The solubility and speciation of molybdenum in aqueous liquid and vapour : an experimental study

Abstract

We have conducted an experimental investigation of the solubility and speciation of Mo in HCl-, NaCl-, and NaOH-bearing water vapour, and of the partitioning of Mo between coexisting aqueous liquid and vapour at 300 to 370°C and up to saturated pressure. Our results indicate that Mo concentration is enhanced in HCl-bearing water vapour at fHCl > 0.1 bar, and in NaOH-saturated water vapour, but is unaffected by the presence of NaCl. This suggests that Mo speciates as MoO3·nH2O in water vapour at equilibrium with NaCl or fHCl < 0.1 bar. The dependence of SigmafMo on fHCl at higher acidity points to the formation of Mo oxychloride (MoO2Cl 2). For the system MoO3-NaOH-H2O, log Sigma fMo increases with increasing fH2O, and with log SigmafNa in a ratio of 0.28+/-0.4, but Sigma fNa does not change with increasing fH2O. This suggests the formation of a small proportion of sodium molybdate (Na 2MoO4) in addition to MoO3·nH2O. Our partitioning experiments show that at lower temperature and fluid density, Mo partitions more strongly into the liquid than the vapour, but the Mo concentration in the vapour increases as the temperature-pressure conditions approach those of the critical point of water (374°C and 221 bar), surpassing that in the liquid at ∼360°C. The results of our experiments indicate that both the liquid and vapour phases may be important for the transport of Mo in porphyry ore-forming systems, and that vapour-phase solubility is enhanced in high fHCl magmatic gases