Process for the purification of titanium tetrachloride

Process for the purification of titanium tetrachloride in gaseous or liquid form, obtained by chlorination of rutile or ilmenitic ores or ilmenitic slag or other materials containing titanium dioxide in the presence of carbon at elevated temperatures to remove organic impurities so that the titanium tetrachloride product is colorless and to remove vanadium compounds so that the residual content of vanadium metal is less than 5 p.p.m., characterized in that said titanium tetrachloride is brought into contact with a purifying agent consisting of a support selected from alumina or sodium chloride when said titanium tetrachloride is purified in liquid form and a support of alumina when said titanium tetrachloride is purified in gaseous form, said support being in granular form which is inert to metallic sodium and titanium tetrachloride with which metallic sodium has been contacted by bringing the sodium to its melting point in a closed vessel containing the granular inert support material under agitation for at least 15 minutes, and allowing the resulting mixture to cool slowly, under agitation, over at least a 15 minute period to solidify the sodium on the granules, when said purification is carried out in liquid form, the alumina has a granulometry of between 0.05 and 0.5mm particle size and a specific surface area in excess of 1 sq.m./g and the sodium amount contacted with the alumina is in such a quantity that the final concentration thereof in the purifying agent is in the range of from 10 to 25 parts by weight per 100 parts of inert support and the sodium chloride is of a particle size of between 0.1 and 1 mm and the specific surface area thereof is less than 1 sq.m./g with the amount of sodium contacted therewith being in a quantity so that the final concentration thereof in the purifying agent is between 3 and 10 parts by weight per 100 parts of inert support, and when the purification is carried out in gaseous form, the alumina has a particle size of between 0.05 and 0.5 mm, the specific surface area thereof is in excess of 1 sq.m./g and the amount of sodium contacted therewith is in a quantity so that the final concentration thereof in the purifying agent is between 1 and 6.5 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of inert support.