Hydrogen-assisted thermal metal reduction (HAMR) technology is leading the innovation in the field of industrial grade titanium recycling. With its patented process, IperionX Inc. in the United States directly treats waste titanium shavings or heavily oxidized titanium scrap and produces aerospace-grade Ti-6Al-4V powder by reducing the oxygen content to less than 1,000 ppm through a process of hydrogen deoxidization-Magnesium HAMR-vacuum sintering. This technology was selected by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for a $500,000 earmarked grant to validate aerospace component manufacturing feasibility. EcoTitanium (France), Europe's first closed-loop titanium recycling production line, uses plasma inert gas melting (PIGM) combined with a vacuum autoclave (VAR) to remelt titanium scrap supplied by aerospace manufacturers into pure titanium ingots with an impurity residue rate of 0.3% or less, which can be used directly in the casting of structural components for aircraft. These technologies validate the reliability of titanium recycling materials in the high-end field.
The price of recycled titanium centers on cost reduction and premiums for recycled products, and IperionX's recycled titanium powders are more than 50% cheaper to produce than traditional atomized powders, driving market prices down from $300/kg to the $80-$120/kg range, while meeting ASTM B348 standards. The price of titanium recycling depends on the oxygen content: clean scrap with oxygen ≤ 0.15% is quoted at 60-70% of virgin ingot, while oxidized scrap with oxygen > 0.3% requires additional deoxidation costs, resulting in a net price of only 35% of virgin material. Baoji titanium Prius practice shows that the price of titanium recycling can control the integrated production costs of about 30%, titanium recycling after repeated utilization rate of more than 4 times. The current U.S. defense procurement of titanium recycling powder premium rate of 25%, confirming the trend of high value-added recycled materials.
Titanium recycling from coated titanium anodes requires a step-by-step process that involves the industrial coating and the titanium substrate. After the titanium matrix is activated by nitric acid, the surface roughness is restored to Ra≤1.6μm, and the loss rate of titanium matrix is controlled within 0.5%. Precious metal recycling companies use ultrasonic regeneration technology, using a solution containing ammonium acetate and surfactant NP-10, ultrasonic vibration at 60 ° C for 60 minutes, completely remove sulfate scale in the electrode pores, regeneration of the anode current efficiency of 98.2%, comparable to new products. This type of titanium recycling technology extends the life cycle of titanium anode to more than 8 years and reduces the cost by 40% compared with the single-use solution.
The end buyers of the titanium recycling industry chain focus on three types of demand:
1. Additive manufacturing service providers: such as the U.S. IperionX purchasing mixed titanium scrap, deoxidized and powdered to supply the 3D printing market, and its recycled powder has been verified by NASA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory for use in the printing of rocket engine mounts.
2. Aerospace component manufacturer: EcoTitanium (France) locks up scrap from Airbus and Safran and melts it into 620mm ingots for direct sale to Safran's landing gear factory, processing 2,000 tons of scrap annually.
3. Precious metal recycling company: DONGSHENG uses ultrasonic regeneration technology to recycle large quantities of plated titanium anodes, and its titanium recycling price is 10% higher than that of its peers.
Acceptance of titanium scrap buyers focuses on two parameters: oxygen content (aerospace grade <0.2wt%) and lot consistency (composition fluctuation ±0.05%). Current European aerospace titanium recycling purchases are increasing by 15% annually, confirming the growing industrial acceptance of recycled titanium.