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Scale-Up Study of Deoxidation of Off-Grade Titanium Sponge Using Magnesium Metal Under Argon and Hydrogen Mixed Gas Atmosphere

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Abstract

To develop an efficient and cost-effective process for recycling off-grade titanium (Ti) sponge, the scale-up study of deoxidation of off-grade Ti sponge using magnesium (Mg) metal under argon (Ar) and hydrogen (H2) mixed gas was conducted. In the experiments, titanium hydride (TiH2) produced by the hydrogenation of an off-grade Ti sponge was used as the feedstock. The deoxidation of TiH2 was performed at 933 K for 12 h using Mg metal in magnesium chloride and potassium chloride molten salt under Ar and 10% H2 mixed gas atmosphere. The influence of production scale on the concentration of oxygen (O) in the obtained residues was investigated by increasing the amount of TiH2 feedstock up to 2500 g/batch. After the deoxidation process, a mixture of Ti and TiH2 was obtained, and the O concentration in the mixture decreased from 11750 to 1480 ppm under certain conditions. The results demonstrate that the deoxidation of TiH2 using Mg metal under Ar and H2 mixed gas can decrease the O concentration in an off-grade Ti sponge below 1800 ppm, even though the production scale increased under optimal conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Mr. Hyeong-Jun Jeoung of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and Dr. Jin-Ho Yoon of the Institute for Advanced Engineering for their technical support. The authors are grateful to all members of the Geoanalysis Department of KIGAM for their technical assistance.

Funding

This study was supported by the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy of Korea (Project No.: 20010047, 21-9808) and Pusan National University Research Grant, 2022.

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Author notes

  1. Sung-Hun Park and Kyung-Hwan Lim have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, 124 Gwahak-ro Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34132, Republic of Korea

    Sung-Hun Park, Kyung-Hwan Lim, Hyunjin Na & Tae-Hyuk Lee

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu, 41566, Republic of Korea

    Sung-Hun Park & Ho-Sang Sohn

  3. Steelmaking Process Research Team, Hyundai Steel, 1480, Bukbusaneop-ro, Songak-eup, Dangjin-si, Chungnam, 31719, Republic of Korea

    Kyung-Hwan Lim

  4. Faculty of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, WASM: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Kalgoorlie, WA, 6430, Australia

    Hyunjin Na

  5. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Pusan National University, 2, Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 46241, Republic of Korea

    Jungshin Kang

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Park, SH., Lim, KH., Na, H. et al. Scale-Up Study of Deoxidation of Off-Grade Titanium Sponge Using Magnesium Metal Under Argon and Hydrogen Mixed Gas Atmosphere. J. Sustain. Metall. 9, 497–510 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-023-00662-9

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