‘vanadium’, a rare metal has been discovered in Gujarat.
About Vanadium
- Vanadium is a rare metal and key raw material for many industrial applications. The element is named after ‘Vanadis’, the old Norse name for the Scandinavian goddess Freyja.
- The metal has been found in the sediment samples collected from Gulf of Khambhat, which opens into the Arabian Sea off Alang in Gujarat.
- The new found metal is significant as it is scarce in India and possesses the capability to enhance the resilience of steel and titanium.
- The metal also has application in vanadium redox batteries to store energy efficiently. Modern applications of vanadium include its use as vanadium secondary batteries for power plants and rechargeable vanadium redox battery (VRB) for commercial applications.
- The main advantages of VRB are that it can offer almost unlimited capacity simply by using sequentially larger storage tanks; can be left completely discharged for long periods of time with no ill effects; etc.
- The VRB has also been shown to have the least ecological impact of all energy storage technologies.
