Timet wins funding to explore extracting process

Monday, April 21, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.

Researchers at the Henderson Timet titanium manufacturing plant have received $12.3 million in federal funding to determine if a laboratory process for extracting titanium from titanium-bearing ores can be industrialized, a newspaper reported Friday.

Denver-based Titanium Metals Corp. (Timet) has been selected by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to receive the funding to commercialize what has become known as the "FFC Cambridge Process." The first three initials are for the three Cambridge scientists who developed the process in laboratory conditions, Derek Fray, Tom Farthing and George Chen.

In Business Las Vegas, a sister newspaper to the Las Vegas Sun, reported Timet won the funding in a competitive process that began nearly a year ago.

Company officials said it is too early to determine whether successful conclusion of the project would result in the expansion of Timet's operation in Henderson.

"We don't even have a process yet," said plant manager John Sanderson.

"The lab-scale experiments have been moderately successful and what the DARPA project will determine is if the Cambridge process can meet industrial standards," Sanderson said. "Right now, we don't know how efficient (the process) is and we don't know about the quality of the titanium that is produced."

Currently, the plant, which operates around the clock, seven days a week, has just under 400 employees, Sanderson said.

But what Sanderson does know is that the Cambridge process trims some of the intermediate steps in titanium production and that should make the metal less expensive to produce.

Steve Fox, director of corporate research for Timet, will attempt to commercialize the process for titanium extraction developed by the researchers at the University of Cambridge in Great Britain.

Fox will lead a team of scientists from defense contractors, including General Electric Aircraft Engines, United Defense LP and Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. Also on the team will be researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Cambridge.

Timet negotiated a development and production license for the FFC Cambridge Process technology from British Titanium Plc., London, a leading titanium producer.

An environmental bonus, Fox added, is that the process eliminates some of the hazardous chemicals in the production process.

Of Timet's four North American plants, the Henderson operation has the most expertise and best research facilities to conduct the program's work, Fox said. Timet has operations in Toronto, Ohio; Vallejo, Calif.; and Morgantown, Pa., in addition to the Henderson plant.

Overseas, Timet has operations in Birmingham and Swansea in Great Britain and in Ugine, France; and Lagano, Italy.

To conduct the research, Fox said a few technicians could be added to the approximately 20 on staff in the research department. He has begun preparing a laboratory for some of the initial work in the DARPA project.

If the project is successful, the government will get valuable technical information for Defense Department projects.

"It's been a long time since the U.S. government has put money into (learning more about) primary metal extraction," Fox said, noting that he expects the project will reap big dividends for government researchers.

Timet, meanwhile, could profit from lucrative licensing agreements with a number of potential manufacturers. Fox said about 75 percent of the titanium produced by Timet is sold to aerospace industry contractors. But if the DARPA project results in determining less expensive ways to produce titanium, Fox said there are potential uses of the metal in the automotive industry, where only high-end automobiles currently use it. Titanium could be used more broadly in the manufacture of suspension systems, springs, mufflers and engine connecting rods in cars.

The metal also could be used for the more widespread manufacturing of components for utility plants, oil and gas drilling and exploration equipment and lightweight sporting goods, including bicycles and golf clubs.