Research and development for industry: Advanced ... - CSIR

TOWARDS A NEW TITANIUM SECTORPiloting atitanium metalproductionprocessTitanium powder produced with a CSIR process. Examples of products madewith the powder are also displayed: The part in the very front through additivemanufacturing and the other two through powder metallurgy processes.advantage to the envisaged localtitanium metal industry. Thisprocess is being developed by theCSIR in a stage-wise manner tomanage the inherent scale-uprisks, and it has now reachedthe stage where the design,construction and operation ofa small pilot plant have beenapproved by the DST and the CSIR.The pilot plant has a nominaldesign capacity of producing2 kg/h of titanium powdercontinuously. Construction andcommissioning of the plant are tobe completed by 31 March 2013.Test campaigns to gain scaleupinformation regarding theprocess, and to produce sufficientproduct for evaluation by potentialcustomers, are planned followingsuccessful commissioningof the plant.Similar to the CSIR, a numberof organisations worldwideare busy scaling up theirown variations of processesto produce titanium metalpowder. Problems with theprocess include the veryhigh heat of reaction, thevery fast rate of reaction, theaggressive and hazardousnature of the chemicalsinvolved, and the tendency ofthe titanium product to formlumps that block the reactorinlets and outlets.In the CSIR’s process, therate of TiCl 4reaction isslowed down by executingthe process in a molten saltmedium that allows bettercontrol of the titaniumparticle morphology thanother process variations.In parallel to the technical work, acommercialisation task team withrepresentation from industrialand financial concerns has beenformed to plan and manage workto ultimately realise commercialimplementation of the strategy.South Africa’s entire titaniumbeneficiation strategy dependslargely on the success of thispilot plant and its furthercommercialisation. Being ableto produce titanium powder ata much lower cost than presentimports will make this light metalan economically viable option,from which many industries canbe created and sustained.– Dawie van VuurenEnquiries:Dr Dawie van Vuurendvvuuren@csir.co.zaDr Dawie van Vuuren heads up the CSIR’spiloting of titanium metal production.To date, no organisation in the world has been able to produce titanium powder directly in a continuous manneron a commercial scale from titanium tetrachloride (TiCl 4– the usual precursor used for titanium metal production).The CSIR has developed a process that can do just this, and will be setting up a pilot plant in the near future.| 28|Following Australia,South Africa is endowed withthe second largest (about 16%)of titanium-bearing reservesin the world. In South Africa,the mineral is mined and thenconcentrated to form slag.This is exported as a relativelylow-value commodity, meetingabout 20% of the world’scurrent raw material demand fortitanium dioxide pigment, andtitanium metal production.“The national benefits thatwould arise from a worldscale,low-cost titanium metalplant are considerable.”The potential to add more valueto the raw material throughthe establishment of titaniumpigment and/or metal industrieshad been identified in a numberof South African governmentstudies (dating back more than15 years) and featured in anumber of national strategies.Why SA needs a titaniummetal producing plantThe national benefits thatwould arise from a world-scale(20 000 tons per annum), lowcost(about US$20/kg milledproducts at 50% of the currentprice) titanium metal plant areconsiderable, with the mostimportant being:• Revenue of about US$400million per annum from themilled product plant alone canbe forecast. Revenue couldincrease to almost US$1 000million per annum once adownstream industry for theproduction of semi-finishedproducts has been fullydeveloped.• Establishing an industry willlead to many downstreammanufacturing enterprises thatwould not be possible withoutsuch a local industry.• There is potential for the creationof about 1 500 permanent jobsonce the downstream industryhas been developed to a pointwhere semi-finished productsare produced. This numbercould increase with more finalproducts.• These industries wouldpotentially create opportunitiesfor the establishment of smalland medium enterprises andcomplement Black EconomicEmpowerment.• Support industries could bedeveloped that will further assistwith the expansion of the SouthAfrican economy through jobcreation and revenue generation.• A large part of South Africa’sannual importation of about800 tons of titanium invarious forms (sponge, scrap,ferrotitanium, etc.) can bereplaced, saving aboutUS$5 million per annumin foreign exchange.In order to realise the opportunityto establish a titanium metalindustry in South Africa, a focusedprogramme to achieve such anobjective was formulated in 2007by the Department of Science andTechnology (DST) together withthe CSIR and the research anddevelopment community.A novel process to producetitanium metal powderA key element of the programmeis the development of a novelprocess to produce titanium metalpowder that will give a competitive| 29 |