Editing Ilmenite (section)

== Processing and consumption ==
[[File:Tellnes.jpg|thumb|300px|Tellnes opencast ilmenite mine, [[Sokndal]], Norway]]

Most ilmenite is mined for [[titanium dioxide]] production.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mineralcommodities.com/products/industry-fundamentals/|title=Industry Fundamentals|website=Mineral Commodities Ltd|access-date=2016-08-08|archive-date=2016-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007145819/http://www.mineralcommodities.com/products/industry-fundamentals/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Ilmenite and titanium dioxide are used in the production of [[titanium]] metal.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kroll|first=W|title=The production of ductile titanium|journal= Transactions of the Electrochemical Society|volume=78|pages=35–47|doi=10.1149/1.3071290|year=1940}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Seki|first=Ichiro|title=Reduction of titanium dioxide to metallic titanium by nitridization and thermal decomposition|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/matertrans/58/3/58_MK201601/_pdf|journal=Materials Transactions|volume=58|issue= 3|pages=361–366|doi=10.2320/matertrans.MK201601|year=2017|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Titanium dioxide is most used as a white pigment and the major consuming industries for TiO<sub>2</sub>  pigments are paints and surface coatings, plastics, and paper and paperboard. Per capita consumption of TiO<sub>2</sub> in China is about 1.1 kilograms per year, compared with 2.7 kilograms for Western Europe and the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ihsmarkit.com/products/titanium-dioxide-chemical-economics-handbook.html|title=Titanium Dioxide Chemical Economics Handbook}}</ref>

[[File:Estimated world production of titanium concentrate by mineral source in metric tons, 2015–2019.png|thumb|Estimated world production of titanium concentrate by mineral source in metric tons, 2015–2019. Titanium concentrate is mainly obtained from processing of ilmenite mineral, followed by titaniferous slags and natural rutile.]]

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element on Earth and represents about 0.6 percent of the Earth's crust. Ilmenite is commonly processed to obtain a titanium concentrate, which is called "synthetic rutile" if it contains more than 90 percent TiO2, or more generally "titaniferous slags" if it has a lower TiO2 content. More than 80 percent of the estimated global production of titanium concentrate is obtained from the processing of ilmenite, while 13 percent is obtained from titaniferous slags and 5 percent from rutile.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Patent Landscape Report |url=https://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4651&plang=EN |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=[[WIPO]] |doi=10.34667/tind.47029 |language=en |author1=World Intellectual Property Organization. |series=Patent Landscape Reports |date=2023 }}</ref>

Ilmenite can be converted into pigment grade titanium dioxide  via either the sulfate process or the [[chloride process]].<ref name=Ullmann>{{Ullmann|author=Völz, Hans G. |display-authors=etal |title=Pigments, Inorganic|year=2006|doi=10.1002/14356007.a20_243.pub2}}</ref> Ilmenite can also be improved and purified to titanium dioxide in the form of rutile using the [[Becher process]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Welham |first1=N.J. |title=A parametric study of the mechanically activated carbothermic reduction of ilmenite |journal=Minerals Engineering |date=December 1996 |volume=9 |issue=12 |pages=1189–1200 |doi=10.1016/S0892-6875(96)00115-X|bibcode=1996MiEng...9.1189W }}</ref>

Ilmenite ores can also be converted to liquid [[iron]] and a titanium-rich slag using a smelting process.<ref>{{citation| url = https://www.saimm.co.za/Journal/v108n01p035.pdf | title = Ilmenite smelting: the basics| first =  P.C. |last = Pistorius | journal = The Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy | volume = 108 | date = Jan 2008 }}</ref>

Ilmenite ore is used as a flux by steelmakers to line blast furnace hearth refractory.<ref name="RTFT Products">{{cite web|title=Rio Tinto, Fer et Titane - Products|url=http://www.rtft.com/ENC/index_ourproducts.asp|publisher=Rio Tinto Group|access-date=19 Aug 2012|archive-date=6 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506221657/http://www.rtft.com/ENC/index_ourproducts.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ilmenite can be used to produce [[ferrotitanium]] via an [[aluminothermic]] reduction.<ref name="FerroAlloy">{{cite book |title=Handbook of Ferroalloys: Theory and Technology |publisher=Elsevier |editor-last1=Gasik |editor-first1=Michael |year=2013 |location=London |pages=429 |isbn=978-0-08-097753-9}}</ref>