Why cannot titanium metal be produced by reducing titanium oxide with carbon?

Titanium metal cannot be produced by the common industrial method of reducing its oxide with carbon for two primary reasons:

• Formation of Stable Carbide: When titanium oxide is heated with carbon, the reaction readily produces a very stable titanium carbide (TiC) rather than pure titanium metal.12
• High Reactivity: At the elevated temperatures required for such reduction processes, titanium is highly reactive toward oxygen and nitrogen present in the air, which would contaminate the metal.12

Because of these challenges, commercial production relies on the Kroll process. In this method, titanium ore is first converted into titanium tetrachloride (TiCl₄), which is then reduced using molten magnesium in an inert argon atmosphere to prevent contamination.31