Titanium process energy

The most efficient processes in Table I are for steel and alumintim, mainly because these metals are produced in large amounts, and much technological development has been lavished on them. Magnesium and titanium require chloride intermediates, decreasing their efficiencies of production lead, copper, and nickel require extra processing to remove unwanted impurities. Sulfide ores produce sulfur dioxide (SO2), a pollutant, which must be removed from smokestack gases. For example, in copper production the removal of SO, and its conversion to sulfuric acid adds up to 8(10) JA g of additional process energy consumption. In aluminum production disposal of waste ciyolite must be controlled because of possible fiuoride contamination. 

The Alcan process has been used commercially by Osaka Titanium Co. ia Amagasaki, Japan. Multipolar ceUs of 1000 t/yr capacity are ia operation. Energy consumption is about 9.5—10 kWh/kg of magnesium metal (111). 

The scale of production also influences efficiency. Small-scale batch processing for metals such as titanium, tungsten, and zirconium leads to higher energy use and costs. 

In the field of nuclear energy, titanium has been used for processing of fuel elements, where this demands use of nitric acid or aqua regia ", and for control-rod mechanism, in which the short half-life of irradiated titanium is of advantage. 

In polymerization by one-component catalysts [chromium oxide catalyst (75), titanium dichloride 159) at ethylene concentrations higher than 1 mole/liter and temperatures below 90°C the transfer with the monomer is a prevailing process. The spontaneous transfer, having a higher activation energy, plays an essential role at higher temperatures and lower concentrations of the monomer. 

An excellent example of the differing energy requirements of competing processes is provided by titanium dioxide production. There are two competing processes ... 

When the flowsheet is complex and involves numerous process steps, a low-energy efficiency will result. The metals titanium and magnesium are difficult to reduce, and their production involves chloride intermediates which are produced from the oxide raw materials. Titanium requires magnesium or sodium as the reducing agent, and these metals are themselves obtained by electrolytic processes which are energy-intensive. Another feature which may add to the complexity of the process flowsheet is the need to separate impurities and by-products using special processes this is the case with copper, lead, and nickel. 

Batch-type production processes, particularly those with small batch sizes, have less energy efficiency as compared to continuous processes. A typical example of a batch operation on a relatively small scale is the production of titanium in 1-ton batches of the metal. The energy efficiency of the process is much less than that of continuous methods such as iron being produced in a blast furnace, or even of large-scale batch methods such as basic oxygen steel-making. The heat losses per unit of production are much less in continuous and large-batch processes, and this also enables the waste heat from process streams to be used. 

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