Lowering the cost of Ti metal: U.S. Geological Survey support of U.S. DoD Ti initiatives
Grosz, A.E., Gambogi, J., and Luckowski, S.J. ITA Conference 2006 October San Diego, CA U.S. Army TACOM - ARDEC Titanium Extraction, Mining, and Process Engineering Research Initiative
AIM Low-cost, non-aerospace-grade Ti and its alloys
METHOD Foster domestic high-volume Ti production and pioneer low-cost feedstock Ti plate at a STATUS “lower” price ±30 Kroll-alternate electro-chemical and chemical candidates Environmentally Quality Control Reference Materials friendly for performance metrics extraction process Low –cost domestic ores The US national Ti endowment Domestic Market analysis since 1950 Ti ores MINERAL THEORETICAL % TiO2 Hi-grade ore: leucoxene Rutile TiO2 (100) Anatase TiO2 (100) Brookite TiO2 (100) Ilmenite FeTiO3 (52.7) “Leucoxene” FeTiO3 (53 +) Perovskite CaTiO3 (58.9)
Ulvøspinel Fe2TiO4 (35.7) Ilmenite +/- Hematite Intergrowths +/- Magnetite Intergrowths (<50)
Sphene (Titanite) CaTiSiO5 (40.9)
Grain: ~120 microns Unconventional ore: perovskite Low-grade ore: Ti-magnetite + hematite + ilmenite
Grain: ~320 microns Grain: ~1000 microns Ti ores DOMESTIC Ti ORES 1. Foster domestic exploration - Conventional & unconventional ores 2. Quality Control Reference Materials - Ore characteristics - Kroll-alternate processing metrics 3. Market analysis since 1950 - Mineral, metal, chemical intermediates
The USGS National Geochemical Survey http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geochem/doc/home.htm Ti content of Kroll-alternate feedstock and of typical ores Metal Pigment feedstock feedstock * Synthetic Ilmenite - TiO TiCl Rutile 2 4 rutile Leucoxene
TiO2 (%) 98 - 95 95 52 – 80 Ti (%) 59 25 57 57 31 – 48 Ti lb/ton 1,300 550 1,254 1,254 680 – 1,056 Relative 0.92X -- X 0.20X -- 0.30X 0.06X – 0.10X value Ti/lb.
* Varies with contracts, Ores present a major contaminants and cost-reduction potential for TiO2 content. Ti metal production. U.S. Geological Survey Quality Control Reference Materials
Weight % RGCS TiOCVA TiOCFL TiILVA TiOMB TiOC TiOCMN Titanium 56 42 40 37 31 31 23 Iron 2 14 17 23 30 7 33 Manganese 0.1 0.5 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.2 0.3 Magnesium <0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.1 1.0 4.1 Calcium 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 16.5 0.4 Silicon 0.25 1 0.46 0.40 0.6 3.6 2.7 Chromium 0.07 0.07 0.06 0.05 0.29 <0.00 0.04 Vanadium 0.15 0.11 0.08 0.09 0.12 0.04 0.18 Niobium 0.33 0.11 0.08 0.08 0.04 0.24 <0.01 ∑REE 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.02 0.04 1.70 <0.00 Zirconium 0.35 0.26 0.13 ? 0.13 0.24 ? Gold (ppb) 1.5 3 1 ? 4 160 ? http://minerals.cr.usgs.gov/geo_chem_stand/