Titanium oxide (TiO2) is an important raw material for the production of chemicals with a wide range of applications, such as coatings, ceramics and photocatalysis. In this paper, we will introduce the manufacturing methods of titanium oxide, including physical and chemical methods.
1. Physical method
The physical method is mainly to convert titanium ore or titanium alloy into titanium oxide powder by means of mechanical crushing and vapor phase deposition. Among them, the vapor phase deposition method is a commonly used method to manufacture high-purity titanium oxide, mainly including physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Physical vapor deposition is a method in which titanium metal is converted to a gaseous state by physical means such as evaporation and sputtering, and then condensed into titanium oxide powder during the cooling process. This method produces titanium oxide powder with high purity and fine particle size, but the production cost is higher.
Chemical vapor deposition method is to introduce titanium metal organics or halides into the reaction chamber, and generate titanium oxide powder through thermal decomposition or gas phase reaction. This method can prepare high-purity, fine-grained titanium oxide powder, which is suitable for large-scale production.
2. Chemical method
Chemical method is the method of converting titanium ore or titanium alloy into titanium oxide through chemical reaction, mainly including sulfuric acid method and chlorination method, etc.
The sulfuric acid method is to react ilmenite ore with concentrated sulfuric acid in an acidolytic reaction, generating ferrous sulfate and tetrabutyl titanate, and then hydrolyze, calcine and other steps to obtain titanium oxide products. This method of production process is mature, can produce high-quality titanium oxide products, but the production process will produce a large amount of waste acid and wastewater, environmental protection management is more difficult.
Chlorination method is to generate titanium tetrachloride by reacting titanium ore or titanium alloy with chlorine, and then oxidize and hydrolyze to get titanium oxide products. This method has a simple production process and produces less wastewater in the production process, but the resulting product is less pure and requires further purification treatment.
In addition to the above methods, there are some emerging titanium oxide manufacturing methods, such as sol-gel method, microwave method. The sol-gel method is to form a solution of precursors such as titanol salts in an organic solvent to form a sol, and then obtain titanium oxide powder through gelation, drying, calcination and other steps. This method can prepare high-purity, fine-grained titanium oxide powder, but the production process requires the use of a large number of organic solvents, less environmentally friendly. Microwave method is to use the principle of microwave heating, tetrabutyl titanate and other precursor solutions in the microwave field rapid heating decomposition, to get titanium oxide powder. This method has the advantages of fast, efficient, energy-saving, etc., but the cost of equipment is high, and it is still in the research stage.
Overall, there are various manufacturing methods for titanium oxide, and different methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, and suitable methods should be selected according to specific product requirements and production conditions. At the same time, environmental protection governance should be strengthened in the production process to reduce waste emissions and protect the environment.
