Abstract
A process consisted of electrolysis of CaO in the molten CaCl2 and of calciothermic reduction was applied to prepare metallic vanadium directly from V2O3. The fine metallic powder containing 1860 mass ppm oxygen was successfully obtained using 0.5mol%CaO-CaCl2 melt for 10.8 ks at 1173 K. The oxygen level from the oxide fitted with the demand for hydrogen storage application, but it remained nearly constant even when the twice electricity was supplied. The commercial grade powder contained 1.48% oxygen was, however, well deoxidized to 10 ppm. The large amount of by-product, CaO, due to reduction and the large surface area of the fine particles are the possible reasons of high oxygen content in the reduced powder.