The Hindu Business Line : RRL-T licenses new synthetic rutile tech

Regional Research Laboratory-Thiruvananthapuram (RRL-T) has entered into an agreement with Kochi-based Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) for transfer of an environment-friendly technology for producing synthetic rutile from ilmenite.

The deal was struck for a license fee of Rs 1 crore, among the highest in the history of the 38 labs of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

CMRL currently employs a highly polluting and costly process, where all the iron values present in ilmenite are removed as acidic ferrous chloride. This also gives rise to a major problem of safe disposal of acidic ferrous chloride.

SOFT LOAN

The new technology will help modernise the process to deliver high-grade synthetic rutile, said Prof T. K. Chandrashekar, Director, and Dr P. N. Mohan Das, Deputy Director of RRL-T. It is the starting material for the production of titanium tetrachloride, titanium metal and titanium dioxide.

Dr A. D. Damodaran, former director of RRL-T, who was also present, said the project report was being submitted to the Technology Development Board (TDB). Its approval will make CMRL eligible for a soft loan for the purchase of plant machinery.

The capital costs required to set up a plant to the new specifications has been estimated at Rs 130 crore. Savings in production costs made per tonne in this manner would aggregate to Rs 2,000. A three-year `lead time' will be given for the plant and technology to stabilise.

By-products from the new process are recovered as saleable, which renders it pollution-free. International clients, such as Sumitomo Corp of Japan, have testified to the quality, reliability and safety aspects.

The new process has been proven in pilot plant operations generating tonnage quantities of the product. Many new innovations have been incorporated to make the process environment-friendly and economically viable in Indian conditions.

CMRL intends to put up a commercial plant with a capacity of 24,000 tonnes per annum of the upgraded product. It is expected to come up within two years and RRL-T will continue to associate with CMRL in the implementation of the technology.

This is one of the major technology transfers not only in the history of RRL-T but also of CSIR, Prof Chandrashekar said. It is also a major milestone in the laboratory's priorities for developing and transferring technologies suitable for regional development.

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