UKAD (a joint venture between Aubert & Duval and the Kazakh company UKTMP), ADEME (the French environment and energy management agency) and the Crédit Agricole Centre France cooperative bank have inaugurated the EcoTitanium site in Saint‐Georges-de‐Mons (Puy-de-Dôme, France).

EcoTitanium is the first plant in Europe to produce aviation-grade titanium by recycling, using titanium solid scrap and chips collected from the major aircraft makers and their subcontractors.

EcoTitanium gives the aviation industry a new, ecofriendly, innovative source that is totally independent from existing American and Russian suppliers.

At full capacity, the €48m facility will produce several thousand tons of titanium alloy ingot per year to meet high growth in demand for titanium on aviation markets.

EcoTitanium’s inauguration marks the final stage in the creation of Europe’s first integrated titanium stream. Aubert & Duval, an ERAMET Group subsidiary, developed this subsidiary to provide aerospace customers with a complete offering: ore mining and titanium production at UKTMP, Kazakhstan, forging of titanium ingots at UKAD, closed-die forging of parts at Aubert & Duval, finishing at MKAD (a joint venture with Mecachrome, inaugurated in October 2016) and scrap and chips recycling at EcoTitanium.

EcoTitanium has three shareholders: UKAD (43.5%), ADEME (41.3%) under the Investissements d’Avenir programme, and Crédit Agricole Centre France (15.2%).