On June 27, 2026, the "Titanium-Iron Tailings Reduction and Enrichment Technology and Complete Equipment" independently developed by Jinan Hengyu Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. (688309) in China was officially recognized as reaching the "International Advanced Level" after evaluation by an expert meeting of the China Energy Conservation Association. The evaluation committee brought together authoritative experts in domestic fields such as energy conservation, equipment manufacturing, metallurgical environmental protection, environmental engineering, and technology management, who unanimously agreed that this technology is suitable for the green and efficient reduction, enrichment, and purification of low-grade, complex co-associated titanium-iron tailings.
350 Million Tons of Titanium-Iron Tailings Awaiting Solution
Titanium is known as the "space metal" and "metal of the future," widely used in high-end manufacturing fields such as aerospace, chemicals, and medical care. However, China's titanium resource endowment is unique, with most existing in the form of low-grade, complex associated titanium-iron tailings. According to industry authoritative institutions, the current stock of titanium-iron tailings with economic recovery value in China has exceeded 350 million tons, and it continues to grow at a rate of 40 million tons per year.
Traditional processes, limited by technical pathways, generally suffer from prominent issues such as high reaction temperatures, high energy consumption, heavy pollution, and long process flows. In particular, the separation effect for fine particle materials is limited, making it difficult to break through the bottleneck of resource recovery efficiency. A large amount of potential mineral resources has been idle for a long time, unable to be efficiently developed.
"Low-Temperature Continuous Reduction" Breaks Industry Conventions
Relying on years of technical accumulation and engineering experience in the field of industrial continuous pyrolysis, Hengyu Environmental Protection adheres to independent design and independent research and development, innovatively proposing a new "low-temperature continuous reduction" process, directly breaking the industry's inherent belief that "high temperatures are necessary for efficient reduction."
Core Technological Innovations
Efficient Dynamic Contact and Online Thermal Dispersion Synergistic Control Technology: This technology, uniquely developed by the R&D team, increases the reduction rate of titanium-iron tailings to over 50%.
Integration of Three Systems:
High-Temperature Dynamic Thermal Sealing System: Ensures safe and stable reaction processes;
Combined Waste Heat Recovery System: Achieves efficient recycling of thermal energy;
Reduction Gas Self-Powered System: Utilizes combustible gases generated during the reduction process to power the system, significantly reducing dependence on external energy sources.
Core Performance Indicators
| Performance Indicator | Technical Achievement | Comparison Baseline |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehensive Energy Consumption | Reduced by over 36% | Traditional Process |
| Waste Heat Utilization Rate | Over 90% | — |
| Reduction Rate | Increased to over 50% | Traditional Process |
| Production Process | Unattended, Automatic Parameter Optimization | Traditional Manual Operation |
After comparative verification by the expert group, this technology is significantly superior to existing domestic similar processes in terms of low temperature, energy saving and consumption reduction, environmental friendliness, and resource utilization rate.
From "Single Point Breakthrough" to "System Integration"
What passed the evaluation this time is not just a single technology, but a complete set of complete equipment solutions. The entire set of equipment integrates three major systems:
Reaction System: Adopts low-temperature continuous reduction process to achieve efficient reduction and enrichment purification of titanium-iron tailings;
Energy System: Combined waste heat recovery + reduction gas self-power supply, with a waste heat utilization rate of over 90%, converting "waste heat" and "waste gas" into usable energy;
Intelligent Control System: Equipped with a full-process intelligent management and control system, achieving unattended production processes and automatic parameter optimization, ensuring process stability and operational safety from the source.
The evaluation report points out that this complete set of equipment can be widely used in industries such as metallurgical mining, rare metal processing, and solid waste resource utilization, especially suitable for comprehensive utilization scenarios of mineral resources with strict energy consumption and environmental protection requirements.
From Demonstration Project to Trillion-Level Market
Demonstration Project Has Been Implemented
Hengyu Environmental Protection is currently constructing a "Demonstration Project for the Preparation of High-End Titanium-Rich Materials from 300,000 Tons of Tailings Annually," which uses this technology to efficiently separate low-grade ilmenite from beneficiation enterprises after extracting products such as titanium concentrate, monazite, and zircon sand, obtaining titanium concentrate, iron concentrate, and a small amount of zirconium middlings. This demonstration project is jointly built by Hengyu Environmental Protection and Shandong Yuxiao Zirconium-Titanium Mining, achieving efficient separation of titanium and iron and green preparation of high-end titanium-rich materials, filling an industry gap.
Strategic Value
Revitalizing 350 Million Tons of Stock Resources: China has a huge stock of titanium-iron tailings, and this technology provides a feasible path for the large-scale development and utilization of these "sleeping" resources.
Supporting Raw Material Supply for High-End Manufacturing: Titanium has an irreplaceable position in strategic fields such as aerospace, deep-sea exploration, and nuclear power. Independently controllable efficient titanium resource extraction technology is directly related to the supply chain security of China's high-end manufacturing industry chain.
Implementing the "Dual Carbon" Strategy: With comprehensive energy consumption reduced by over 36% and waste heat utilization rate exceeding 90%, it provides a replicable technical solution for the green and low-carbon transformation of the mining sector. The promotion and application of this technological achievement can reduce a large amount of carbon emissions annually, helping to achieve the "dual carbon" goals.
Replicable and Scalable
Hengyu Environmental Protection stated that in the future, it will continue to iterate technologies related to the high-value utilization of pyrolysis renewable resources, continuously promote the diversified development of application scenarios for titanium-iron tailings reduction and enrichment technology, and provide replicable mature solutions for the resource utilization of more low-grade co-associated minerals.
From "Black Pollution" to "Green Resources"
China generates tens of millions of tons of titanium-iron tailings each year. Traditional treatment methods not only waste resources but also cause serious environmental and safety problems. Hengyu Environmental Protection's successful cross-field breakthrough marks a milestone equipment technology breakthrough in the field of low-grade titanium-iron tailings resource utilization in China.
Being recognized as reaching the "International Advanced Level" by the expert meeting evaluation of the China Energy Conservation Association means that this technological achievement is now capable of competing with world-class technologies. With the advancement of demonstration projects and continuous technological iteration, this set of "Titanium-Iron Tailings Reduction and Enrichment Technology and Complete Equipment" is expected to become a new benchmark in the field of comprehensive utilization of mineral resources in China, contributing hardcore strength to the construction of a beautiful China and the realization of the "dual carbon" goals.