European consortium “EURO-TITAN” aims to cover the European Union’s titanium requirements largely with secondary raw materials – successful kick-off meeting in Brussels
In total, 18 partners will be researching how to reuse the metallurgical waste streams from titanium dioxide and aluminum production to produce titanium. The process has the potential to make the European aviation and pharmaceutical industries independent of Russian titanium imports – an important strategic goal of the EU. At the same time, the CO2 footprint is to be reduced by 90 percent compared to the conventional production of titanium (Kroll process). Prof. Bengi Yagmurlu, Professor of Hydrometallurgy at the Institute for Processing, Recycling and Circular Economy Systems, is the coordinator of the EU project EURO-TITAN under the leadership of Clausthal University of Technology.
At the end of January, representatives of all partners came together for the first time at the Lower Saxony State Representation in Brussels for two days of personal exchange. “Many already know each other from bilateral collaborations – but for the success and effective cooperation of such a large project, it is important that all partners know each other personally. Everyone has their own expertise and will contribute this over the next four years to a very precisely defined research program. But it is just as important that the personal chemistry is right,” says coordinator Yagmurlu.
“European spirit” tangible
The “European spirit” was palpable in the immediate vicinity of the EU Parliament. Yagmurlu is also grateful to the national representation for another reason that he was able to host the kick-off meeting on its premises in Brussels: “This meant that three representatives from the European Commission came to the meeting. They spent a whole day discussing with us and provided valuable background information and tips – and were not just connected online as is usually the case. That is priceless.”
Policy Officer Daniel Cios also explained how the project fits into the EU’s raw materials strategy. Titanium is on the list of both “Critical Raw Materials” and “Strategic Raw Materials”. The EU needs to make itself strategically less dependent on raw material imports. 100 percent of global titanium primary raw materials come from countries outside the EU, 43 percent of which come from China and 25 percent from Russia. Since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the supply has been jeopardized, for example for the European aviation industry or the pharmaceutical industry. At the same time, only one percent of titanium is currently recycled.
This is precisely where the EURO-TITAN project comes in with a new process: In the future, up to 30 percent of global titanium demand could be obtained from secondary raw materials. This is to be achieved with a direct titanium reduction process using green hydrogen. The demonstration is planned at the industrial partners’ Bosnian aluminum doo plant and at the mining company ORANO in France. AI experts are developing inline real-time data monitoring in parallel to optimize the processes. Experts estimate that the price of the titanium extracted from the residual materials will be 15 percent lower than imports from Russia and China.
Large European companies and SMEs as partners
Consequently, major European companies such as ORANO, Venator, Aluminia Doo, FERRO DUO and SIKA are part of the consortium. Remondis, Airbus and Salzgitter AG are also members of the EURO-TITAN monitoring committee. Research partners such as RWTH Aachen University, the Federal Institute for Materials Research (BAM), the Middle East Technical University and the University of East Sarajevo as well as seven small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) complete the consortium. “The many partners in the consortium are necessary in order to consider the entire cycle with all material flows along the value chain. This ultimately makes it possible to evaluate the new process from a technical and economic perspective as well as the CO2 savings compared to the conventional Kroll process via a life cycle assessment,” explains Prof. Yagmurlu. “In addition, all residual materials from the process presented will be used in building materials, for example, and wastewater treatment and residual heat utilization will also be considered.”
“After the successful kick-off meeting, the partners are looking forward to working together – and the next face-to-face meeting in Athens,” says Dr. Heike Schröder (Service Center for Research and Transfer), who is responsible for EU funding advice at Clausthal University of Technology and accompanied Prof. Yagmurlu to Brussels. The joint project is being funded by the EU with a total of five million euros, with more than 700,000 euros going to TU Clausthal.
