A novel recycling process of titanium metal scraps by using chloride wastes

A novel process of recycling titanium metal scraps by utilizing chloride wastes (e.g., FeClx and AlCl3) that are obtained as by-products in the Kroll process or any other chlorination process has been investigated in this study. This is important from the viewpoint of the increase in titanium metal scraps and chloride wastes in the future. Thermodynamic analyses and some primary experiments have been carried out in previous studies. Based on these studies, a fundamental study was carried out: titanium granules were reacted with iron chloride (FeCl2) in a sealed quartz tube under a reduced argon atmosphere over a temperature range of 900-1300 K. The analytical results of the obtained samples determined using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), the potentiometric titration method, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses reveal that the chlorine contained in the chloride wastes can be recovered by titanium granules as titanium chloride and the obtained titanium chloride can be easily separated from iron and other chlorides and then recovered. The recovered titanium chloride can be used as the feed material in titanium smelting processes.