Preparation of Ferrotitanium Alloys by Electrolysis-Assisted Calciothermic Reduction of Ilmenite in Equimolar CaCl2-NaCl Electrolyte: Effect of Calcium Oxide

The effect of CaO content on the preparation of ferrotitanium alloys from ilmenite with the method of the electrolysis-assisted calciothermic reduction has been investigated by use of ilmenite powders as raw materials that positions them next to the cathodic molybdenum plate, equimolar CaCl 2 -NaCl molten salt with 2–7 mol.% CaO as electrolyte and graphite as anode at 700°C with cell voltage of 2.8 V under argon atmosphere. It is demonstrated that increasing the reactant CaO content is beneficial to the calciothermic reduction of ilmenite and the intermediate CaTiO 3 . Experimental results also show that after 14 h of calciothermic reduction process, the products are ferrotitanium alloys and the specific energy consumption is only about 10.21 kWh kg −1 when adding 5 mol.% CaO into equimolar CaCl 2 -NaCl molten salt and approximately 14.40 kWh kg −1 when CaO content is increased to 7 mol.%.