Treatment of titanium ores

Abstract

A method of producing titanium, comprising providing an oxide of titanium having a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %, reacting the oxide of titanium to form a titanium oxycarbide; and electrolysing the titanium oxycarbide in an electrolyte, with the titanium oxycarbide configured as an anode; and recovering a refined titanium metal from a cathode in the electrolyte.

1 . A method of producing titanium, comprising:
 providing an oxide of titanium in the form of an ore or ore concentrate having a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %, including at least 0.1 wt % calcium oxide and/or at least 0.1 wt % iron oxide;   reacting the oxide of titanium to form a titanium oxycarbide; and   electrolysing the titanium oxycarbide in an electrolyte, with the titanium oxycarbide configured as an anode; and   recovering a refined titanium metal from a cathode in the electrolyte, the refined titanium metal having a level of impurities of less than 0.5 wt %.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the refined titanium metal is at least 99.8% pure by weight. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the oxide of titanium has a level of impurities of at least 2.0 wt %. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the oxide of titanium comprises impurities selected from the group consisting of oxides of silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium chromium and vanadium. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the oxide of titanium includes at least 0.5 wt % calcium oxide and/or at least 0.5 wt % iron oxide. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the oxide of titanium substantially comprises titanium dioxide. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 6 , in which the titanium oxycarbide is formed by reacting the oxide of titanium with titanium carbide. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 7 , in which titanium carbide is reacted with titanium dioxide in accordance with the stoichiometry given by: 4TiC+2TiO 2 =3Ti 2 CO+CO (g) . 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the electrolyte is a molten salt. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 9 , in which the molten salt comprises a chloride of an alkali or alkali-earth metal. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 10 , in which the molten salt is selected from the group consisting of lithium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and any mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 11 , in which the molten salt is one of a sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic and a lithium chloride-sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic. 
     
     
         13 . A method of extracting a metal or semi-metal from an ore comprising an oxide of the metal or semi-metal, comprising the steps of providing the ore;
 reacting the ore to form a product comprising an oxycarbide, a carbonitride or an oxynitride of the metal or semi-metal;   electrolysing the product in an electrolyte, with the product configured as an anode; and   recovering the metal or semi-metal from a cathode in the electrolyte.   
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 13 , in which the metal or semi-metal is selected from the group consisting of: zirconium, silicon, aluminium, scandium, vanadium, chromium, yttrium, tantalum, uranium, hafnium and niobium. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 13 , in which the ore comprises impurities of at least 1.0 wt %. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 15 , in which the metal or semi-metal recovered at the cathode has a level of impurities of less than 0.5 wt %. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 13 , in which the electrolyte is a molten salt. 
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 17 , in which the molten salt comprises a chloride of an alkali or alkali-earth metal. 
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 18 , in which the chloride of the alkali or alkali-earth metal is selected from the group consisting of lithium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and any mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         20 . A method according to  claim 19 , in which the molten salt comprises one of a sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic and a lithium chloride-sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic. 
     
     
         21 . A method according to  claim 20 , in which the molten salt further comprises a chloride of the metal or semi-metal being extracted. 
     
     
         22 . A method of extracting a metal from a nuclear fuel comprising uranium, comprising the steps of:
 providing the nuclear fuel;   reacting the nuclear fuel to form a product comprising an oxycarbide, a carbonitride or an oxynitride of at least the uranium   electrolysing the product in an electrolyte with the product configured as an anode: and   recovering the metal from a cathode in the electrolyte.   
     
     
         23 . A method according to  claim 22 , in which the metal being extracted is uranium. 
     
     
         24 . A method according to  claim 23 , in which the nuclear fuel comprises uranium oxide, uranium carbide or uranium nitride. 
     
     
         25 . A method according to  claim 22 , in which the nuclear fuel further comprises a radioactive metal other than uranium, with the metal being extracted being the radioactive metal other than uranium. 
     
     
         26 . A method according to  claim 22 , in which the electrolyte is a molten salt. 
     
     
         27 . A method according to  claim 26 , in which the molten salt comprises a chloride of an alkali or alkali-earth metal. 
     
     
         28 . A method according to  claim 27 , in which the chloride of the alkali or alkali-earth metal is selected from the group consisting of lithium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and any mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         29 . A method according to  claim 28 , in which the molten salt comprises one of a sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic and a lithium chloride-sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic. 
     
     
         30 . A method according to  claim 29 , in which the molten salt further comprises a chloride of the metal being extracted.