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 from the ore, energy consumption is also lower, and emissions are also small, so the recycling of molybdenum has become the focus of the molybdenum industry.

Molybdenum waste Currently, there are two main sources of secondary resources of molybdenum, one is molybdenum-containing waste slag and waste liquid generated during the molybdenum metallurgical process, and the other is 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 total molybdenum consumption, thus showing that recycled molybdenum resources have become an important part of the molybdenum supply chain. The International Molybdenum Association (IMA) forecasts that molybdenum recycling will reach 110,000 tons by 2020, accounting for about 27% of the total molybdenum supply, and by 2030, the proportion will reach about 35%. About 60% of the recovered molybdenum is used in the manufacture of stainless steel, while the rest is used in the manufacture of alloyed tool steels, superalloys, high-speed steels, cast steels and chemical catalysts.