GB745051A - Improvements in or relating to the production of titanium tetrahalides - Google Patents

Abstract

745,051. Electrolytic production of titanium tetrahalides. BRITISH TITAN PRODUCTS CO., Ltd. June 29, 1953 [July 16, 1952], No. 17971/52. Class 41. Titanium tetrahalide is prepared by electrolysis of a fused metal halide salt bath in which the anode comprises a mixture of titanium compounds, containing at least 90 per cent titanium dioxide, and carbon, the halogen liberated at the anode reacting with the titanium dioxide to form titanium tetrahalide. The fused salt may be potassium chloride, bromide, iodide or fluoride, sodium chloride, bromide, iodide or fluoride, calcium chloride or magnesium chloride, or a mixture of two or more of these, preferably having the same halogen radical. The electrolysis may be carried out in a bath heated to 700‹ to 1400‹ C., using a tantalum, graphite or iron cathode, or a liquid cathode of zinc or cadmium. The anode and cathode may be separated by a diaphragm, such as a porous pot, or by a non-porous barrier immersed below the electrolyte surface. The titanium compound may be a synthetic oxide or a natural oxide such as mineral rutile, mineral brookite, or mineral anatase, and may be mixed with charcoal or coal. The mixture may be contained in a porous pot with a carbon rod inserted therein, or the mixture may be bonded with gum, pitch or glue and a carbon rod inserted into the mass; the mixture may also be made into a paste with glycerine or dehydrated castor oil, shaped, dried and baked, with or without a carbon core, or the paste may be fed on the top surface of a decaying anode which is progressivelv lowered into the bath. The titanium tetrahalide gases, such as titanium tetrachloride, are withdrawn from above the anode, with carbon monoxide and dioxide, and condensed.