International technology company Lucideon is supporting a €1 million European Space Agency (ESA) project aimed at scaling up the production of sustainable titanium for Western Europe’s space and aerospace sectors.
Lucideon has joined industry partner Metalysis on the two-year programme funded by the ESA to develop new supply routes for the critical metal.
The initiative has been launched amid growing concern over the security of titanium supplies. Before 2022, much of the titanium sponge used in Western aerospace manufacturing was sourced from Russia, while China now supplies around 70 per cent.
South Yorkshire-based Metalysis, which specialises in producing metal and alloy powders for sectors including space, aerospace, defence and advanced manufacturing, is leading the project.
The company will work to develop a’ continuous or quasi-continuous’ production process for titanium using its patented Metalysis FFC Technology, a molten salt electrolysis process designed to produce the metal more sustainably.
Lucideon will support the programme alongside other consortium partners including TTP Plc in Cambridgeshire, Cheshire-based NCHG Ltd and Austrian firm RHP-Technology GmbH.
Together, the organisations will combine expertise in ceramics processing, materials science, electrochemistry, process development and powder metallurgy to support the development of the technology.
Nitesh Shah, CEO of Metalysis said “The near €1 million from ESA to these consortia, as led by Metalysis, is further endorsement in our technology and reflects the strategic need across the space, as well as aerospace, defence, hypersonics and wider advanced manufacturing sectors, for industrial outputs of critical metals – in this case titanium.
“Scaling-up our technology to continuous or semi-continuous production will help drive the Western supply of sustainable titanium – as the Metalysis FFC process is leaner, greener and cleaner than traditional titanium manufacturing processes.”
Lucideon will contribute its expertise in advanced ceramics to the project, drawing on facilities at The AMRICC Centre, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for advanced ceramic technologies.
The centre is designed to help companies address materials development and production challenges more quickly, helping accelerate new products to market.
Daily Focus recently reported that the £10million advanced ceramics facility has completed 150 projects and attracted 22 new companies in its first year of operation.
Tim Abbott, Director of Commerce at Lucideon, said “We will be leveraging our expertise, in combination with The AMRICC Centre’s facilities, to develop and optimise scalable feedstock production processes, enabling more efficient, sustainable solutions such as Metalysis FFC.
“We pride ourselves on accelerating innovation, and by combining our materials and processing expertise with state-of-the-art equipment, we look forward to supporting our partners to achieve reliable, scalable results.”
