accumulation of vanadium in kidneys and bone.

V
78-82

C
0.3 max

Si
2.0 max

P
0.06 Max

S
0.05

AL
1.5 Max

Mn
0.50 Max

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