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A Perspective on Thermochemical and Electrochemical Processes for Titanium Metal Production

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Abstract

Titanium metal is produced commercially by the costly and energy-intensive Kroll process, which is highly matured and optimized. In the last several decades, many new methods have been proposed to reduce the production cost of Ti metal and thus widen its applications. These new methods can be categorized into two main groups: thermochemical and electrochemical methods. Even though detailed operations for different processes vary, the various processes in each category share the same principles. This article outlines the differences and the challenges between different processes on the basis of these shared principles, with an emphasis on the developmental processes. Although several of these new processes are at the laboratory or pilot-plant development stage, it is recognized that systematic fundamental research and open scientific exchanges are still sorely needed in this area to improve the new technologies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the funding support by the Advanced Research Project Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) of the US DOE (DE-AR0000420) through the Modern Electro/Thermochemical Advances in Light-Metal Systems (METALS) program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Ying Zhang, Zhigang Zak Fang, Pei Sun, Yang Xia & Michael Free

  2. Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Ying Zhang & Shili Zheng

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  1. Ying Zhang
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  2. Zhigang Zak Fang
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  3. Pei Sun
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  4. Shili Zheng
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  5. Yang Xia
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  6. Michael Free
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Correspondence to Ying Zhang or Zhigang Zak Fang.

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Zhang, Y., Fang, Z.Z., Sun, P. et al. A Perspective on Thermochemical and Electrochemical Processes for Titanium Metal Production. JOM 69, 1861–1868 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-017-2481-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-017-2481-9

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