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Okabe Lab
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The lab develops new methods to produce titanium and rare metals, and to recycle them.
AboutAbout the lab
Materials of the future: titanium and rare metals
The Okabe Lab (Resource Recycling and Materials Process Engineering Lab) studies new technologies for producing rare metals such as titanium, as well as technologies for recycling them.
Rare metals are also called the "vitamins of industry," and demand is growing for their use as materials for magnets and electronic components.
The lab also works on environmental technologies essential to a recycling-oriented society, such as methods for recovering rare metals from scrap (waste).
The lab provides research supervision that values students' independence and initiative, and students can even design and build their own experimental equipment.
Key terms
- Rare metals
- A collective term for metals that are scarce on Earth or difficult to extract. Examples include titanium, tantalum, and platinum.
- Reduction
- A reaction that removes oxygen and other elements from compounds such as oxides, returning them to a metallic state.
- Molten salt
- A salt melted into a liquid at high temperature. Because it conducts electricity, it is used in metal production.
- Reactive metals
- Metals that bond readily with oxygen and other elements. Examples include titanium and rare earth metals.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab conducts research aimed at developing new production processes for rare metal materials such as titanium. It also works on developing environmentally friendly processes for recovering rare metals and precious metals from scrap. In addition, it focuses on research into purification, removing oxygen from reactive metals such as titanium to make them highly pure.
*Illustrative imageProducing titanium in molten salt
The lab has investigated a method for producing metallic titanium directly by placing an electrode made of compacted titanium oxide in molten salt. It also studies producing the calcium used for reduction through electrolysis of molten salt.
*Illustrative imageRecovering precious metals efficiently
The lab is developing methods to efficiently recover platinum and rhodium, which are used in applications such as automotive exhaust catalysts, from scrap. It also aims for environmentally friendly recovery methods that do not use strong oxidizing agents.
*Illustrative imageRemoving oxygen from titanium
Titanium and rare earth metals are reactive metals that bond readily with oxygen, and once oxygen enters them, it has been considered difficult to remove. The lab has independently developed a deoxidation method using calcium and halide flux, and researches technology for purifying reactive metals to high purity.
MembersFaculty
The Okabe Lab's members consist of faculty, project researchers and master's-level researchers, technical assistants, administrative assistants, and doctoral and master's students. Research advisors and research fellows from outside the lab also join.As of 2026
- ProfessorToru H. OkabePublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorHyeong-Jun Jeoung
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Titanium crystal bar” Warut Roonguthai / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Producing titanium in molten salt: “Titanium powder 3N” Leiem / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Recovering precious metals efficiently: “Tantal-P1100196c” Elcap, Jens Both / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Removing oxygen from titanium: “Calcium metal” GOKLuLe / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Matsuura Lab): “Allegheny Ludlum steel furnace” Alfred T. Palmer / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Takehara Lab): “Cleanroom - photolithography lab ( )” UCL Mathematical & Physical Sciences from London, UK / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Hoshino Lab): “CompactedSteelScraps” Rotor DB / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Daigo Lab): “CompactedSteelScraps” Rotor DB / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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