Altair Nanomaterials, Inc.

Andrew Vince

Willem P C Duyvesteyn

Timothy Malcome Spitler

Bruce James Sabacky

Jan Prochazka

Paul George West-Sells

Dirk Edmund Victor Verhulst

Bernardus Josephus Paulus Maria Huls

James R Burkholder

A hydrometallurgical process is provided for producing pigment grade TiO from titanium containing solutions. Generally, the solution is an aqueous solution. The process includes hydrolyzing the solution via complete evaporation in well-controlled conditions of temperature to form titanium oxide of well-defined characteristics. The hydrolyzing can be achieved by spray hydrolysis in a spray dryer. After hydrolyzing, the titanium oxide is calcined to transform the titanium oxide to the desired form of titanium dioxide. The titanium dioxide can be either anatase or rutile. Following calcination, the titanium dioxide is milled to provide the desired particle size distribution and then finished.

Processing aqueous titanium solutions to titanium dioxide pigment

A hydrometallurgical process is provided for producing pigment grade TiO from titaniferous mineral ores, and in particular from ilmenite ore. The ore is leached with a hydrochloric acid, preferably a recycled solution at high hydrochloric acid concentration, to form a leachate containing titanium and iron chloride and a residue. The leachate may be filtered to separate the leachate from the residue. The leachate is cooled to a temperature sufficient to form crystals of FeCl , which are separated from the leachate. The leachate may be subjected to a reduction step to reduce Fe to Fe , before crystallizing. The leachate is subjected to a first solvent extraction to form a pregnant strip solution containing titanium and ferric ions and a raffinate containing ferrous ions. This strip solution is subjected to a second solvent extraction to form a second strip solution containing ferric ions and a raffinate containing titanium ions. The first strip solution may be subjected to an oxidization step before the second solvent extraction. The second raffinate containing titanium ions is hydrolyzed. The hydrolysis can be by water addition or spray hydrolysis. Iron chloride is converted to iron oxide and hydrochloric acid. All product streams containing chlorides are recycled, producing gaseous hydrochloric acid that is used for regenerating the leaching solution.

Processing titaniferous ore to titanium dioxide pigment

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Moranbah, Australia

Andrew Vince