Vanadium is in high demand globally. With its ability to be used for multiple applications across an array of vital industries, and its role in greener technologies, the future looks incredibly bright for this valuable resource.
Considered one of the world’s lesser-known metals, vanadium is a hard, silver-grey metallic element. It is naturally found in more than 60 different minerals, including vanadinite, carnotite and patronite, as well as phosphate rock, certain iron ores and some crude oils. In fact, it is the fifth most abundant transition metal in the earth’s crust, and often found alongside titanium and iron in their ores. It has a natural resistance to corrosion.
Ellipsis’s current project in the greater Aghracha area in southern Morocco is exploring the region for both vanadium and rare earth elements and shows great promise.
Vanadium is often used to strengthen stainless steel and other alloys, while silver vanadium oxides are widely used in battery chemistry. Since it is a light transition metal, it is used to both strengthen and reduce the weight of high-tensile strength steels, including in car production. In fact, vanadium metal was first used industrially on a large scale in the materials used to create the Ford Model T car chassis more than a century ago.
Using vanadium in windows is becoming a popular energy-saving measure. Coated glass prevents thermal radiation from escaping, helping retain heat inside during cooler weather. It also blocks infrared radiation, thereby locking heat from entering the buildings during the summer or in warmer climates.
Vanadium oxide may be used as a pigment in dyeing, ceramics and glassmaking.
The strength of vanadium steel alloy makes it ideal for creating tools, piston rods, axels and construction girders. In fact, around 80% of all vanadium produced is used as ferrovanadium or as a steel additive.
The metal is also widely used in space vehicles, jet engines and aircraft carriers. Experts are also conducting research on vanadium’s use in batteries for electric vehicles.
Due to its low neutron-absorbing abilities and capacity to withstand high temperatures, vanadium is used in nuclear reactors.
Vanadium oxide is used to make sulphuric acid.
Vanadium is used within the medical realm to treat conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol, as well as being used to make pacemakers.
Vanadium can be used to create large-scale battery units that can safely store renewable energy.
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