Staffordshire-based Lucideon to support €1m programme to scale up sustainable titanium production

Staffordshire-based international technology company, Lucideon, has joined forces with industry partner Metalysis on a €1m project from the European Space Agency (ESA) to scale up the production of sustainable titanium for the West of Europe.

The two-year development programme has been launched to address the urgent demand for alternative, secure supply routes of the critical metal for the space and aerospace sectors.

Prior to 2022, Western aerospace titanium sponge was mainly sourced from Russia, with China now supplying around 70 percent.

Metalysis, a South Yorkshire-based leader in the manufacture of critical metal and alloy powders for space, aerospace, defence, hypersonics and other advanced manufacturing sectors, has been awarded the project by the European Space Agency (ESA).

They will develop a continuous or quasi-continuous sustainable process for titanium production, using their patented Metalysis FFC Technology, a molten salt electrolysis process.

The work will be supported by Lucideon, alongside other members of the consortia include TTP Plc, NCHG Ltd, and Austrian-based RHP-Technology GmbH.

Collectively the partners will bring together expertise across ceramics processing, materials science, electrochemistry, process development and powder metallurgy, covering all unit operations affiliated with the Metalysis technology, and from UK or EU partners.

Nitesh Shah, CEO 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 is deploying its expertise in advanced ceramics as part of the programme.

Its work will draw on The AMRICC Centre, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for advanced ceramic technologies.

The facility provides the ability to rapidly solve materials development and production challenges and therefore accelerate products to market.

 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.”