The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Critical Minerals Alliances - August 7, 2025
Vanadium plays a quiet but critical role in high-strength steels for tools, auto parts, and other applications.
Rising battery demand and geopolitical tensions have elevated vanadium from a niche material valued for its strength-enhancing role in steel production to a key player in the clean energy transition – powering durable, scalable, and non-flammable redox flow batteries built to store renewable energy at grid scale.
Now, the U.S. is making a push to reduce reliance on China, Russia, and South Africa – nations that dominate the global vanadium trade – with policymakers considering tax incentives and permitting reforms to support domestic mining and refining.
Historically, vanadium has played a quiet but critical role in high-strength, low-alloy steels used in construction, pipelines, aerospace, tools, and automotive parts. In 2025, around 94% of all vanadium consumed in the U.S. is still used in ferrovanadium or vanadium-carbon steel alloys, a figure that has remained relatively stable despite its emergence in new markets.
Outside of metallurgy, vanadium pentoxide is used in several catalytic processes, most notably in the production of sulfuric acid for fertilizers, mining, and petrochemical refining. It is also used in ceramics, dyes, and certain pollution control systems.
Additionally, researchers at Oregon State University have demonstrated that vanadium peroxide can capture and store carbon dioxide, indicating potential uses in industrial carbon management. The finding reflects vanadium's broader applicability across energy and environmental technologies.
While vanadium's non-alloy applications represent a much smaller slice of demand, they are economically significant and contribute to the diverse industrial base that continues to support a market for high-purity vanadium compounds.
Arkansas senators have called on the Pentagon to begin stockpiling vanadium, which is critical to both civilian and military applications.
Driven almost entirely by secondary sources, American vanadium production largely relies on recovery from industrial residues rather than direct mining.
Extraction from uranium-vanadium ores in the Colorado Plateau, once a primary source, has largely halted in recent years – constrained by market volatility, regulatory barriers, and global oversupply. In its place, the U.S. has shifted toward sourcing vanadium from petroleum residues, fly ash, steel slag, and spent catalysts.
Despite this, the country holds several noteworthy undeveloped resources, including deposits in Arkansas, Nevada, Alabama, and legacy uranium-vanadium fields in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.
The push to establish a complete mine-to-reactor nuclear energy supply chain in the U.S. is bringing uranium-vanadium ores back into play.
See "Rebuilding the backbone of nuclear power" on page 72 of Critical Minerals Alliances 2025.
This push towards developing domestic supplies of both critical minerals was underscored by the U.S. Department of Interior's May decision to expedite the permitting of the Velvet-Wood uranium-vanadium project in Utah.
"This approval marks a turning point in how we secure America's mineral future," said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. "By streamlining the review process for critical mineral projects like Velvet-Wood, we're reducing dependence on foreign adversaries and ensuring our military, medical and energy sectors have the resources they need to thrive. This is mineral security in action."
VRB Energy has commercialized the largest vanadium flow battery on the market.
Among the most consequential developments for new vanadium demand is the rise of redox flow batteries (VRFBs).
Unlike lithium-ion systems, VRFBs store energy in liquid electrolytes and are exceptionally well-suited for long-duration, daily cycling applications. They do not degrade as quickly, pose less fire risk, and can operate for decades with minimal loss of capacity – features that make them particularly attractive for grid-scale storage, which is becoming increasingly vital as intermittent renewables like wind and solar make up a larger share of electricity generation.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has emphasized the importance of diversifying energy storage solutions to alleviate demand on only a few scarce resources. According to the agency, if vanadium batteries continue to hit their stride, they could give lithium chemistries a run for their money.
"The early commercialization of vanadium flow batteries results in 2.5 times more demand for vanadium compared to the base case in 2030 and 50% more demand in 2040," the agency wrote.
Despite their current cost premium over lithium systems, the long-term economics of VRFBs combined with rising lithium constraints and new clean energy mandates are pushing vanadium into the center of energy policy and battery innovation.
Major installations of VRFBs have taken off across Asia, Europe, and Australia, and the U.S. is beginning to follow suit. In the state of Washington, the Department of Energy has backed a comprehensive pilot project involving Invinity Energy Systems and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to test a VRFB designed for 24-hour peak discharge capability, far surpassing the four to eight hours limiting most lithium-ion systems.
Meanwhile, startups like Quino Energy are developing organic-based flow batteries to reduce dependency on mined materials altogether.
"Ultimately, Quino Energy's technology will enable organic flow battery systems to reach half the cost of lithium-ion batteries," said Quino CEO Eugene Beh. "Our organic battery material will allow flow batteries to finally become a viable, mainstream choice for grid energy storage."
If they hit the mainstream, Quino's batteries could nudge into the prime market for VRFB applications.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is providing field validation for several U.S. vanadium flow battery projects.
Supply chain risk and growing geopolitical scrutiny are elevating vanadium's criticality in the eyes of U.S. policymakers. With more than 90% of global production concentrated in China, Russia, and South Africa, the imbalance has raised concerns about price shocks, export controls, and long-term vulnerability.
In response, lawmakers from Arkansas and Utah are pushing the U.S. Department of Defense to begin stockpiling high-purity vanadium for aerospace and defense needs.
In a May letter, the policymakers urged the Defense Logistics Agency to "immediately begin to stockpile at least one year of military and essential civilian uses" supply of vanadium and work with federal agencies "to prioritize domestic production of vanadium compounds."
Federal clean energy incentives and state-level storage mandates are also reshaping market momentum. In response, companies are building out domestic processing and manufacturing capacity to qualify for these credits.
As of 2025, new public-private partnerships, pilot projects, and permitting reforms are positioning vanadium as a viable alternative or complement to lithium-based systems in the U.S. grid. However, scaling up remains a challenge with financing, permitting, and cost reduction as barriers to widespread adoption.
The White Mesa Mill is the only active uranium-vanadium facility in the U.S.
While vanadium production in the U.S. is limited, several companies are laying the groundwork for domestic production and manufacturing to serve both steelmaking and battery markets.
In addition to the Interior Department's expedited 14-day permitting approval of Anfield Energy's restart of Velvet-Wood in Utah, several companies are scaling up projects along the mines-to-batteries vanadium supply chain in the U.S .:
• Energy Fuels Inc. operates White Mesa Mill in Utah, the nation's only active uranium-vanadium facility.
• U.S. Vanadium LLC manufactures ultra-high-purity vanadium compounds and electrolyte for flow batteries in Arkansas.
• StorEn Technologies Inc. is a U.S.-based developer of proprietary VRFBs targeting residential, industrial, and telecom sectors.
• Austria-based Enerox GmbH, developer of the CellCube VRFB system, has launched a Colorado subsidiary to bring its long-duration batteries to the U.S. market.
• Canada's Largo Clean Energy Corp. and Stryten Energy LLC have launched Storion Energy, a joint venture leasing vanadium electrolyte – much like renting a propane tank – to lower upfront costs for energy storage projects.
• First Vanadium Corp. continues exploration at its Carlin Project in Nevada, one of North America's largest known primary vanadium deposits.
• VRB Energy Inc. produces vanadium flow batteries for large-scale renewable storage at its facility in Arizona.
Battery industry leaders like American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) are also integrating across the battery materials value chain, exploring vanadium-rich deposits and processing technologies, looking to add vanadium to their portfolios.
Collectively, these efforts reflect a slow but strategic push to onshore vanadium production and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.
By producing vanadium batteries and materials domestically, these companies are helping to build a secure, made-in-America stationary energy storage ecosystem.
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