[Display omitted] • A green and natural organic phytate was used as decomposing reagent for scheelite. • The formation process of phosphotungstate by complexation of W and P was investigated. • The decomposition rate of scheelite can reach 99.18% with only 2 g/L organic phosphorus. The alkali residue formed during the alkaline decomposition of scheelite produces serious environmental pollution. A new acidic decomposition method for scheelite using sulfur-phosphorus mixed acid process has been industrialized, but it requires a high concentration of phosphoric acid. In this paper, sodium phytate, a green and natural organic phytic acid salt, was used as a chelating agent to decompose scheelite under acidic conditions. In the leaching process, calcium was precipitated by H 2 SO 4 to generate insoluble CaSO 4 in the residue, while tungsten was chelated by sodium phytate to form stable macromolecular multinuclear organic chelates in the solution. A satisfactory tungsten leaching extent of 99.39% was achieved using 10 g/L sodium phytate, 1 mol/L H 2 SO 4 , and a liquid/solid ratio of 8:1 at 353 K for 3.5 h. As such, the phosphorus consumption was significantly reduced in the sodium phytate leaching system without high temperature and pressure. This innovative process provides a new method for extracting tungsten from scheelite, which reduces the consumption of phosphorus and is environmentally friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]