Electroslag process for better titanium deposition morphology

Most common process for titanium production nowadays is Kroll process. This process has several drawbacks. Process is cyclical, and titanium comes out in sponge like form. This means that process is long, reaction is uncontrollable and requires post-processing of titanium sponge, which is energy consuming. In this work we present the idea to use Kroll process combined with electroslag process to produce titanium in continuous, more efficient process. Main idea is to use heated reactor where the initial reaction products (titanium tetrachloride and magnesium) are injected in liquid and gaseous phases, and reaction takes place above liquid slag in gaseous phase. Slag layer ensures titanium separation from unreacted magnesium and magnesium chloride, and other reaction waste products. Titanium droplets filtrate through the slag and is separated from the other fractions. In this paper we test the feasibility of this idea by studying the electroslag remelting of a titanium electrode in a specially prepared laboratory reactor. Chemical analysis is done to measure the composition of reaction products.