Dr. Dmitri Kopeliovich

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the earth’s crust.

The ores used for commercial production of titanium are:

• Rutile (titanium dioxide TiO₂),

• Ilmenite (FeTiO₃).

Titanium is produced by the Kroll process developed by William Justin Kroll in 1946:

• Concentrating - separation of titanium dioxide from the gangue and iron oxide (in ilmenite).

• Carbochlorination - chemical treatment of titanium dioxide in fluid bed reactor with chlorine and petroleum coke at the temperature 1650°F (900°C) resulted in formation of impure titanium tetrachloride:

TiO₂ + Cl₂ + C = TiCl₄ + CO₂

• Purification of the liquid impure titanium tetrachloride using fractional distillation and precipitation to remove iron chloride and other impurities.

• Titanium sponge production – reaction of pure titanium tetrachloride with magnesium in a stainless retort at 2010°F (1100°C) under argon atmosphere:

TiCl₄ + 2Mg = Ti + 2MgCl₂

The resulted magnesium chloride is liquid and it is separated from the solid titanium which is obtained in form of porous sponge.

• Melting of titanium sponge in vacuum arc furnace or under inert atmosphere and casting the melt to ingots.

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• Extractive metallurgy of iron
• Extractive metallurgy of aluminum
• Extractive metallurgy of copper
• Extractive metallurgy of magnesium
• Extractive metallurgy of nickel

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