Vanadium

Vanadium is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the free metal somewhat.

Vanadium occurs naturally in a large number of different minerals and in fossil fuel deposits. It can be produced from steel smelter slag, the flue dust of heavy oil, or as a byproduct of uranium mining. It is mainly used to produce specialty steel alloys such as high speed tool steels. The most important industrial vanadium compound, vanadium pentoxide, is used as a catalyst for the production of sulfuric acid.

Large amounts of vanadium ions are found in a few organisms, possibly as a toxin. The oxide and some other salts of vanadium have moderate toxicity. Vanadium is probably a micronutrient in many mammals, including humans, but its precise role in this regard is unknown.