Titanium: An Overview of Resources and Production Methods
Mohammed El Khalloufi, Olivier Drevelle, Gervais Soucy
Abstract
For several decades, the metallurgical industry and the research community worldwide have been challenged to develop energy-efficient and low-cost titanium production processes. The expensive and energy-consuming Kroll process produces titanium metal commercially, which is highly matured and optimized. Titanium’s strong affinity for oxygen implies that conventional Ti metal production processes are energy-intensive. Over the past several decades, research and development have been focusing on new processes to replace the Kroll process. Two fundamental groups are categorized for these methods: thermochemical and electrochemical. This literature review gives an insight into the titanium industry, including the titanium resources and processes of production. It focuses on ilmenite as a major source of titanium and some effective methods for producing titanium through extractive metallurgy processes and presents a critical view of the opportunities and challenges.