The public sector Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML) has started producing ‘titanium sponge' from its Titanium Sponge Plant (TSP).

The Industries Minister, Mr P. K. Kunhalikkutty, has congratulated the public sector unit for managing to produce titanium sponge metal for the first time in the country.

This has also made India only the seventh country to acquire the knowhow to produce titanium sponge, he said.

Three tonnes of the rare metal with a huge market demand were produced in test runs at KMML on September 6.

The TSP was inaugurated in February this year by the Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony. Titanium sponge, a key material in space and defence applications, is also the raw material for titanium metal.

DRDO TECHNOLOGY

As of now, KMML has the capacity to meet only a small portion of the demand for titanium sponge within the country.

But the Minister hoped thatthe undertaking would ramp up enough capacity to meet the entire domestic demand.

Backed by technology from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the TSP has the capacity to produce 500 tonnes of titanium sponge annually. This is sought to be enhanced to 1000 tonnes.

Magnesium chloride is the major byproduct from the TSP and KMML is preparing a project to separate magnesium and chlorine.

NANO PIGMENT

The technology for this is being provided by the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) and the funding from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). This is expected to bring down the TSP's production cost considerably.

Another major project pursued by KMML involves production of ‘nano titanium pigment' that has tremendous scope in the market. It is valued at ten times the market price of titanium pigment, one of the company's current products.

The waste generated at KMML's mineral separation unit is also being put to effective use. From the waste sand, the company has started producing sillimanite and zircon.

This has enabled the mineral separation unit alone to make a profit of Rs 25 crore since it started producing the two minerals. Prior to the production of these, the annual profit of the mineral separation unit was Rs 2 crore.

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