Process for in-situ formation of chlorides in the preparation of titanium dioxide

A process for producing titanium dioxide, comprising: a) reacting an alloy comprising a metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum, titanium and mixtures thereof, wherein one metal is a major component of the alloy, and an element, with chlorine gas to form chlorides of aluminum, titanium or mixtures thereof and chlorides of the element, at or above the boiling point of the chloride of the major component of the alloy; with the proviso that the element does not comprise Ti when the metal is Ti and does not comprise Al when the metal is Al; (b) adding titanium tetrachloride to the chlorides formed in step (a); (c) oxidizing the chlorides formed in step (a), and titanium tetrachloride of step (b); and (d) forming titanium dioxide.