By 2030, scientists from the Institute of Thermal Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences intend to develop a powerful industrial plasma furnace for processing ore with a high titanium content. This metal is actively used in aircraft construction. The furnace will reduce production costs by two to three times, said Dmitry Markovich, director of the institute.
Titanium is a key material for manufacturing aircraft parts: fuselage, wings, tail and engines. The enrichment of titanium ore allows you to extract all the valuable components and makes the development of deposits more profitable. Today, ore-thermal furnaces can operate at a power of hundreds of kilowatts. Scientists want to increase the power of such an installation to 5 MW.
Now we and our partners have installations with a capacity of hundreds of kilowatts. The target point is to make a five-megawatt furnace for industrial processing by 2030. So we will move from hundreds of kilowatts to 5 MW.
Engineers propose using graphite electrodes. In addition, they intend to modernize the plasma installation to adjust the angle of inclination and reduce gas consumption.
The launch of this industrial furnace will reduce electricity consumption by 50%. Scientists also hope to increase product yield from 70 to 95% and reduce production costs by 2–3 times.
In January–May 2025, Russia produced 1.8% less electricity than in the same period last year. The volume amounted to 514 billion kWh. The reason is a decrease in water inflow into the reservoirs of the Angara-Yenisei cascade of hydroelectric power plants.
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