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Cost Analysis of the Recent Projects for Overseas Vanadium Metallurgical Processing Plants

해외 바나듐 제련 플랜트 관련 사업 비용 분석

  • Gyuri Kim (Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Keimyung University) ;
  • Sang-hun Lee (Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Keimyung University)
  • 김규리 (계명대학교 환경공학과) ;
  • 이상훈 (계명대학교 환경공학과)
  • Received : 2024.04.24
  • Accepted : 2024.06.09
  • Published : 2024.06.30

Abstract

This study addressed the cost structure of metallurgical plants for vanadium recovery or production, which were previously planned or implemented. Vanadium metallurgy consists of several sub-processes such as such as pretreatment, roasting, leaching, precipitation, and filtration, in order to finally produce vanadium pentoxide. Here, lots of costs should be spent for such plants, in which these costs are largely divided into CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) and OPEX (Operational Expenditure). As a result, the capacities (feed input rates) and vanadium contents are various along the target projects for this study. However, final production rates and grades of vanadium pentoxide showed relatively small differences. In addition, a noticeable correlation is found between capacities and specific operating costs, in that a steadily decreasing trend is described with a non-linear curve with around -0.3 power. Therefore, for the plant capacity below 100,000 tons per year, the specific operating cost rapidly decreases as the capacity increases, whereas the cost remains relatively stable in the range of 0.6 to 1.2 million tons per year of the capacity. From a technical perspective, effective optimization of the metallurgical process plant can be achieved by improving vanadium recovery rate in the pre-treatment and/or roasting-leaching processes. Finally, the results of this study should be updated through future research with on-going field verification and further detailed cost analysis.

본 연구는 기존에 계획 혹은 완료되었던 바나듐 회수 혹은 생산 관련 사업을 대상으로 제련플랜트의 비용 구조를 분석하였다. 바나듐 제련은 전처리 후 배소-침출-침전-여과 등의 여러 세부공정을 통해 오산화바나듐을 생산하는 과정이다. 바나듐 제련 플랜트에는 많은 비용이 투입되며, 이러한 비용은 크게 투자비와 운영비가 구분된다. 분석 대상 사업들의 용량(원료 투입량) 및 원료 내 바나듐 함유율은 다양하나 최종 생산물인 오산화바나듐의 생산량 및 순도는 비교적 차이가 적었다. 또한, 다양한 용량을 지닌 대상 사업의 용량-비용 사이의 연관성 관측 결과, 용량 대비 운영단가가 약 -0.3승의 비선형 곡선을 따라 일정하게 감소되고 있음을 관측하였다. 따라서, 플랜트 용량이 연간 10만톤 수준 이하 일 경우 용량 증가에 따라 운영단가의 급격 하락이 발생하는데 반해, 연간 60-120만톤 범위에서는 운영단가가 비교적 일정한 수준을 유지하였다. 이러한 제련플랜트의 최적화는 기술적인 측면에서는 제련플랜트의 전처리 및 배소-침출 공정에서의 회수율을 제고하는 것이 중요할 것으로 판단된다. 마지막으로, 본 연구결과는 추후 현장 수행 실적이나 세부 비용항목 분석 등의 추가연구를 통해 보완해 나가야 할 것이다.

Keywords

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