Method of producing titanium from titanium oxides through magnesium vapour reduction
AssigneeSri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (PVT) Ltd.
InventorsGehan Amaratunga, Niranjala Fernando, Gayan Priyadarshana, Veranja Karunaratne, Nilwala Kottegoda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a novel approach to the chemical synthesis of titanium metal from a titanium oxide source material, such as a mineral comprising titanium. In the approach described herein, a titanium oxide source is reacted with Mg vapor to extract a pure Ti metal. The method disclosed herein is more scalable, cheaper, faster, and safer than prior art methods.
Claims19
A method of producing titanium metal from a titanium comprising mineral, the method comprising:
- acid leaching the titanium comprising mineral;
- mixing the acid leached titanium comprising mineral with an aqueous solution of NaOH;
- heating a mixture of the acid leached titanium comprising mineral and the aqueous solution of NaOH to extract a titanium comprising compound from the mixture using a hydrothermal treatment, wherein the titanium comprising compound is supplied to the reaction vessel;
- providing at least a portion of the titanium comprising compound in a reaction vessel;
- providing a composition comprising an Mg source in the reaction vessel;
- heating the reaction vessel to an internal temperature of between 850° C. and 1000° C. until a vapor of Mg is produced for at least 30 minutes to form a reaction product;
- and
- washing said reaction product with one or more washing media to form a washed titanium reaction product.
A method of producing titanium metal from raw rutile comprising:
- acid leaching the rutile to form an iron-leached out titanium comprising mineral;
- mixing the iron-leached out titanium comprising mineral with an aqueous solution of NaOH;
- heating a mixture of the iron-leached out titanium comprising mineral and the aqueous solution of NaOH to extract a titanium comprising compound from the mixture using a hydrothermal treatment, wherein the titanium comprising compound is supplied to the reaction vessel;
- providing the titanium comprising compound in a reaction vessel under inert conditions;
- providing a composition comprising Mg in the reaction vessel;
- heating the reaction vessel to an internal temperature of between 850° C. and 1000° C. until a vapor of Mg is produced for at least 30 minutes to form a reaction product;
- and
- washing said reaction product with one or more washing media.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.