Duster - 20-12-2005 at 03:41
Put simply, how do you make it?
Vanadium is pretty easy to come by, at least, in the form of tool bits and the like... Some, supposedly solid vanadium. However, how would one go
about making V2O5?
According to wikipedia, Vanadium itself is readily oxidized.
"Vanadium(V) oxide is also the main product when vanadium metal is heated with excess oxygen, but this product is contaminated with other lower
oxides. "
"A more satisfactory laboratory preparation involves the decompostion of ammonium metavanadate at around 200 °C"
(Anyone got some ammonium metavanadate?)
And lastly:
"Technical grade V2O5 is produced as a black powder used for the production of vanadium metal and ferrovanadium. [1] A vanadium ore or vanadium-rich
residue is treated with sodium carbonate to produce sodium metavanadate, NaVO3. This is then acidified to pH 2-3 using H2SO4 to yield a precipitate of
"red cake" (see above). The red cake is then melted at 690 °C to produce the crude V2O5."
So basically, from what I gather, we could heat up vanadium to get V2O5, but with other oxides... Or... We could treat straight vanadium with sodium
carbonate producing NaVO3, then treat with H2SO4 and melt resulting mix to 690 degrees...
Im going to go look for some patents on this thing, and maybe even see if you can buy V2O5, but this would be most intresting to have, seeing as...
supposedly... one could make large amounts of SO3 by passing SO2 + O2 over heated V2O5... Which, we all know SO3 + H20 = H2SO4.
Maybe this is entirely out of reach of the home chemist but thus far nothing really seems that impossible...
Anyway, off to find those patents...
The_Davster - 20-12-2005 at 05:46
Vanadium pentoxide is actually a rather common chem, it can be gotten at the good ol' pottery store. Axehandle has done the decomposition of ammonium
metavanadate, made by dissolving V2O5 in ammonia.
https://sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=1599#pid3...
Above thread will interest you.
[Edited on 20-12-2005 by rogue chemist]
Eclectic - 20-12-2005 at 13:12
And vanadium is only used in small amouts in tool steels as a carbide former and grain refiner. Even high speed steels only have about 4%.