recycled back to the start of the first distillation column through the use of multiple distillation columns essentially no ticl 4 yield loss occurs and both a ticl 4 product and sncl 4 product can be produced a third distillation column or batch operation of the second distillation column can be used in some embodiments to produce a ticl 4 product ideal for titanium metal production the benefit of using elemental tin compared to organic treating agents is no organic residue is present in the ticl 4 which is highly detrimental to the titanium metal in some embodiments the contaminant vanadium is also removed by a process described herein the vanadium chlorination products vocl 3 or vcl 4 have boiling points close to that of ticl 4 which makes removal problematic when tin metal is reacted with the vanadium in the crude ticl 4 a solid vanadium product is produced along with sncl 4 this treatment process works with all ranges of vanadium seen in the variety of ores available with levels from 100 ppm v to 3000 ppm v but has not been seen to have any limitations either with lower or higher concentrations as with arsenic noted above the sncl 4 does not contaminate the vanadium solid the product ticl 4 has vanadium removed to a level.