How titanium dioxide is made
Titanium dioxide is the white in paint, sunscreen, paper and food coloring, and the plant that makes it recycles its own chlorine.
- stations
- 6
- things upstream
- 10
- raw sources
- 6
- steps from the ground
- 3
The short version
Titanium dioxide is made from the mineral ilmenite or from rutile sand. In the chloride route, the ore is converted with chlorine and carbon into a liquid titanium chloride, distilled clean, and burned with oxygen to make fine white particles. The sulfate route dissolves the ore in sulfuric acid instead. The powder is then coated and milled.
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Separate the ore
Beach sands and rock deposits are concentrated to separate titanium minerals from sand and other heavy minerals. Ilmenite is the main ore.
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Chlorinate it with carbon
In the chloride route, the ore is reacted with chlorine and carbon, which leaves titanium tetrachloride, a volatile liquid. Iron and other impurities stay behind as solids or other chlorides.
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Distill the liquid clean
The tetrachloride is distilled until it is very pure. Any color-giving trace metals that remain would show up in the finished white.
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Burn it with oxygen
The purified liquid is reacted with oxygen in a flame, which regenerates the chlorine and produces titanium dioxide. The chlorine is sent back to the first reactor.
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Or dissolve it in sulfuric acid
In the sulfate route, ilmenite is dissolved in sulfuric acid and iron sulfate is crystallized and removed. The titanium solution is then precipitated and heated to make pigment.
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Coat and mill the pigment
Particles are coated with a thin layer of other oxides and milled to the right size for paint, plastic or paper. Size controls how much light the pigment scatters.
Worth repeating
- In the chloride route the chlorine used on the ore is released again when the liquid is burned, and it goes back to the first reactor.
- It has been estimated that titanium dioxide is used in two-thirds of all pigments.
- The sulfate process runs in batches, while the chloride process runs continuously.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and titanium dioxide starts as these 6 raw sources.
Everything it is made of See it on the map
Open the whole family tree
Where it goes next
Titanium dioxide feeds 13 lines directly and reaches 184 things in total.
Further down the line
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Sources
Cite this page: "How titanium dioxide is made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/titanium-dioxide