India's New Titanium Sponge Plant Completes Supply Chain from Ore to Alloy

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With the inauguration of the titanium sponge production plant in Chavara, Kerala, India joins a select group of countries with the capability of producing the strategic product.

The technology for the 500-ton-per-year plant constructed at the Kerala Mines and Minerals (KMML) campus at Kollam uses technology developed by the Defense Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) in Hyderabad, under the umbrella of the state's Defence Research and Development Organization. The sponge project is being funded by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thiruvananthapuram, which is a major user of the sponge.

DMRL is running a major program for the development of aeronautical-grade titanium alloys. Technologies for these types of alloys have been transferred to Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) in Hyderabad. The technology to convert titanium tetrachloride to pure titanium sponge provides a key link in the supply chain for processing titanium ores into titanium metals. India has the third-largest deposits of titanium in the world. Most of the deposits are along the coast of the southern peninsula.

KMML is already involved in the mining and beneficiation of ore and conversion to pigment-grade titanium dioxide on a commercial scale at Kollam. Now, with access to the titanium alloy production technology, India has strengthened the strategic position of a number of industrial sectors including aerospace, armor plating, naval vessels, missiles, nuclear and chemical plants. The titanium alloys have high anti-corrosion properties, high strength-to-weight ratio, fatigue resistance, crack resistance and the ability to withstand moderately high temperatures without creeping.

Previous to the new Indian plant, only six countries were titanium sponge producers. In the order of size of output these were China, Japan, Russia, Kazakhstan, the United States and Ukraine. Global titanium sponge production was more than 170,000 tons in 2010. Nine of the 18 companies producing sponge were in China, which has new plants in the pipeline. A sponge surplus is forecast for the global market in 2012-13.

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