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He estimated that a kilogram of primary titanium is approximately 20 times more expensive than similar-quality steel because it requires much more energy to produce — although Fang and other scientists are working to develop less energy-intensive methods.

Titanium occurs in the Earth’s crust primarily as ilmenite, a heavy, opaque mineral that is mined primarily in China, Mozambique, South Africa, and Canada. As a chemical element, titanium reacts quickly with oxygen in the air to form a titanium dioxide compound. To separate the oxygen, companies use a process known as Kroll.

First, the titanium ore is heated to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit and reacts with chlorine gas and carbon-rich crude oil ​“coke”. This step produces a liquid chemical, titanium tetrachloride, and also produces carbon dioxide as a by-product (similar to how blast furnaces for iron production release CON2). The liquid chemical is then further treated with molten magnesium, resulting in porous, spongy, pure titanium.

The sponge is then crushed and melted into bars, coils and rods — the types of products Timet plans to make at its solar-powered Ravenswood facility — which are then shaped into finished products.

The United States has not produced its own titanium sponge since 2020when Timet closed its last production line in Henderson, Nevada, although the company continues to melt titanium there. The U.S. currently imports most of its titanium sponge supplies from Japan and, to a lesser extent, Kazakhstan.

Competition from cheaper imports and falling global metal prices made it difficult for U.S. manufacturers to continue producing sponge domestically. Rising energy costs also strained operations—as they did for other energy-intensive industries, including domestic aluminum production. When Century Aluminum finally closed its Ravenswood smelter in 2015The company cited high electricity prices as one of the main reasons.

Cost reduction and CON2 emissions from titanium

Finding cleaner sources of electricity to power titanium plants could help control and potentially reduce the costs associated with manufacturing titanium products. However, companies and scientists are also developing alternative titanium manufacturing techniques that aim to drastically reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions throughout the supply chain.

At the University of Utah, Fang has developed a novel thermochemical process that uses hydrogen to separate titanium from oxygen at relatively low temperatures and in a fraction of the time of conventional methods. Interestingly, the process can use scrap to produce high-purity titanium, bypassing the need for raw minerals and eliminating several other energy-intensive steps.

Based on the life cycle, hydrogen assisted metallothermic reduction (HAM) the process can reduce CON2 emissions from titanium production anywhere 50 Down 95 percent, depending on the final product, compared to conventional methods.

Fang’s research team received approximately7 million dollars in federal funds for development HAM process, including from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. North Carolina-based IperionX later acquired both the technology and a pilot plant in Utah that can produce about 2 tons of titanium per year, mainly for prototypes.

Next month, IperionX plans to begin operations at its first commercial-scale facility in Halifax County, Virginia, where it will process approximately 125 tons of titanium per year. The company received $12.7 a $1 million grant from the Department of Defense for a new facility that will produce titanium products for potential customers including Ford, Lockheed Martin and GKN Aviation and astronautics.

Dominic Allen, commercial director of IperionX, said the company is working on ​““reshore” U.S. titanium production partly for national security reasons. China and Russia now jointly control about 70 percent of the global market for primary titanium. IperionX also hopes that by producing less energy-intensive — and therefore cheaper — titanium domestically, the metal could enter new markets, potentially replacing aluminum and stainless steel in vehicles and construction materials.

“The titanium market is approximately4 “Close to billions of dollars worldwide,” Allen said, adding that the global aluminum and stainless steel markets are worth about170 billions and dollars200 billions respectively. ​“So if we can capture just a fraction of those markets on price alone, we’ll see a huge increase in the titanium market compared to where it is today.”

Meanwhile, titanium producers are expanding their operations to meet the needs of an existing market for this strong, lightweight metal – and in the case of Timet, using clean energy to do so.

In addition to the new plant in West Virginia, Timet operates titanium melting plants in Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Timet’s two main competitors in the U.S., ATI Materials and Howmet Aerospace also operate melting furnaces in Ohio, North Carolina and Washington state.

In Ravenswood, ​“The “state-of-the-art” facility will allow Timet to meet growing demand for titanium products from the aerospace industry and other sectors, said Dugan of Precision Castparts. A solar microgrid next door ​“provides a unique opportunity… to expand our titanium production capabilities using a renewable energy source,” he added.