Green production of titanium dioxide nanometric particles through electrolytic anodic dissolution of titanium metal

Nanometric titanium derivatives such as hydroxide and dioxide compounds have a great attention because they are significant industrial material of commercial importance and applications in photocatalyst, semiconductors, and wastewater treatment. The present investigation gives the results of anodic dissolution preparation of titanium hydroxide nanometric particles followed by calcination for complete conversion to nanometric titanium dioxide product. The optimum conditions for the anodic dissolution of titanium metal were pH 4, C. D. 65 mA/cm(2), 25 degrees C, 150 rpm, electrode gap distance 3 cm, and NaCl 3 g/l for electrolysis time 240 min and thermally calcinated at 600 degrees C for 240 min., to reach complete conversion to anatase titanium dioxide nanopowder of main particles size of 77 nm with major percentage of 70%. Chemical and physical characterizations were carried out for evaluation of the obtained products including transmission electron microscope, EDX, XRD, and the scanning advanced electronic diffraction pattern. Preliminary economic indicators were calculated to show that the capital cost of the plant is $1.613 million, with annual operating cost of $0.915 million which means the required investment is $2.528 million. The operating cost for the production of nanometric anatase TiO2 is $30.5/kg with depreciation excluding the land price.

Automated summary

This study presents the results of preparing nanometric titanium dioxide through anodic dissolution and calcination process. The optimized anodic dissolution conditions and thermal calcination process resulted in high-purity anatase titanium dioxide nanopowder. The chemical and physical characterizations confirmed the potential applications of these nanoparticles in photocatalysis, semiconductors, and wastewater treatment.