Continuous process for producing titanium tetrachloride

1 . A continuous process for producing titanium tetrachloride having a vanadium content of less than 5 ppm, based on the amount of titanium tetrachloride, comprising:

(a) adding a vanadium treatment agent comprising an organic oil into a crude titanium tetrachloride process stream to produce one or more easy-to-separate vanadium compounds in the process stream; said crude titanium tetrachloride pocess stream comprising titanium tetrachloride, vanadium compounds, and aluminum trichloride;

(b) measuring in-process the vanadium content in the process stream;

(c) adjusting the rate of addition of the vanadium treatment agent to restore or maintain the vanadium content to an amount of less than 5 ppm, based on the amount of titanium tetrachloride; wherein said aluminum trichloride catalyzes the reaction between said vanadium compounds and said vanadium treatment agents; and wherein the reaction product of said vanadium treatment agent and said vanadium compounds partially or fully passivates said aluminum trichloride; and

(d) separating the easy-to-separate vanadium compounds from the titanium tetrachloride process stream to produce purified titanium tetrachloride having a vanadium content of less than 5 ppm.

2 . (canceled)

3 . The process of claim 1 wherein the vanadium treatment agent is selected from the group consisting of a petroleum oil, an animal fat, a vegetable oil, hydrogenated naphthenic oil, and mixtures thereof.

4 . The process of claim 1 wherein the vanadium treatment agent is a hydrogenated naphthenic oil.

5 . (canceled)

6 . The process of claim 1 wherein the in-process measurement is performed by transmission Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy.

7 . The process of claim 1 wherein the separation process is selected from the group consisting of distillation, a solid-liquid separation process, filtration, and centrifugation.