CMMMech
CMMMech > Element > Vanadium

Vanadium element Critical Material

Vanadium (V), represented here as an element distinct from the dissolved V(V) feed and electrode-associated material in a laboratory bioelectrochemical separation study. The United States 2025 designation applies to the named vanadium commodity; it does not identify a vanadium mineral species or establish the criticality of every vanadium compound.

Identifiers & Classification

System Identifier Label
CHEBI CHEBI:27698 vanadium atom

Criticality Designations

Jurisdiction List Name Edition / Document Classification Source
United States of America U.S. Department of the Interior Final List of Critical Minerals 2025 (published November 7, 2025; 90 FR 50494-50497) critical usgs_2025

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Vanadium separation in an MR-1-inoculated electrochemical system

separation Microbial

Associated Organisms: Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 (NCBITaxon:211586)

A laboratory electrochemical system inoculated with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 showed aqueous vanadium depletion and vanadium in working-electrode acid extracts. Abiotic systems also removed vanadium. This supports separation in the combined biological and electrical system, with partial evidence for a microbial mechanism; microbial necessity, improved recovery, and an isolated vanadium product are not established by this record.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Defined electrolyte, not ore or industrial waste: 100 mL working and counter chambers separated by Nafion 117, with carbon-felt electrodes. The working solution contained 30 mM bicarbonate, 10 mM PIPES, 30 mM ammonium acetate, 40 mM NaCl, and Wolfe's vitamins and trace metals. The source describes the V(V) stock as Na3V2O8 in 1% HCl; that reported reagent formula is retained without inferring a mineral identity or independently resolved stoichiometry. Chambers were purged with nitrogen. After equilibration and the second solution sample, the biotic system was inoculated and the working electrode poised at -800 mV versus saturated Ag/AgCl. The metadata specifies ambient equilibration but no exact controlled assay temperature or inoculum density/preparation. T2 records the biotic V run from May 21 to May 30, 2025, and abiotic V from May 15 to May 21; their starting concentrations, durations and pH histories differ. The biotic series has recorded pH 7.31-7.70 from sample Vbrr_0 through BESV.brr_END. Filtered solution was measured by ICP-OES; electrode-associated material was extracted with dilute and concentrated nitric acid. Independent replicate counts, a specific reduced V species and industrial deployment are not assigned.
Curated Evidence Points:
FGDC process steps 1-4, T2, T3 and T6 support the separation observation. T3 reports 44.1 mg/kg V at Vbrr_0 and 34 mg/kg at BESV.brr_END. T6 reports vanadium in working-electrode extracts including Vbrr_WE. The concentrations are mg/kg, not an assumed mg/L conversion. Aqueous depletion and extracted electrode-associated amounts are not a mass-balanced recovery percentage or product purity.
T3 abiotic V decreases from 19.1 mg/kg at BESVarr_0 to 12.2 mg/kg at BESVarr_END. T2 gives different pH histories and durations; the unequal starting concentrations also prevent treating endpoint differences as a controlled microbial-effect estimate. T6 separates working-electrode, holder and reference-frit extracts; these must not be pooled into an unsupported microbial recovery yield.
Context_only Source: kane_2026_bes
Process step 5 and T7_UV_Vis.csv describe qualitative solution speciation work after 67 days of anaerobic storage for the biotic sample and 76 days for the abiotic sample. No immediate endpoint oxidation-state assignment is made here. T9_SEM.pdf page 7 is labelled solids from V phosphate-buffered culturing medium, so it does not establish the mineral identity of the V BES electrode product.

Sources & References

  1. kane_2026_bes: Kane, Selvage, Ciechanowicz and Campbell (2026). Data acquired in experiments on bioelectrochemical systems for critical mineral recovery. U.S. Geological Survey data release, published September 15, 2026. DOI 10.5066/P9ERLSM6.
    https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ERLSM6 (accessed 2026-10-09)
  2. usgs_2025: U.S. Geological Survey (2025). Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register 90 FR 50494-50497, November 7, 2025.
    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-11-07/html/2025-19813.htm (accessed 2026-10-09)
  3. chebi_vanadium: ChEBI:27698 - vanadium atom
    https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/CHEBI:27698 (accessed 2026-10-09)
  4. ncbi_oneidensis_mr1: NCBI Taxonomy: Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 (Taxonomy ID 211586)
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=211586 (accessed 2026-10-09)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-09T04:48:39Z Codex (GPT-6; Codex) create_record Curated element identity, US 2025 designation and laboratory BES separation observations, preserving unequal controls and limits of the delayed speciation and microscopy evidence.
2026-10-09T05:50:05Z Codex (GPT-6; Codex) curate_source_observations Added four exact T3 vanadium concentration cells with raw values and separate analysis/sample provenance. Preserved unequal controls, pre-inoculation baseline timing and all prior claims and histories.

Record source: data/records/vanadium.yaml