The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls laid first stone of EcoTitanium project on April 27th, 2015 in Auvergne (France). The facility will be Europe’s first aerospace-grade titanium recycling plant.

The first stone of the EcoTitanium project was laid on April 27th, 2015 in Saint-Georges-de-Mons, Auvergne, in the presence of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, local representatives, partners and the three shareholders of the project:

  • UKAD, a joint venture by Aubert & Duval and UKTMP, the industrial lead for the project;
  • the French State, under the PIA investment programme run by ADEME;
  • Crédit Agricole Centre France regional bank.

The aerospace titanium recycling project will provide Europe with its own supply channel, thus giving it better control over its sourcing of titanium, a strategic raw material for fast-growing aerospace markets.

Activities should start in 2017 with the launch of qualification phases. Industrial production will begin in 2018 with ramp-up over 5 years.

Here are EcoTitanium’s key figures:

  • 3: the number of shareholders
  • 62: the number of direct jobs that should be created
  • 48.7: capital invested in €M
  • 100,000: tons of CO2 emissions prevented by this recycling approach, compared with conventional primary production