Materials Flow Analysis of Metallic Titanium in China

Abstract

The materials flow quantity, direction, structure and characteristics of metallic titanium resources in China were illustrated by the Stocks and Flows (STAF) model with time series. The indices such as the metallic titanium resource efficiency, the import-export, the consumption and the social stocks were calculated. From the point of view of the overall resources flow, China titanium industry has entered a stable growth period from the development and expanding period during the recent decade. The resources self-support rate of metallic titanium production and manufacturing increased from 44% and 60% to 66% and 78%, respectively. The titanium ore grade is the main factor affecting the utilization efficiency of titanium element. Considering the titanium utilization rate were increased by 1%, the ore consumption of titanium sponge production would be reduced by 57.8kg/t. The production and consumption ratio of metallic titanium products was increased by 57%, which showed the trend from short supply to self-sufficiency and gaining the net exports of Chinese metallic titanium products. However it appears to the trend of surplus production capacity presently, and the high quality products still rely on import. The recycling of metallic titanium wastes is mainly from the manufacturing process, of which the recovery rate is still lower in the use stage. It is expected that China will face the peak of metallic titanium scraps in 2033 by calculating the amount of social stocks of metallic titanium resources.