[Performance of desulfurizing absorbent of roasted navajoite]

An innovative flue gas desulfurization (FGD) coupling process was proposed in this study to overcome the problems in wet-type limestone/lime processes which include fouling, clogging, and difficulty of selling the by-products and the problems in traditional process for vanadium extraction from navajoite ore such as excessive consumption of sulfuric acid and emissions of pollutants. The performance of a jet bubbling reactor (JBR) at pilot-scale was evaluated using navajoite ore produced in the process of extracting vanadium pentoxide as desulfurization absorbent. Results showed that navajoite ore slurry achieved better desulfurization performance than limestone slurry. When the inlet flue gas pressure drop was 3.0 kPa, the gas flow was about 2350 m3 x h(-1) and the pH of the navajoite ore slurry was higher than 4.5, the desulfurization efficiency was stable about 90%. The SO2 removal efficiency appeared to increase along with the increasing of absorbent cycle-index. The efficiency of the second circulation was improved 3.5% compared to the first circulation. After an operating duration of 40 minutes, the leaching rate of vanadium pentoxide was about 20%, and reached 60% when the by-products were leached with 5% dilute sulfuric acid for 10 hours. The by-product from this process not only could be used to produce vanadium pentoxide which is a valuable industrial product, but also could significantly overcome the pollution problem existing in the traditional refining process of vanadium pentoxide when navajoite ore is used as the feed material. This FGD process using roasted navajoite slurry as absorbent is environmental sound and cost-effective, and shows the potential for application in the field of flue gas desulfurization as well as hydrometallurgy.