Titanium dioxide: Production route
Sulphate versus chloride: cheap ore or clean process
What this tab covers How it is made: the main production routes or, for product families, the main product types and technologies, compared on share of supply, inputs per tonne, plant scale, yield, co-products and unit cost.Two routes make pigment. The sulphate route, older and dominant in China, can use cheap low-grade ilmenite but produces large volumes of iron sulphate and spent acid. The chloride route, used by Chemours, Tronox, Kronos in North America and now LB Group, needs high-grade rutile, slag or synthetic rutile but gives a brighter, more durable rutile pigment with less waste. Upgrading ilmenite to slag or synthetic rutile is an energy-intensive step in between.
Routes compared
| Route | Share of supply | Inputs per tonne | Typical scale | Yield | Co-products | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sulphate process | about 60% of world capacity, most of China's 6.0 Mt (indicative) | about 2.4-2.6 t ilmenite (45-50% TiO2) or 1.4-1.6 t slag, and 3.5-4 t H2SO4 per t TiO2 (indicative) | typical 50-200 kt/yr (indicative) | about 85-90% on TiO2 (indicative) | about 3-4 t ferrous sulphate and 6-8 t dilute spent acid per t TiO2, or gypsum after neutralisation (indicative) | acid cost about $350-400/t TiO2 at $100/t acid, about $1,500/t at $400/t (2026) (indicative) |
| Chloride process | about 40% of world capacity (indicative) | about 1.1-1.3 t rutile, slag or synthetic rutile; 0.3-0.4 t coke; 0.1-0.2 t make-up chlorine; oxygen (indicative) | 150-600 kt/yr sites (indicative); Greatham UK 150 kt/yr | about 90-95% on TiO2 (indicative) | metal chlorides (iron chloride) for water treatment or disposal (indicative) | higher feedstock cost, lower waste cost; chlorine supply critical (loss of chlorine supply was the 'last straw' for Botlek, Project Blue) |
| Feedstock upgrading: slag smelting and synthetic rutile | supplies most chloride feed (indicative) | about 1.6-2 t ilmenite and 2-2.5 MWh electricity per t slag (indicative) | furnaces of 100-300 kt/yr slag (indicative) | not published | pig iron | power and reductant dominated (indicative) |
How each route works
Sulphate processIlmenite or sulphate slag is digested in concentrated sulphuric acid, iron is removed as ferrous sulphate (copperas), and titanyl sulphate is hydrolysed, filtered and calcined at 900-1,000 C to anatase or rutile. China's mid-size plants and European sulphate sites (Kronos, former Venator) use it.
Uses cheap feed and makes anatase; heavy acid and waste burden and exposure to the 2026 sulphur spike.
Titanium tile; MarketMinute (2026: sulphur up 160% in 18 months); indicative Chloride processHigh-TiO2 feed is chlorinated with petroleum coke in a fluidised bed at about 1,000 C to TiCl4, which is distilled and oxidised with oxygen to rutile pigment, freeing chlorine to recycle. Chemours, Tronox, Kronos, LB Group and KMML in India use it.
Better pigment and less waste; needs scarce high-grade feed and a chlorine source.
Project Blue (2025); European Coatings (2026); indicative Feedstock upgrading: slag smelting and synthetic rutileIlmenite is smelted with anthracite in electric arc furnaces to titanium slag and high-purity pig iron (Rio Tinto, Tronox Namakwa) or reduced in coal-fired kilns and leached to synthetic rutile (Iluka, Tronox in Australia). This feeds chloride and some sulphate plants.
Lets low-grade ilmenite feed chloride plants; high electricity and coal use.
Titanium tile; Tronox Q3 2025 (Namakwa furnace idled) Unit economics are indicative ranges from the sources named; costs move with feedstock and energy prices, plant size and region.