Purification of titanium sponge produced by lithiothermic reduction of titanium chloride: Effect of leaching conditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/Abstract
This study examined the effects of particle size, temperature, and HCl concentration on the removal of chloride byproducts from crude titanium sponge produced in the CSIR-Ti process, with the aim of achieving titanium Grade 1 target specifications for oxygen and chlorides in the purified product. The CSIR-Ti process employs lithiothermic reduction of titanium tetrachloride feedstock, so the resulting titanium sponge is contaminated by a range of lithium and chloride species. A review of the aqueous chloride chemistry of Li and Ti provided initial conditions for leaching of impurity species from the sponge. The experimental results confirmed that the effectiveness of leaching and complete removal of dissolved impurities from the sponge is dependent on leaching kinetics, which are influenced by agitation, temperature, particle size, and morphology. Of the variables tested, reaction temperature had the strongest influence on the oxygen content of the leached product. There was negligible effect of the HCl lixiviant concentration under the conditions tested. Leaching of crude titanium sponge (−10 mm size fraction after crushing) at 14°C in either 1 M or 0.032 M HCl yielded a titanium sponge product that met the ASTM standard specification for commercially pure Grade 1 titanium sponge, i.e., oxygen content < 0.18 mass% and chloride content < 0.15 mass%.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Matsie Rinny Serwale, Theresa Coetsee, Kathryn Clare Sole, Shahed Fazluddin
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