Alfa Laval has taken a significant step towards more sustainable heat exchanger manufacturing, successfully producing titanium plates containing 25% recycled material at its gasketed plate heat exchanger factory in Jiangyin, China.

 

The achievement marks a major advance in the company's efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of its products, improve resource efficiency and accelerate circularity across energy-intensive industries.

 

Titanium is prized for its exceptional corrosion resistance, making it a critical material in demanding industrial applications. However, increasing recycled content without compromising its formability and performance is a considerable technical challenge.

 

Alfa Laval has now demonstrated that it can be done.

 

By recovering its own manufacturing waste and sending it to titanium suppliers for remelting, the company has increased the recycled content of its titanium plates from 10% to 25%. Working closely with a major titanium supplier, the project team successfully maintained the quality standards required for industrial production.

 

The breakthrough demonstrates the potential to reduce emissions at the raw material stage while retaining the material properties essential for high-performance heat exchangers.

 

“Through close collaboration and relentless innovation, we have demonstrated that high-quality recycled titanium can meet the rigorous demands of our industry. This achievement is a testament to our commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of our products and leading the way toward a more sustainable future," said Carina Resare, Head of R&D, Business Unit Gasketed Plate Heat Exchangers, Alfa Laval.

 

While the initial production is limited to a small-scale batch, the development has moved beyond laboratory validation into real-world manufacturing. Gasketed plate heat exchangers incorporating the recycled titanium plates will be delivered to customers in China.

 

The next challenge is scaling up.

 

Achieving wider adoption will require closer collaboration across the titanium supply chain, including suppliers and industrial partners, as well as a broader shift towards circular material flows.

 

For Alfa Laval, the initiative represents more than an improvement in material sourcing. It is a step towards embedding recycled materials into industrial manufacturing without compromising product quality or performance.

 

“This project is more than a technical achievement—it is a strategic commitment to leading our industry toward a lower-carbon emissions future. By validating recycled titanium in real-world production, we are inspiring our partners and customers to join us in accelerating the transition to more sustainable value chains," said Madeleine Gilborne, President, Business Unit Gasketed Plate Heat Exchangers, Alfa Laval.

 

With this development, Alfa Laval is demonstrating how manufacturing waste can become a valuable resource rather than an end-of-life material.

 

The move from 10% to 25% recycled titanium content may represent an early production milestone, but its significance extends across the wider industrial value chain: reducing reliance on virgin raw materials, strengthening resource efficiency and opening new opportunities to lower the embedded carbon footprint of industrial equipment.

 

The message is clear: the future of sustainable manufacturing will depend not only on how efficiently equipment operates, but also on how responsibly the materials used to build it are sourced and recycled.