Production of Low-Oxygen Ti Powder by Magnesiothermic Reduction of TiO2 in MgCl2–KCl–CeCl3 Molten Salt

Abstract

Ti is produced by the Kroll method, mainly by carbothermic chlorination, magnesiothermic reduction, and vacuum distillation, which result in complex processes, low efficiency, and high cost. Although Ti has many excellent properties, its high production costs limit its widespread applications. There is an urgent need to develop new Ti extraction processes to reduce the cost of Ti production. In this study, we propose a new method for the direct preparation of low-oxygen Ti powder from TiO₂ using Mg as a reducing agent and the formation of CeOCl (2Mg (l) + TiO₂ (s) + 2CeCl₃ (l) = Ti (s) + 2CeOCl (s) + 2MgCl₂ (l)). First, a deoxidization experiment of Ti with Mg as a deoxidizer was conducted, and the ability of Mg to deoxidize Ti was demonstrated. At 1273 K, when the activity of CeCl₃ was 1, the oxygen concentrations of Ti-A and Ti-B were 380 and 270 ppm, respectively. Subsequently, the TiO₂ reduction experiment was conducted using Mg as the reducing agent. The results showed that MgO activity was effectively reduced by the formation of CeOCl (MgO(s) + CeCl₃(l) = MgCl₂(l) + CeOCl(s)). When the system reached the Mg/MgCl₂/CeOCl/CeCl₃ equilibrium, low-oxygen Ti powder below 1000 ppm was directly produced from TiO₂.