Modeling of titania slag carbochlorination

Abstract

Titanium tetrachloride, a product of titanium slag chlorination in the presence of carbon, is an intermediate product for high grade TiO2 pigment preparation and titanium metallurgy. The chlorination of carbon‐titanium dioxide pellets with gas mixtures of N2 and Cl2 was studied at high temperatures (750‐1050 oC) and various partial pressures of chlorine (0.1‐0.8 atm) in a fixed‐bed reactor with the inner diameter of 80 mm. Based on the comparison of experimental and computational studies, a principal mechanism of the TiO2 carbochlorination was proposed, and chlorine concentration profile at different reaction conditions was clearly understandable. Porous diffusion of chlorine inside the C‐TiO2 pellet structure played an important role in the kinetic reaction model.