Vanadium is a hard, silvery grey, ductile and malleable speciality metal with a resistance to corrosion, good structural strength and stability against alkalis, acids and salt water. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature.
The main use of vanadium is in the steel industry where it is primarily used in metal alloys such as rebar and structural steel, high speed tools, titanium alloys and aircraft.
The addition of a small amount of vanadium can increase steel strength by up to 100% and reduces weight by up to 30%.
Vanadium high-carbon steel alloys contain in the order of 0.15 to 0.25% vanadium while high-speed tool steels, used in surgical instruments and speciality tools, contain in the range of 1 to 5% vanadium content.
Global economic growth and increased intensity of use of vanadium in steel in developing countries will drive near term growth in vanadium demand.
An emerging and likely very significant use for vanadium is the rapidly developing energy storage (battery) sector with the expanding use and increasing penetration of the vanadium redox batteries (“VRB’s”).
VRB’s are a rechargeable flow battery that uses vanadium in different oxidation states to store energy, using the unique ability of vanadium to exist in solution in four different oxidation states.
VRB’s provide an efficient storage and re-supply solution for renewable energy – being able to time-shift large amounts of previously generated energy for later use – ideally suited to micro-grid to large scale energy storage solutions (grid stabilisation).
Some of the unique advantages of VRB’s are:
A lifespan of 20 years with very high cycle life (up to 20,000 cycles) and no capacity loss,
Rapid recharge and discharge,
Easily scalable into large MW applications,
Excellent long-term charge retention,
Improved safety (non-flammable) compared to Li-ion batteries, and
Can discharge to 100% with no damage.
Global economic growth and increased intensity of use of vanadium in steel in developing countries will drive near term growth in vanadium demand.
The global vanadium market has been operating in a deficit position for the past five years (source: TTP Squared Inc), with a forecast deficit of 9,700 tonnes in 2017.
As a result, vanadium inventories have been in steady decline since 2010 and they are forecast to be fully depleted in 2017 (source: TTP Squared Inc).
Significant production declines in China and Russia have exacerbated this situation, with further short-term production curtailment expected in China because of potential mine closures resulting from environmental restrictions and the banning of the import of vanadium slag.
The tightening supplies of vanadium are resulting in a global shortage, with prices appreciating dramatically since mid-2017, with the vanadium pentoxide prices have increased further in 2018 to more than US$19/lb V2O5, from a low of less than US$4/lb V2O5 in early 2017”.
(Source: TTP Squared Inc & TMT).
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