A novel method for preparing titanium by synergistic electrolysis and thermal deoxidation in NaCl-KCl-YCl3 molten salt

As the mainstream method for titanium processing, the Kroll process has excessive carbon emissions and high energy consumption due to its reliance on fossil fuels and lengthy semi-continuous process, which not only hinders the implementation of “dual-carbon” goals, but also leads to high production costs. In contrast, molten salt electrolysis achieves direct electrochemical reduction, significantly reducing energy consumption and pollution emissions while reducing costs, in line with the needs of green and sustainable manufacturing. The USTB method represented by soluble anode electrolysis process, is a green and low-cost new process for titanium extraction. However, this method uses NaCl-KCl as the molten salt medium, and faces the problem that it is difficult to control the oxygen content of titanium. In this study, a new method for the preparation of low-oxygen titanium by synergistic electrolysis and thermal deoxidation in NaCl-KCl-YCl 3 was proposed. It can be seen from the thermodynamic calculations that the activity of O 2− in the molten salt can be effectively reduced by the formation of YOCl. Under the equilibrium of Y / YOCl / YCl 3 (Y 3+ (in flux) + O 2- (in flux) + Cl − (in flux) = YOCl), the deoxidation limit is 1000 ppm. The experimental results show that the metal titanium with oxygen content of 700 ppm can be prepared by molten salt electrolysis and thermal deoxidation with TiC x O y as anode, Mo as cathode in NaCl-KCl-YCl 3 molten salt. This work provides a novel strategy for the preparation of low-oxygen titanium based on soluble anode electrolysis.