Sumitomo Electric Industries wins recognition for its tungsten carbide insert recycling efforts

The Award, which has high recognition value in Japan, endorses the tooling company's move to introduce a new source of the high value, rare tungsten for its cutting tool production, obtained from re-cycled scrap carbide tools. The initial supply of used tools is being sourced from the automotive giant's production lines and is being used alongside the traditional method, based on refined tungsten ore mainly imported from tungsten mines in China. As a result of the breakthrough development, Sumitomo will have better control over its supply chain through to its finished product, and further strengthens its competitiveness in the cutting tool market. Subsequent to the winning of the award, Sumitomo will also expand its recycling capability in the United States by refining used tungsten tooling to produce tungsten trioxide, a chemical compound containing oxygen and transition metal tungsten. With production starting in March, the company is working with Niagara Refining LLC, a joint venture between its wholly-owned subsidiary Sumitomo Electric Carbide Inc, and New York Tungsten LLC, itself a subsidiary of Buffalo Tungsten Inc, a US tungsten powder producer. Tungsten is categorised as a rare metal and the primary raw material used in carbide cutting tools. It is found in a limited number of countries of which China is a major source. In addition, further rare metals are being extracted from the used carbide tooling, including cobalt, neodymium, dysprosium, and tantalum. Cobalt is a by-product from copper and nickel mining - primarily sourced from the Congo and Zambia; Neodymium, is mainly sourced from China for use in high performance permanent magnets in devices such as hard discs and loudspeakers; dysprosium has high thermal neutron absorption characteristics and is used in the nuclear industry, while corrosion-resistant tantalum is widely used in electronic equipment such as mobile phones and the computer industry. Sumitomo Electric initially developed the recycling process technology in 2007, as part of its drive to reduce energy consumption and the environmental impact of conventional methods of production. Initial commercialisation of the process was started in 2011.