Patent ID: 7182926

Claim:
A process for separating and recovering valuable metals, comprising the steps of: (a) leaching a raw material containing at least vanadium oxides and molybdenum oxides with ammonia-containing leaching water to obtain a leached solution containing a vanadium compound and a molybdenum compound, (b) adding ammonium orthomolybdate to the leached solution to deposit and recover ammonium metavanadate, while allowing a first residue solution to remain, (c) adding a water-soluble alcohol to said first residue solution to deposit and recover ammonium orthomolybdate, while allowing a second residue solution to remain, and (d) distilling said second residue solution to recover the water-soluble alcohol, while allowing a third residue solution to remain to function as ammonia-containing leaching water, wherein at least a portion of said third residue solution is returned into said step (a) to be added to the ammonia-containing leaching water as a portion thereof, and wherein a portion of the recovered ammonium orthomolybdate is returned to said step (b) and a total of said recovered, water-soluble alcohol are returned to said step (c).