Method of producing titanium from titanium oxides thourough magnesium vapour reduction
AssigneeSri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (PVT) Ltd.
InventorsGAYANI ABAYAWEERA, Gehan Amaratunga, Niranjala Fernando, Veranja Karunaratne, Nilwala Kottegoda, Ruwini Ekanayake
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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.
Claims20
A method of producing titanium metal from a titanium comprising mineral, the method comprising:
- acid leaching the titanium comprising mineral;
- providing at least a portion of the acid-leached titanium comprising mineral 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 rutile comprising:
- acid leaching the rutile to form an iron-leached out titanium comprising mineral;
- providing the iron-leached out titanium comprising mineral 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 second washing media.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.