Research on Effect Factors of Current Efficiency in the Process of Sponge Titanium Production by Electrolytic Method

This paper systematically analyzes the various factors that affect the current efficiency in the process of sponge titanium production by vacuum molten salt electrolysis method. The research result shows that firstly, when electrolysis is undertaken in CaCl2 molten salt system under the condition that the pressure is under 101Pa, temperature is at 850°C, space between electrodes is 5 cm, cathodic current density is 1.05 A.cm-2 and anodic current density is 0.8A.cm-2 , the reoxidation of sponge titanium can be effectively avoided, the loss of electric current can be reduced and current efficiency can be greatly improved. Secondly, current efficiency can be greatly improved when mix molten salt system CaCl2+A is adopted, which can greatly reduce the electrolysis temperature and the resistance of molten salt. Thirdly, current efficiency can be greatly improved through selecting appropriate vacuum degree, appropriate molten salt system, appropriate space between electrodes, appropriate current density; in addition, keeping tidy reduction cell inside and adopting high-purity molten salt and raw material TiO2 are another ways for current efficiency improvement.