Sustainable development is the best way for titanium sponge

----Interview with Wang Zhide, general manager of Titanium Industry branch of Panzhihua Gangcheng Group

Asian Metal：Thank you for accepting the interview. Firstly, could you comment on the current titanium market?
Mr. Wang: Thank you!
Demand for titanium is generally rising in the recent years in the world, and many countries and areas support the industry this year. Though current market is not satisfied as people expected, the total output and sale volume for titanium are better than it was in the past year.
First, aircraft industry is much strong and demand for planes becomes more and more. Then, as to the support from the government, many policies were issued to develop titanium industry, especially for the applying for titanium products of civil use. At last, projects of desalination of sea water also attract people to pay more attention to titanium market.
So the whole titanium market is still in an uptrend.
Asian Metal: As a new member in titanium sponge market, would you introduce the line of your titanium sponge?
Mr.Wang: Our company covers an area of 340 acres, with a total investment of 1 billion Yuan and a designed annual production capacity of 5,000 tons of titanium sponge. A whole flow of titanium sponge production technologies were applied in the company. Crude titanium tetrachloride is prepared by fluid-bed chlorination process, while refined titanium tetrachloride by the advanced process of removing vanadium with aluminum powder was introduced from Ukraine. The mature domestic reverse “U” connecting furnaces is utilized in the production of titanium sponge through magnesium reduction-vacuum distillation process. The by-product of magnesium chloride obtained in reduction-distillation process is dealt with by multipolar magnesium electrolytic cell, through which high quality electrolytic magnesium is prepared for sale.
Asian Metal: What are your superiorities of producing titanium sponge?
Mr. Wang: Of course we have some superiorities to produce titanium. First, we located in Panzhihua City, Sichuan province, where is rich in mineral resources and energy resource. So we can purchase raw material in local place, which saves much freight expenses.
For another superiority, power resource is also much more than other counties with the price only RMB0.37/kwh, much lower than it is in other provinces in China.
Meanwhile, the local government supports us to develop titanium industry. And we bring the advanced process of removing vanadium with aluminum powder introduced from Ukraine, which is benefit to both products and environment.
Asian Metal：Now Chinese titanium sponge industry develops very quickly and more and more companies begin to produce titanium sponge for high profile. So output of the material also increases at quick speed. Meanwhile, more corrupt practice appeared, what do you think how to develop titanium sponge market?
Mr. Wang: It is true that the introductory threshold of titanium sponge becames much lower than it was in the past few years and many producers appear in the market. It is also predicted that there will be at least two big production lines putting into production. Supply for the material is more than it was demand from consumers, and the good quality and bad quality are intermingled. So the general quality of the material deteriorated. In this case, I wish the government or association can rationalize the relations among producers, and also make a exact standard in China.
Asian Metal: You mentioned the concept of environmental protection, and the government also sparkplugs this concept this year in order to avoid more pollution. What’s your opinion for this concept?
Mr. Wang: One of the most important conditions for producing titanium sponge is environmental protection. You know, titanium sponge production is a high-pollution process and some producers ignore the danger of pollution in order to get more profit and reduce cost, which brings damage for the lives of citizens around the plant. In this case, I think it is environmental protection and energy conservation which can determine the future of titanium sponge.
The way we produce the material is environmental protection and energy conservation, and the premise of the raw material and processing is to reduce pollution and keep cyclic utilization. Though it seems that we need to invest more capital at the very first, it is a driving unit for an enterprise to be stronger and stronger in long run.
Asian Metal: Could you explain the development plan for titanium production line?
Mr. Wang: It is expected that production capacity of evaporate furnaces will be improved from 5 tons for each to 10 tons in two years, and the capacity of titanium sponge will reach 7,500 tons per year. In three to five years, we will invest more for 6 billion yuan to produce the material in order to expand the capacity to 15,000 tons per year.
For another hand, current capacity for refined titanium tetrachloride is 65,000 tons per year, and we also consider expanding capacity of electrolysis magnesium and build another line of reductive distillation.
Asian Metal: How do you think the market in Q4?
Mr. Wang: I think the whole titanium market will generally keep stable in the fourth quarter, no matter titanium sponge price and titanium products price will not fluctuate obviously. As a fact, the market of titanium products was not developed totally, especially in the aspect of civil use material. Luckily, the government supports titanium industry to develop, so titanium market will embrace a beautiful future.
Asian Metal: Thanks, Mr. Wang!
Mr. Wang: Thank you!