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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Joint-Venture Universal Achemetal Titanium Develops Titanium Extraction Process in Butte, Montana

12/07/2017
Universal Technical Resource Services, Inc. entered into a joint venture with Achemetal, Inc., called Universal Achemetal Titanium to commercialize its groundbreaking patented process for extracting and refining titanium at its laboratory in Butte, Montana.

UTRS is an established government services firm with decades of experience in solutions technology. Achemetal, Inc., is a metals supplier dealing in specialty and rare earth refractory metals worldwide.

UTRS scientists located at its Butte, Montana, prototype facility and laboratory created a patented process that uses two major steps that effectively combine extraction techniques, electro-refining, and metal processing practices to produce titanium directly from titanium-bearing ores.

According to company officials, this innovative process provides access to domestic titanium supplies not usable by other processes, and will reduce reliance on foreign materials in manufacturing.

The formation of UAT propels the process into the demonstration phase from the laboratory scale only, proving the ability to commercialize the process. The strategic location of the facility provides access to the many resources (human, natural and economic) that Montana and the Western region of the United States has to offer. Sun brings over 40 years of experience in metallurgical engineering to the operation.

“The UTRS scientists in Montana invented a game-changing process for extracting titanium from ore that is more flexible, requires fewer steps and will significantly reduce the costs of titanium when compared to the Kroll process,” said James Sun, Owner of Achemetal. “This innovative method reduces production costs and pollution, and doesn’t require the use of any harmful chemicals.”

“Our goal was to replace the expensive, environmentally harmful, outdated Kroll process that is used internationally today in titanium production,” said Jim Cox, Ph.D., UTRS Laboratory Director. “In doing so, we are able to create a more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly process to manufacture titanium, making it more accessible to industries both within and outside of aerospace and allowing us to take advantage of domestic ore supplies previously unusable.”

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