Environmentally Friendly Electrochemical Method for the Direct Extraction of Titanium from High-titanium Slag

The solid oxide membrane (SOM) method is an emerging technology for the environmentally friendly and energy-efficient extraction of metals direct from their respective oxides. This paper reports on the successful extraction of titanium powder direct from high-titanium slag in molten calcium chloride using the SOM method. The deoxidation process was carried out at 1000 C and potential of 3.8 V. The current feature, phase composition evolution and morphology variation were investigated experimentally. It is found that the titanium can be successfully electrochemically extracted from high-titanium slag, the deoxidation process possesses a considerable electrolysis rate, and the current efficiency reaches similar to 55% in 6 h. It is shown that the SOM method is a promising alternative process for the extraction of titanium direct from titanium mineral resources.