Molybdenum Recycling Status

With the continuous development of the molybdenum industry, molybdenum raw material consumption is getting bigger and bigger, the recoverable resources are getting smaller and smaller, in order to protect the environment and improve the utilization rate of molybdenum resources, since the middle of 1980s, developed countries began to pay attention to molybdenum regeneration resources, especially the utilization value of the waste catalyst containing molybdenum, like the United States in 1995 from the recovery of molybdenum from waste catalysts has amounted to 3800 tons, which accounted for about 30% of the total supply. In addition, molybdenum recycling resources in the molybdenum content is usually higher than molybdenum ore, from which the cost of extracting molybdenum and other metals is lower than that extracted from the ore, energy consumption is also lower, the emissions are also small, and thus molybdenum recycling has become the focus of the molybdenum industry.

At present, there are two main sources of secondary resources of molybdenum: the molybdenum-containing slag and waste liquid generated during the molybdenum metallurgical process, and the waste and used molybdenum-containing chemicals or materials generated during the production of molybdenum metal products. According to the International Molybdenum Association (IMA), nearly 80,000 tons of molybdenum were recycled in 2011, accounting for approximately one quarter of the total molybdenum consumption, which shows that recycled molybdenum resources have become an important part of the molybdenum supply chain.

The International Molybdenum Association (IMA) predicts that this proportion will reach around 35% by 2030. Around 60% of recycled molybdenum is used in the manufacture of stainless steel, with the remainder used in the manufacture of alloyed tool steels, superalloys, high-speed steels, cast steel and chemical catalysts.