Companies partner on recycled titanium supply chain

IperionX Ltd. and the ELG Utica Alloys subsidiary of Aperam Recycling say they have agreed to create a low-carbon 100 percent-recycled titanium supply chain. ELG will supply clean titanium scrap metal, and IperionX will use its patented titanium processing technologies to produce low-carbon titanium metal for a more sustainable and fully circular supply chain.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based IperionX says it produces titanium metal powders from titanium scrap at its pilot facility in Utah and intends to scale production at a titanium demonstration facility at 1080 Confroy Dr., South Boston, Virginia. That site is designed to produce 125 tons per year of titanium powder, with production targeted to start in the first quarter of 2024.

The company says once the demonstration facility is operating successfully, it has plans for a modular expansion into a commerical production facility with a capacity of 1,125 tons per year in 2025.

IperionX holds a 100 percent interest in the Titan Project in west Tennessee, which has the largest Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves- (JORC-) compliant resource of titanium, rare earth and zircon-rich mineral sands in the United States.

IperionX says it is working to commercialize a series of patented titanium manufacturing technologies that potentially could reduce the cost and carbon emissions of titanium production, enabling wider use of titanium, potentially displacing steel and aluminum, which it says have lower strength-to-weight ratios, inferior corrosion resistance and higher net-carbon emissions. That technology includes HAMR, or Hydrogen Assisted Metallothermic Reduction Process, which was developed by metallurgist Zak Fang, Ph.D., with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program. The company says the HAMR process  can take almost any form of titanium or titanium alloy scrap feedstock and produce titanium powders at very low energy intensity, "enabling the potential for low-cost, low-carbon emission production in a sustainable closed loop."

IperionX says it has received UL Environmental Claim Validation Procedure 2809 for its 100 percent-recycled, low-carbon titanium metal powder. 

Aperam, headquartered in Luxemburg, is a global stainless, electrical and specialty steel and recycling company. The business is organized in four primary reportable segments—Stainless & Electrical Steel, Services & Solutions, Alloys & Specialties and Recycling & Renewables—and aims to place the circular economy at the heart of its growth strategy.

As part of Aperam Recycling, ELG, which has U.S. locations in Hartford, Connecticut; Herkimer, New York; and South Gate, California, specializes in sourcing and processing titanium, stainless steel and super alloys, handling more than 1 million metric tons of metal per year.

Titanium metal is sourced over long distances from high-carbon supply chains with traceability issues, according to the companies. Domestic manufacturing of titanium components generates a large amount of titanium scrap in the form of cuttings and turnings, which typically are downcycled to the ferrotitanium market.

To ensure a more affordable and sustainable domestic manufacturing sector, IperionX says the U.S. needs to reshore low-carbon titanium production, unlock new sources of titanium materials and close the loop of the supply chain by recycling more titanium metal. Higher levels of titanium recycling can reduce costs, lower carbon emissions and mitigate supply chain shortages.

The company says its agreement with ELG will enable it to use titanium scrap generated by manufacturing and end-of-life titanium metal products to reshore low-carbon titanium metal production and create a more sustainable, 100 percent-recycled U.S. titanium supply chain.

Carsten Becker, CEO of ELG Utica Alloys, says, “We are happy to announce our new partnership with IperionX, further growing the circular economy for titanium in the U.S. This agreement with IperionX enables us to ensure that even more titanium material is recycled and stays in a closed loop, overall reducing carbon emissions and further driving Aperam’s sustainability efforts.”

“We are pleased to partner with ELG to advance a more sustainable 100 percent-recycled U.S. titanium supply chain,” says IperionX CEO Anastasios Arima. "This agreement with ELG provides the potential to unlock a secure, long-term supply of scrap titanium feedstock to create value for our customers with a lower cost, low-carbon, titanium supply chain for advanced American manufacturing.”