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US 9,181,604 B2Granted
Treatment of titanium ores
AssigneeChinuka Limited
InventorsDerek J. Fray, Shuqiang Jiao
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Abstract
A method of producing titanium, comprising providing an oxide of titanium having a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %, reacting the oxide of titanium to form a titanium oxycarbide; and electrolyzing the titanium oxycarbide in an electrolyte, with the titanium oxycarbide configured as an anode; and recovering a refined titanium metal from a cathode in the electrolyte.
Claims12
A method of producing titanium, comprising:
- providing an oxide of titanium in the form of an ore or ore concentrate comprising at least 90 wt % titanium oxide and impurities in the form of oxides of silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, and chromium, the ore or ore concentrate having a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %, including at least 0.1 wt % calcium oxide and/or at least 0.1 wt % iron oxide;
- reacting the oxide of titanium to form a titanium oxycarbide;
- and
- electrolysing the titanium oxycarbide in a molten salt electrolyte comprising a chloride of an alkali or alkali-earth metal, with the titanium oxycarbide configured as an anode;
- recovering a refined titanium metal from a cathode in the electrolyte, the refined titanium metal having a level of impurities of less than 0.5 wt %;
- and
- removing impurities from the electrolyte by treating the molten salt with titanium.
4 more elements
A method of producing titanium, comprising:
- providing an oxide of titanium in the form of an ore or ore concentrate comprising at least 90 wt % titanium oxide, the ore or ore concentrate having a level of impurities of at least 2.0 wt %, including at least 0.5 wt % iron oxide;
- reacting the oxide of titanium to form a titanium oxycarbide;
- and
- electrolysing the titanium oxycarbide in a molten salt electrolyte comprising a chloride of an alkali or alkali-earth metal, with the titanium oxycarbide configured as an anode;
- recovering a refined titanium metal from a cathode in the electrolyte, the refined titanium metal having a level of impurities of less than 0.5 wt % and with a lower level of iron than in the oxide of titanium.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.