Global Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) Market Research Report 2024-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2030

Global Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) Market Research Report 2024-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2030

Tantalum pentoxide, also known as tantalum(V) oxide, is the inorganic compound with the formula Ta2O5. It is a white solid that is insoluble in all solvents but is attacked by strong bases and hydrofluoric acid. Ta2O5 is an inert material with a high refractive index and low absorption (i.e., colorless), high dielectric constant, and is the main precursor of all tantalum materials, which can be used in niobium metal, optical glass, and pottery.

Refining

Tantalum ores often contain significant amounts of niobium, which is itself a valuable metal. As such, both metals are extracted so that they may be sold. The overall process is one of hydrometallurgy and begins with a leaching step; in which the ore is treated with hydrofluoric acid and sulfuric acid to produce water-soluble hydrogen fluorides, such as the heptafluorotantalate. This allows the metals to be separated from the various non-metallic impurities in the rock.

(FeMn)(NbTa)2O6 + 16 HF → H2[TaF7] + H2[NbOF5] + FeF2 + MnF2 + 6 H2O

The tantalum and niobium hydrogenflorides are then removed from the aqueous solution by liquid-liquid extraction using organic solvents, such as cyclohexanone or methyl isobutyl ketone. This step allows the simple removal of various metal impurities (e.g. iron and manganese) which remain in the aqueous phase in the form of fluorides. Separation of the tantalum and niobium is then achieved by pH adjustment. Niobium requires a higher level of acidity to remain soluble in the organic phase and can hence be selectively removed by extraction into less acidic water. The pure tantalum hydrogen fluoride solution is then neutralised with aqueous ammonia to give hydrated tantalum oxide (Ta2O5(H2O)x), which is calcinated to tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) as described in these idealized equations:

H2[TaF7] + 5 H2O + 7 NH3 → Ta2O5(H2O)5 + 7 NH4F

Ta2O5(H2O)5 → Ta2O5 + 5 H2O
Natural pure tantalum oxide is known as the mineral tantite, although it is exceedingly rare.

From alkoxides

Tantalum oxide is frequently used in electronics, often in the form of thin films. For these applications it can be produced by MOCVD (or related techniques), which involves the hydrolysis of its volatile halides or alkoxides:

Ta2(OEt)10 + 5 H2O → Ta2O5 + 10 EtOH

2 TaCl5 + 5 H2O → Ta2O5 + 10 HCl

Market Overview:

The latest research study on the global Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) market finds that the global Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) market reached a value of USD 463.38 million in 2023. It’s expected that the market will achieve USD 627.13 million by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.17% during the forecast period.

Regulation of environmental policy

In recent years, environmental protection supervision has been continuously strengthened. Production and manufacturing require the use of chemicals such as strong acids and liquid ammonia, which will produce certain hazardous wastes. Moreover, this industry requires a certain amount of energy to put into production. Energy costs account for a certain share of the manufacturing costs of this industry. In addition, this industry also emits waste gas, waste water, waste, etc., causing certain harm to the environment. Therefore, tantalum pentoxide production enterprises need to obtain environmental impact assessment approval before project construction. After construction is completed, they need to obtain environmental protection acceptance approval before the project is officially put into operation. During the operation period, they must continue to comply with environmental protection policies and production. Therefore, in order to ensure the continuity of production, manufacturing companies must continue to invest in environmental protection. In addition, with the tightening of environmental protection policies and the influence of policies such as industrial overcapacity reduction, the industry is promoting green and low-energy production and optimizing production processes.

Region Overview:

Asia Pacific is projected to account for a considerable share of the Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) market and is expected to become the largest region by 2028.

Company Overview:

Global Advanced Metals is one of the major players operating in the Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) market, holding a share of 35.06% in 2023.

Global Advanced Metals is a fully integrated tantalum product supplier with operations in Australia, USA and Japan. Its customers are mainly located in Asia, North America and Europe.

Segmentation Overview:

By type, Ta2O5: 99.9-99.99% segment accounted for the largest share of market in 2022.

According to the content of tantalum pentoxide, Ta2O5 less than 99.9%, Ta2O5: 99.9-99.99% and Ta2O5 greater than 99.99%.Among them, 99.9-99.99% occupy the largest market segment, mainly for optical lenses, electronic ceramics and so on. Tantalum pentoxide greater than 99.99 is a high purity grade, mainly used for single crystals.

Application Overview:

By application, the Electronic Instruments segment occupied the biggest share from 2018 to 2022.

Tantalum Metal Tantalum metal powder can be obtained by molten salt electrolysis method: the molten salt of potassium fluorotantalate, potassium fluoride and potassium chloride mixture is used as electrolyte to dissolve tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) in it, and the purity of 99.8 ~ 99.9% tantalum powder can be obtained by electrolysis at 750 degree centigrade.

Tantalum can also be obtained by carbothermic reduction of Ta2O5.

Optical Glass Due to its high refractive index, Ta2O5 has been utilized in the fabrication of the glass of photographic lenses. It can also be deposited as an optical coating with typical applications being antireflection and multilayer filter coatings in near UV to near infrared. In addition, since Ta2O5 has also been found to have a high nonlinear refractive index, about three times that of silicon nitride. In recent years, Ta2O5 has been used as a material platform for generating of supercontinuum and Kerr frequency combs in waveguides and optical ring resonators. By adding rare earth dopants during deposition, Ta2O5 waveguide lasers have been widely used in remote sensing and LiDAR.

Electronic Instruments Owing to its high band gap and dielectric constant, tantalum pentoxide has found a variety of uses in electronics, particularly in tantalum capacitors. The use of tantalum allows greater capacitance in smaller packages, offsetting the raw material’s high cost.

Key Companies in the global Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) market covered in Chapter 3:

Ximei Group
Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry Co
Jiujiang Tanbre Co., Ltd.
Materion
Global Advanced Metals
KING-TAN Tantalum
F&X Electro-Materials
JX Nippon Mining & Metals
MPIL
Mitsui Kinzoku
Taki Chemical
AMG

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 14.2, on the basis of types, the Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) market from 2019 to 2030 is primarily split into:

Ta2O5＜99.9%
Ta2O5: 99.9-99.99%
Ta2O5＞99.99%

In Chapter 5 and Chapter 14.3, on the basis of Downstream Industry, the Tantalum Pentoxide (Ta2O5) market from 2019 to 2030 covers:

Tantalum Metal
Optical Glass
Electronic Instruments
Others

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2019-2030) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 8 to Chapter 14:

North America (United States, Canada)
Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden)
Asia Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia)
Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina)
Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa)