Its taken a global leader in SMS the better part of 5 years to...

Its taken a global leader in SMS the better part of 5 years to develop this to a point where they are willing to give process and product guarantees (ie. take all the risk on the technology).

I would suggest many don't have a deep understanding of the technology or other status quo processes. IMO its like the discovery of electricity for the titanium feedstock and VRB market. Goodbye to new mineral sands processing for feedstock and hello to a vanadium price that is low enough to produce electrolyte at an economic cost, driving VRB uptake.

The scenario where a competing technology beats TNG/SMS to market is near impossible IMO. TIVAN will have first mover advantage (already does) and any new deposit will use TIVAN rather than the expensive and time consuming process we have just been down in developing this tech.