Editing Titanium tetrachloride (section)

==Applications==

===Production of titanium metal===
The world's supply of titanium metal, about 250,000 tons per year, is made from {{chem2|TiCl4}}. The conversion involves the reduction of the tetrachloride with [[magnesium]] metal. This procedure is known as the [[Kroll process]]:<ref name=Ull/>

:{{chem2|2 Mg + TiCl4 → 2 MgCl2 + Ti}}

In the [[Hunter process]], liquid [[sodium]] is the [[reducing agent]] instead of magnesium.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |entry=Hunter process |dictionary=A Dictionary of Chemical Engineering |date=2014 |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199651450.001.0001/acref-9780199651450-e-1447 |url-access=subscription |language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199651450.001.0001|last1=Schaschke |first1=Carl |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-965145-0 }}</ref>

===Production of titanium dioxide===
Around 90% of the {{chem2|TiCl4}} production is used to make the pigment [[titanium dioxide]] ({{chem2|TiO2}}). The conversion involves [[hydrolysis]] of {{chem2|TiCl4}}, a process that forms [[hydrogen chloride]]:<ref name=Ull>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Hans G. |last=Völz |display-authors=etal |title=Inorganic Pigments|encyclopedia=Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry |publisher=Wiley-VCH |location=Weinheim |date=2006 |doi=10.1002/14356007.n20_n04|chapter=Pigments, Inorganic |isbn=978-3-527-30673-2 }}</ref>

:{{chem2|TiCl4 + 2 H2O → TiO2 + 4 HCl}}

In some cases, {{chem2|TiCl4}} is oxidised directly with [[oxygen]]:

:{{chem2|TiCl4 + O2 → TiO2 + 2 Cl2}}

===Smoke screens===
It has been used to produce [[smoke screen]]s since it produces a heavy, white smoke that has little tendency to rise. "Tickle" was the standard means of producing on-set smoke effects for motion pictures, before being phased out in the 1980s due to concerns about [[Hydrochloric acid|hydrated HCl]]'s effects on the respiratory system.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}