(271f) Experimental Investigation and Process Design for the Conversion of Carbon Black Waste into Valuable Resources

Carbon black waste generated in oil refinery may contain a high concentration of heavy metals, for instance, vanadium. It is therefore of great interest to recover the vanadium as value-added products instead of just disposing in landfill. In this study, three different types of vanadium compounds have been developed from a set of leaching and post-processing steps, including monoclinic bismuth vanadate, vanadium-based metal–organic frameworks (V-BDC and V-NDC), and alkaline earth vanadate nanomaterial. A variety of applications of these compounds are investigated in this study. Both V-BDC and V-NDC showed high catalytic activities for benzyl alcohol oxidation towards benzaldehyde. Alkaline earth vanadate nanomaterials are potential semiconductors for semiconducting glasses. To evaluate the profitability and feasibility of implementing these technologies on an industrial-scale process, a conceptual process design was developed for the scale-up production and cost estimates to determine the profitability of the developed process. Sensitivity analysis was then conducted based on perturbations to several economic parameters and the results can be used to estimate the variability of the profit margins to uncertainties in these economic parameters.