Fundamental Studies on Electrochemical Separation Process for Titanium from Mixed Scrap

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This grant will support fundamental research that will contribute new knowledge related to an electrochemical manufacturing process, promoting the progress of science and advancing national prosperity. The increase in demand for titanium in transportation industries has created a need for the development of an alternate technology that is low cost, energy-efficient and environmentally benign. This award supports research to enable a novel pathway for the electrochemical manufacturing of titanium from domestic metal sources (i.e. scrap) using ionic liquid electrolytes at low temperatures (about 100 degree centigrade). Electrochemical studies will be combined with computational process modeling. It is envisioned that this new low temperature electrochemical manufacturing of titanium will be an environmentally benign process with significant reduction in energy consumption and cost as compared to the conventional process. Therefore, results obtained from this research will benefit the U.S. economy and society. This research involves several disciplines including electrochemistry, metallurgical and materials engineering, computational science and manufacturing. The multi-disciplinary approach in research and training program on manufacturing technology will educate students, build a future work force, broaden participation of underrepresented student groups in research activities and positively impact STEM and engineering programs.The new electrochemical manufacturing process studied in this work can overcome several limitations existing in the lightweight metals manufacturing process involving high temperature thermal process resulting high losses of metal values, high energy consumption and generation of greenhouse gases. However, some scientific and engineering barriers are yet to be overcome to realize the full potential of electrochemical manufacturing process. This research is to fill the knowledge gap on fundamental understanding of science of titanium metal manufacturing technology. Both experimental and electrochemical modeling studies will be conducted. The research will generate fundamental understanding of thermodynamic and transport properties of electrolytes and electrode materials, and diffusion coefficients of the electro-active species. It will also significantly enhance our fundamental understanding of separation of complex chemical species and electrochemical reaction mechanisms. This will be input to the development of the electrochemical process (CFD) model. The electrode charge-transfer reactions and the reaction kinetics for species will be incorporated into this new model. The electric field, fluid flow, current density and species distribution at the electrodes as a function of applied voltages, temperatures and species concentrations will be modeled. The model will be validated using the experimental results. Correlations of model results verified with experimental parameters results, as well as process modeling and optimization for the metal manufacturing process will be carried out. Results of this research are potentially transformative to lightweight metals manufacturing processes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.