Comment on the article “Effect of CaO addition on preparation of ferrotitanium from ilmenite by electrochemical reduction in CaCl2-NaCl molten salt” by L. Xiong, Y.X. Hua, C.Y. Xu, J. Li, Y. Li, Q.B. Zhang, Z.R. Zhou, Y.D. Zhang, J.J. Ru

A recent publication by Xiong et al. [1] presents a study on the molten salt electrochemical reduction of ilmenite, FeTiO3, to ferrotitanium, FeTi. The study follows the concept of the FFC-Cambridge process, using the FeTiO3 as the cathode in a molten chloride salt as the electrolyte and graphite as the anode, such that FeTi is formed as the metallic product at the cathode. The interpretation that the Authors offer for their various experimental observations is based entirely on the chemical thermodynamics of the perceived overall cell reactions. The interpretation completely ignores both the electrochemical kinetics of the cathode reaction and the ionic transfer properties of the electrolyte. Herein, it is demonstrated that this approach leads to erroneous conclusions, and a more comprehensive interpretation is given instead.