Where Does Scrap Titanium Go? The Circular Journey of a “Piece of Trim”

Titanium is expensive. Titanium sponge costs over a hundred thousand RMB per ton, and processing it into aerospace‑grade material multiplies the cost several times over. What’s more, the journey from ore to metal is extremely energy‑intensive – from ilmenite to titanium tetrachloride, then to titanium sponge via magnesium reduction, every step consumes vast amounts of energy.

So nobody throws titanium scrap away. The titanium industry is probably the most “stingy” in the metals world – almost every gram of titanium finds a home.

Where Does Scrap Come From?

Titanium scrap comes mainly from two sources: manufacturing processing and product retirement.

During processing, forging and machining generate large amounts of leftover material. Forging produces solid waste; machining produces fine metal shavings like sawdust. When critical components such as aircraft engines and landing gear are machined, these titanium chips are produced continuously. There are also small bar ends, tensile test pieces, laboratory block samples, metallographic coupons, fastener scrap, and other “ultra‑small‑sized residues.” Product retirement – decommissioned aircraft, submarines, and chemical equipment – also leaves behind large quantities of titanium material.

It is estimated that the global titanium scrap market reached $1.186 billion in 2025.

How Is Scrap Recycled?

Titanium recycling follows a mature set of technical routes, with different processes chosen based on the scrap’s form and purity.

Large‑size solid scrap is relatively easy to handle – after surface cleaning, it is directly melted in vacuum arc remelting (VAR) or electron‑beam cold‑hearth melting (EBCHM) furnaces. These equipment operate under vacuum or high‑energy electron beams, effectively removing impurities and producing dense titanium ingots.

Titanium chips are far more troublesome – small in size, large in surface area, and prone to oxidation. If they contain excessive oxygen, direct remelting results in substandard properties. So chips must first undergo cleaning, screening, crushing, and briquetting as pretreatment, then be mixed with a small amount of primary titanium sponge, pressed into electrodes, and remelted.

In recent years, new technologies have emerged. A team from Harbin Institute of Technology developed hydrogen‑assisted plasma arc melting to efficiently remove oxygen and other impurities from titanium alloy scrap using hydrogen plasma. Cold‑hearth melting technology can use large quantities of recycled titanium feed to produce regenerated titanium ingots, and is considered one of the most effective ways to reduce titanium costs and achieve resource circularity.

What Can Recycled Titanium Be Used For?

It depends on the purity and quality control level of the recovered titanium.

High‑grade titanium scrap can be returned to its original grade – by diluting it with primary titanium sponge during remelting. In June 2025, Airbus led the production of the world’s first aviation‑grade ingot containing retired aerospace titanium, produced by France’s EcoTitanium, with recycled titanium content reaching 75% – the remaining 25% was primary sponge, and it fully met aviation‑grade quality requirements. This ingot was subsequently processed into fuselage titanium forgings and officially used in new aircraft production – titanium from retired aircraft went back onto new aircraft.

A standardised recycling production line at AVIC Heavy Machinery’s Guiyang Industrial Park has been continuously converting “trim scrap” into titanium alloy material usable for aviation equipment. As of August 2026, the park had produced a cumulative 177 tonnes of titanium alloy recycled ingots.

Shaanxi Tiancheng Aviation Materials’ domestic first aviation‑grade titanium recycling production line can add 30% to 80% recycled titanium alloy feedstock to different materials.

For high‑impurity scrap that cannot be returned to its original grade, it is downcycled – lower‑grade titanium scrap is used to produce ferrotitanium alloys, or eventually becomes titanium dioxide pigment. From aerospace to civilian use, a clear downcycling chain is visible.

Why Is “Closed‑Loop Recycling” Becoming Increasingly Popular?

The aviation industry is the biggest driver of titanium recycling.

Airbus’s closed‑loop recycling programme for aviation‑grade titanium scrap consumes only one‑quarter of the energy required by traditional titanium sponge production, achieving a 4‑fold energy saving. By January 2025, Airbus’s French plants had delivered 460 tonnes of titanium scrap to EcoTitanium.

Safran has similarly established a closed‑loop recycling system for titanium chips – the chips are cleaned, chemically analysed, and returned to the melting furnace, mixed with fresh titanium, and remelted multiple times to produce titanium billet with unchanged properties, in a continuous cycle.

In China, industrial‑scale titanium recycling is also accelerating. Besides AVIC Heavy Machinery’s Guiyang Industrial Park and Shaanxi Tiancheng Aviation Materials, SiRui Additive Manufacturing, founded by a Southern University of Science and Technology professor’s team, has completed tens‑of‑millions in financing to develop recycled titanium alloy powders. The transformation from “scrap” to “feedstock” is moving from the laboratory to the factory floor.