Titanium only occurs as a mineral in its oxidised state, or as titanic oxide (TiO2). It is a substance which has little commercial value, and is generally recognised as one of the rare bodies; although, in small quantities, it is widely disseminated. It occurs in granite, basalt, and other igneous rocks in quantities up to as much as 1 per cent. It is also met with in clays and iron ores, and in river sands, in which it is often associated with stream tin. The proper minerals of titanium are rutile (TiO2), titaniferous iron (titanate of iron), and sphene (titanate and silicate of lime).
The oxide of titanium (like cassiterite and quartz) is undecomposed by hydrochloric or nitric acid; so that it is generally found in the residue insoluble in acids. The titanates, however, are attacked, and a portion of the titanium dissolves; so that it must be looked for in both the filtrate and residue. Oxide of titanium in its native form, or after ignition, may be made soluble by fusing the finely-divided substance with fusion mixture in a platinum dish. The resulting titanate is dissolved out of the "melt" by cold hydrochloric acid.
The method most commonly used is fusion with bisulphate of potash. This renders the oxide of titanium soluble in cold water. The process is as follows:—The substance is extracted with hydrochloric and nitric acids, and the solution reserved for further treatment; the residue is dried, moistened with sulphuric acid, and evaporated once or twice to dryness with hydrofluoric acid. It is then fused with bisulphate of potash, and the "melt" extracted with cold water until all soluble matter is removed. The solution is filtered. The residue may consist of unremoved silica, and oxides of tantalum, niobium, and, perhaps, chromium. On the prolonged boiling of the filtrate, the oxide of titanium (and oxide of zirconium, if any) is precipitated.
Any titanium dissolved by the first extraction with acids is recovered in the following way:—Sulphuretted hydrogen is passed into the acid solution, and any precipitate that may be formed is filtered off. The filtrate is oxidised, and the iron, aluminium, and titanium are separated as basic acetates (see under Iron). The precipitate is dried and fused with bisulphate of potash. The "melt" is extracted with cold water, filtered if necessary, and the solution rendered first faintly alkaline with ammonia, then very slightly acid with sulphuric acid. 30 or 40 c.c. of a saturated solution of sulphurous acid is added, and the oxide of titanium precipitated by prolonged boiling. It is filtered off, added to the precipitate previously got, ignited with ammonic carbonate towards the end, and then weighed.
Detection.—Titanium is detected in an insoluble residue by fusing the residue for some time in a bead of microcosmic salt. In the reducing flame it gives a violet colour, which becomes reddish-brown if much iron is present. In the oxidising flame it gives a colourless or whitish bead. It is best detected in acid solutions by the deep brown or iodine colour developed on adding hydroxyl. A solution of this can be prepared by pouring peroxide of barium (BaO2) diffused in water into dilute hydrochloric acid (a little at a time), and keeping the acid in excess.
Separation.—In the usual course of an analytical separation the hydrate of titanium will be thrown down with ferric hydrate, &c., on the addition of ammonic chloride and ammonia. It is best separated from this precipitate by fusion with bisulphate of potash, as already described, but it must be remembered that the presence of much mineral acid prevents complete precipitation when the solution is boiled. Further, if phosphates are present, the precipitate will contain phosphoric oxide; it may be freed from this by fusion with sodium carbonate. A very good method of separating titanium from iron is to add tartaric acid and ammonia to the solution, and then precipitate the iron (as sulphide) with sulphuretted hydrogen. The filtrate contains the titanium, which is recovered by evaporating and igniting. It may be separated from zirconia by the action of sodium carbonate, which precipitates both; but when concentrated, redissolves the zirconia. The separation from large quantities of silica is best effected by evaporating with hydrofluoric acid, which volatilises the silicon; but sulphuric acid must be present, otherwise some titanium also will be lost, as may be seen from the following experiments,[77] in which oxide of titanium (pure, ignited) was evaporated to dryness with a quantity of hydrofluoric acid known by experiment to be sufficient to volatilise 1 gram of silica.
Without sulphuric acid, 0.0466 gram of titanic oxide left 0.0340 gram, showing a loss of about 25 per cent.
With sulphuric acid the following results were obtained:—
| Oxide taken. | Left after Evaporation and Ignition. |
| 0.0340 gram | 0.0340 gram |
| 0.0414 " | 0.0413 " |
| 0.0520 " | 0.0520 " |
| 0.0352 " | 0.0352 " |