Editing Ilmenite (section)

==Patenting activities==

[[File:Relevant patent families describing titanium dioxide production from ilmenite, 2002–2021.png|thumb|
Patent activity on titanium dioxide production from ilmenite has increased since 2012.]]
[[Patent]]ing activity related to titanium dioxide production from ilmenite is rapidly increasing.<ref name=":0" /> Between 2002 and 2022, there have been 459 [[Patent family|patent families]] that describe the production of titanium dioxide from ilmenite, and this number is growing rapidly. The majority of these patents describe pre-treatment processes, such as using smelting and magnetic separation to increase titanium concentration in low-grade ores, leading to titanium concentrates or slags. Other patents describe processes to obtain titanium dioxide, either by a direct hydrometallurgical process or through two industrially exploited processes, the sulfate process and the chloride process. Acid leaching might be used either as a pre-treatment or as part of a hydrometallurgical process to directly obtain titanium dioxide or synthetic rutile (>90 percent titanium dioxide, TiO2). The sulfate process represents 40 percent of the world’s titanium dioxide production and is protected in 23 percent of patent families. The chloride process is only mentioned in 8 percent of patent families, although it provides 60 percent of the worldwide industrial production of titanium dioxide.<ref name=":0" /><br>Key contributors to patents on the production of titanium dioxide are companies from China, Australia and the United States, reflecting the major contribution of these countries to industrial production. Chinese companies [[Pangang Group Vanadium Titanium & Resources|Pangang]] and [[Lomon Billions]] Groups are the main contributors and hold diversified [[patent portfolio]]s covering both pre-treatment and the processes leading to a final product.

In comparison, patenting activity related to titanium metal production from ilmenite remains stable.<ref name=":0" /> Between 2002 and 2022, there have been 92 patent families that describe the production of titanium metal from ilmenite, and this number has remained quite steady. These patents describe the production of titanium metal starting from mineral ores, such as ilmenite, and from titanium dioxide (TiO2) and titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), a chemical obtained as an intermediate in the chloride process. The starting materials are purified if needed, and then converted to titanium metal by a chemical reduction process using a reducing agent. Processes mainly differ in regard to the reducing agent used to transform the starting material into titanium metal: magnesium is the most frequently cited reducing agent and the most exploited in industrial production.<br>Key players in the field are Japanese companies, in particular [[Toho Titanium Company Limited|Toho Titanium]] and [[Osaka Titanium Technologies]], both focusing on reduction using magnesium. Pangang also contributes to titanium metal production and holds patents describing reduction by molten salt electrolysis.<ref name=":0" />