Vanadium

Uses:
 Use of vanadium is for high strength tools; Vanadium pentoxide is used in ceramics and
as a catalyst for the production of sulfuric acid; Vanadium-gallium tape is used in
superconductor magnets; spring; bonding agent.
 The main use of vanadium is in alloys, especially with steel. 85% of all the vanadium
produced goes into steel, 10% goes into alloys of titanium and 5% into all other uses. A
small amount of vanadium adds strength, toughness, and heat resistance. It is usually
added in the form of ferrovanadium, a vanadium-iron alloy. Vanadium steel alloys are
used in gears, axles and crankshafts.
 Titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy is used in jet engines and for high-speed aircraft.
Other uses: Stainless steel products, especially surgical instruments, tools, axles, Crankshafts,
Gears, Electrical fuel cells, Storage batteries, Alexandrite jewelry, Electrochemical coatings to
protect against rust and corrosion, Lacrosse shafts
Sources:
A double discovery by
Andres Manuel del Rio and Nils
Sefström at 1801 in Mexico and Sweden. Origin of name: named after "Vanadis", the goddess of
beauty in Scandinavian mythology.
The discovery of vanadium was claimed first by Andres Manuel del Rio (a Spanish mineralogist)
at Mexico City in 1803. He prepared a number of salts from a material contained in "brown lead"
(now called vanadite, from a mine near Hidalgo in Northern Mexico). He found the colors
reminiscent of those shown by chromium, so he called the element panchromium ("something
which can take or have any color"). He later renamed the element erythronium ("red") after
noting that most of these salts turned red upon heating. It seems he withdrew his claim after a
Frenchman, Collett-Desotils, disputed his claim, and it was only 30 years later that it was shown
that Del Rio's work was, in fact, correct.
In 1831, Nils Gabriel Sefström (a Swedish chemist) was working with some iron ores and was
able to isolate a new oxide. This lead to the element being named in honor of the Northern-
Germanic tribes' goddess Vanadis (Vanadis, a by-name of Freya referring to beauty and fertility)
because of its beautiful multi-colored compounds. In the same year, Friedrich Wöhler came in to
possession of Del Rio's "brown lead" and confirmed del Rio's discovery of vanadium, although
the name vanadium still stands rather than del Rio's suggestion of erythronium.
Metallic vanadium was not made until 1867 when Henry Enfield Roscoe reduced vandium
chloride (VCl3) with hydrogen gas to give vanadium metal and HCl.
*The common vanadium ores are vanadinite, patronite (vanadium sulfide, VS4), and carnotite
(potassium uranyl vanadate, K2(UO2)2(VO4)2). Vanadium is also abundant in Venezuelan oil,
to the extent that its ash is a commercial source of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5). It has been
suggested that plants living at the time these oil deposits were laid down absorbed much more
vanadium than today's plants.
Food sources: The best food sources of vanadium are mushrooms, shellfish, black pepper,
parsley, dill weed, beer, wine, grain and grain products, and artificially sweetened drinks.
Vanadium exists in several forms, including vandal sulfate and vanadate. Vanadyl sulfate is most
commonly found in nutritional supplements.
Vanadium may:
 Slow down the formation of cholesterol in the blood.

 Prevent heart disease and heart attacks.
 Help to prevent tooth decay.
 Help to reduce high blood pressure.
 Reduce blood sugar levels.
Physical Properties/Characteristics:
Vanadium is a bright silvery-white, soft, ductile, metallic-looking solid with good structural strength. Vanadium
is resistant to attack by alkalis, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and salt water. Its melting point is about
1,900°C (3,500°F) and its boiling point is about 3,000°C (5,400°F). Its density is 6.11 grams per cubic
centimeter.
 When present in compounds, vanadium exists mostly in the oxidation state V.
 The metal oxidizes in air at around 660 oC to the pentoxide (V2O5).
Chemical Processes in the Industry

Industry uses the oxide as a catalyst for the oxidation of SO 2 to SO3, the precursor to sulfuric
acid. Vanadium compounds are also used as catalysts in polymer production.
The most important compound of vanadium commercially is vanadium pentoxide. Among its applications are
as a catalyst for many industrial reactions, as a coloring material for glass and ceramics, and in the dyeing of
textiles. A catalyst is a substance used to speed up or slow down a chemical reaction without undergoing any
change itself.
An important new use for vanadium pentoxide may be in batteries. Scientists have been working for a very long
time to make better batteries. Common automobile batteries are large and heavy. Batteries like these are too big
and heavy for many applications. For example, they cannot be used in space probes and space vehicles. They
weigh too much.
These batteries are also too large for use in electric cars. An electric car is powered by electricity rather than
gasoline. A great deal of research is being done toward the development of an economical electric car.
A new vanadium pentoxide battery produces more electrical energy per pound than the lead storage batteries in
cars today. They are also likely to cause fewer environmental disposal problems.
Some manufacturers think electric cars with vanadium pentoxide batteries are part of the world's transportation
future. Drivers would bring these cars into a "battery filling station." The worn-out battery would be "pumped
out" and replaced in a matter of minutes. Economists predict that drivers may spend as much as $6 billion per
year for such batteries by 2004!
Chemical Reactions:
Reaction of vanadium with air Vanadium metal reacts with excess oxygen, O2, upon heating to form
vanadium(V) oxide, V2O5. When prepared in this way, V2O5 is sometimes contamined by other vanadium
oxides.
4V(s) + 5O2(g) → 2V2O5(s) [yellow-orange]
Reaction of vanadium with water The surface of vanadium metal is protected by an oxide layer and does not
reacts with water under normal conditions.
Reaction of vanadium with the halogens Vanadium reacts with fluorine, F2 upon warming to form vanadium(V)
fluoride. The other vanadium pentahalides appear not to be known.
2V(s) + 5F2(g) → 2VF5(l) [colourless]
Reaction of vanadium with acids It does not react with oxygen in the air at room temperatures, nor does it
dissolve in water. It does not react with some acids, such as hydrochloric or cold sulfuric acid. But it does
become more
reactive with hot acids, such as hot sulfuric and nitric acids.
Reaction of vanadium with bases Vanadium metal is resistant to attack by molten alkali.

Vanadium

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Uses:

 Slow down the formation of cholesterol in the blood.

Chemical Processes in the Industry

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