Question

What is the process used in refining either Zirconium or Titanium?

Answer 1

The process used in refining either Zirconium or Titanium:

• The Van Arkel technique is used to refine Zirconium or Titanium.
• Impurities found in Zirconium or Titanium in the form of nitrogen and oxygen are eliminated using this technique.
• To make metal iodide, the unrefined metal is heated with iodine at $870\mathrm{K}$in an evacuated tank.
• The much more covalent metal iodide volatilizes, keeping the contaminants intact.
• $\mathrm{Zr}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+2{\mathrm{I}}_2\left(\mathrm{s}\right)\to {\mathrm{ZrI}}_4\left(\mathrm{s}\right)$
• Metal iodide is disintegrated on a tungsten filament to extract the pure metal.
• It is heated to 1800 kelvin using electricity.
• On the filament, the purest metal is subsequently obtained.
• ${\mathrm{ZrI}}_4\left(\mathrm{s}\right)\to \mathrm{Zr}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+2{\mathrm{I}}_2\left(\mathrm{s}\right)$
• As a result, we have pure metal.