Ilmenite (FeTiO3) is the primary global source of titanium
dioxide which is commonly used as a whitening agent in paper
manufacture and a pigment in paint manufacture. In Western
Australia ilmenite is processed by the Becher process (Becher,
1963, Becher et al, 1965) where ilmenite particles are fed
directly into the furnace with coal and heated to form a
composite of elemental iron and TiO2. The mechanism of the
carbothermic reduction of ilmenite has been extensively studied
(Grey, Jones and Reid, 1973; Jones, 1973; Grey and Reid, 1974;
El-Tawil, Morse and Francis, 1993) and is reasonably well
accepted.