According to the company’s website news release on September 20, 2022, US Vanadium (“USV” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has completed a $5.8 million upgrade of its vanadium processing operations in Hot Springs, including the installation of an industrial Belt Filter plant that will further improve the facility’s vanadium recovery rates, cut operating costs, increase recycling operations, and reduce the plant’s overall environmental footprint.
The USV facility produces ultra-high-purity electrolyte and other high-purity vanadium-based products by recovering contained vanadium from a variety of post-industrial waste streams. USV’s recycling of waste streams also allows it to produce vanadium products with a much smaller carbon footprint than primary vanadium mining operations.
The plant’s new Belt Filter system allows for increased vanadium recovery and boosts production of high-value vanadium products. The belt filter generates a relatively dry cake, with only 5-6% moisture content, that can be recycled for use in other industrial applications such as the cement industry. In doing so, it is expected to eliminate the need to store leached solids in the facility’s tailings pond, significantly reducing the overall environmental footprint of the Hot Springs plant.
“The Board of Directors is pleased to see the team complete this plant and USV look forward to seeing the many benefits this upgrade is expected to deliver,” said Mark A. Smith, USV’s CEO and Chairman. “In addition to strengthening our production operations and streamlining costs, the belt filter also underscores USV’s commitment to maximizing sustainable practices in our operations. This is a win for the company, our employees, and the environment.”
US Vanadium produces the world’s highest-purity vanadium oxides (V2O5 and V2O3) at its Hot Springs facility. The availability of extremely pure vanadium oxides is the critical component of the VRFB electrolyte supply chain. The new electrolyte production facility is adjacent to the vanadium oxide production facilities and puts US Vanadium in the unique position of controlling the entire supply chain for ultra-high-purity vanadium electrolyte. In addition to the production of electrolyte, high-purity vanadium oxides from the Hot Springs facility support production of titanium alloys in the U.S. that are critical for defense, commercial aerospace, and industrial applications. US Vanadium also supplies high-purity vanadium oxides and downstream vanadium chemicals to various chemical and catalyst production applications.
About VRFB Technologies
VRFBs are rechargeable batteries that take advantage of the fact that vanadium ions in different oxidation states can efficiently store chemical potential energy. VRFBs allow for an almost unlimited energy capacity, can be completely charged and discharged without damage, have very long cycle lives (at least 15,000-20,000 charge/discharge cycles), and can remain unused for long periods without permanent effects to the system.
Because of their nearly unlimited energy storage capacity, high efficiency, zero emissions, very long cycle lives, and relatively low cost of available electricity on a lifecycle basis, VRFB energy storage systems are enabling consumers to utilize renewable energy systems for 100% of their actual power needs without having to rely on renewable energy credits and other accounting offsets.
More information on U.S. Vanadium, and vanadium technologies in general, can be seen on U.S. Vanadium’s website: https://www.usvanadium.com.
Contact:
Jim Sims, js@usvanadium.com, +1 (303) 503-6203
About U.S. Vanadium LLC
U.S. Vanadium produces and sells a range of specialty vanadium chemicals, including the highest-purity vanadium pentoxide (“V2O5“) and vanadium trioxide (“V2O3”) in the world and ultra-high-purity electrolyte for vanadium flow batteries from its flagship facility in Hot Springs, Arkansas USA. The company is comprised of global leaders and investors in specialty chemicals and strategic materials, including in the mining, processing, purification, and sales and distribution of vanadium specialty chemicals. For more information, please go here: https://www.usvanadium.com/.
