Sumitomo Titanium Accelerates Expansion Plan

Sumitomo Titanium tries to expand the annual sponge titanium output capacity by 14,000 tonnes by July 2009 to meet growing demand. The firm changes the name to Osaka Titanium Technologies as before. The president Masaaki Tachibana said the firm will decide the melting method by summer after the study for the options including traditional vacuum arc melting furnace and cold hearth furnace as electron beam and plasma furnaces.The firm increased the expansion plan to additional 4,000 tonnes from 10,000 tonnes expansion announced in late 2006. The firm starts the expansion soon to add 30 reducing furnaces, 12 electrolysis cells and a crashing and sizing line with automatic control system. The firm will build pilot plant for developing new calcium reduction technology. Mr. Tachibana said the new technology can reduce the production cost by around 30% and benefits the industry. The firm expects titanium demand will increase for air plane, power plant and seawater desalting plant along with heat exchanger fro shipbuilding. Air plane uses more titanium to reduce the weight and to substitute aluminium alloy. The applications are also getting wider for motorcycle muffler and medical usages.