Kennametal Considers Tungsten Carbide Recycling Plant

The industrial services firm Kennametal Inc. (www.kennametal.com), Latrobe, Pa., says it has begun researching the possibility of building a tungsten carbide recycling facility in the United States and is looking at possible locations for the proposed plant. If built, the facility would serve Kennametal markets on a global basis.

According to the company’s CEO, the proposed recycling facility would reclaim material from scrap and consumed products such as metal-cutting inserts and reuse it for new production. “We’re talking about a high-tech operation where we’ll process used materials to develop new compounds essential to our industrial technology,” says Carlos Cardoso, Kennametal’s chairman, president and CEO. “This is an exciting first for our company, demonstrating our commitment to invest in sustainability and advanced technology strengthening our leadership in America and our service to customers around the world.”

The company also has announced it is expanding its tungsten-cobalt blended powder operations at its facility in Tianjin, China.

According to a Kennametal news release, both multi-year projects “focus on diversifying Kennametal's tungsten sourcing to balance supplies, costs and access to raw materials, while also supporting sustainability” and the company’s global growth strategy to achieve one-third of revenues each from three regional markets: North America, Europe and Asia/rest of world.

Kennametal says by adding tungsten-cobalt blended powder capacity at its plant in China, the company expects to improve customer service in that region while reducing export delays and duties on the material.