Titanium Made Affordable: Japanese Scientists Unveil New Low-Cost Production Method

A new method developed by Tokyo researchers significantly cuts the cost of producing low-oxygen titanium, promising broader industrial use once issues with yttrium contamination are resolved.

Titanium ranks as the ninth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, but products made from pure titanium are rare due to the high cost of extracting oxygen from titanium ore. Lowering these costs could prompt manufacturers to leverage titanium’s beneficial properties more widely in their products.

Now, in a study recently published in Nature Communications, researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo, have developed a procedure that reduces the cost of producing titanium that’s almost entirely free of oxygen. This oxygen removal protocol might benefit technological development and environmental sustainability.