Travancore Titanium
Encyclopedia
Travancore Titanium Products Ltd (TTP), is the leading manufacturer of anatase
Anatase
Anatase is one of the three mineral forms of titanium dioxide, the other two being brookite and rutile. It is always found as small, isolated and sharply developed crystals, and like rutile, a more commonly occurring modification of titanium dioxide, it crystallizes in the tetragonal system; but,...

 grade titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium oxide or titania, is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6, or CI 77891. Generally it comes in two different forms, rutile and anatase. It has a wide range of...

 in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The company was incorporated in 1946 at Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...

, the capital of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India on the initiative of Sir C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer.
The main product is pigment grade titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium oxide or titania, is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6, or CI 77891. Generally it comes in two different forms, rutile and anatase. It has a wide range of...

 which is extracted from ilmenite
Ilmenite
Ilmenite is a weakly magnetic titanium-iron oxide mineral which is iron-black or steel-gray. It is a crystalline iron titanium oxide . It crystallizes in the trigonal system, and it has the same crystal structure as corundum and hematite....

, which is abundantly available as placer deposits on beaches near Kollam, 65 km north of Thiruvananthapuram. Ilmenite, a mixture of titanium dioxide and iron in the form of ferric/ferrous oxide, is treated with Sulphuric Acid to get Titanium dioxide and ferrous sulphate.

The company was promoted by His Highness Chithira Tirunal Balaramavarma Maharaja, the then ruler of the State of Travancore (now Kerala State in India) with the technical collaboration of British Titan Products, (now Tioxide Group). Though the company was registered in 1946, actual production was started only in 1952 with a small capacity of 5 t.p.a. Later subsequent expansions were made in 1962 and 1973 and now TTP can produce about 20000 tonnes of titanium dioxide per annum.

In 1960 Government of Kerala took over the management of the Company. Now the administrative control is vested with the Department of Industries, Government of Kerala.

The company also possesses a modern sulphuric acid
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...

plant which was commissioned in 1996, for utilizing the tail gas recycling DCDA (Double Catalysis Double Absorption) technology. An alkali scrubbing system is incorporated in the plant, and this in turn helps to keep sulphur dioxide emissions from the factory well within permissible limits.

For about 50 years, TTP was one of the profit making Public Sector Undertaking of Government of Kerala. Every year company declares a dividend of around 20 per cent. TTP is contributing crores of rupees to the State exchqeuer by way of Sales Tax, other duties and levies. Welfare amenities, salary and perquisites, working environment etc. are comparatively satisfactory. TTP has a good library with around 25000 books in stock. During the 70s, TItanium Football team was one of the most acclaimed Football Clubs in Kerala, winning so many covetable tropies. Players like Sankarankutty, Abdul Hameed, Najumuddin, Thomas Sebastian were members of Titanium Football team. In 1980 Titanium Volleyball Team was formed with national and international players like Cyril C. Velloor, K. Udayakumar,Abdul Razak,N.C.Chacko,P.S.Mohammed Ali, Sebastian George etc. Subsequently Danikutty David, Binu Jose ,Tomy and others joined the team .Volleyball team won the Federation Cup in 1993.

TTP has a strength of around 850 employees now.
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