Background:
 

Vanadium Pentoxide is an oragne solid. When heated, it reversibly loses oxygen. It dissolves slight ly in water due to hydrolysis.

Sulfuric Acid Production:
 

Vanadium pentoxide is used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid. It's purpose is to catalyse the exothermic oxidation of sulfur dioxide to sulfur trioxide.

Ferrovanadium:
 

In the production of ferrovanadium, vanadium pentoxide is heated with scrap iron and aluminum. This creates an iron-vanadium alloy, and an alumina by-product.

Other Uses:
 

Vanadium pentoxide finds use as a detector material in bolometers and microbolometer array for thermal imaging. New uses include preparation of bismuth vanadate. This would be used in solid oxide fuel cells. Another new possible use is in vanadium redox batteries that could be utilized in large power facilities such as wind farms.