Production of rutile from ilmenite by room temperature ball-milling-induced sulphurisation reaction

Rutile (TiO 2 ) was produced at room temperature from mineral ilmenite (FeTiO 3 ) by high energy ball milling of an ilmenite-sulphur mixture. A mechanochemical reaction, sulphurisation of iron in ilmenite producing TiO 2 and FeS 2 , occurred during the milling process. During the subsequent annealing, the nanocrystalline TiO 2 obtained from milling recrystallised and FeS 2 decomposed at 600°C. Pure TiO 2 powder was obtained by a simple selective chemical leaching with HCl acid solution. The results indicate that mechanochemistry is a useful room temperature process of material production.