Aluminium International Today Highlights 2017 by Quartz Business Media

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THE JOURNAL OF ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING

HIGHLIGHTS

FIVES TECH + FIVES TEAM

THE COMBINATION OF A WIDE RANGE OF SERVICES WITH A NETWORK OF LOCAL EXPERTS IN THE ALUMINIUM INDUSTRY FIVES’ EXPERTS ARE COMMITTED TO ASSISTING CUSTOMERS in both improving their plant’s performance and availability, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of their installations. Thanks to highly-skilled and proactive Aluminium teams based in Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Europe, India, Russia, South Africa and UA E, Fives provides an efficient response to your daily needs. From preventive maintenance, modernization, inspection, repair to audit and training, Fives has a unique technical expertise coming from its experience as both equipment designer and supplier, and global solution integrator. Fives aims at enhancing production on a long-term basis while ensuring operators’ safety and equipment reliability.

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CONTENTS 1

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Comment and News

Industry 4.0:

Digital Edition No5 - 2017 Highlights Editorial Editor: Nadine Bloxsome Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855115 nadinebloxsome@quartzltd.com

Is ‘Digital’ just a ﬂash in the pan?

COVER

Or is it changing the industry? Primary:

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Power supply outages to cells in aluminium smelters

THE JOURNAL OF ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING

A balancing act Rolling:

Assan Aluminyum’s expansion

Let the good times roll...

Aluminium hot rolling

Proﬁle: Investing in British aluminium

Handling: New Combilift ﬂeet for Kawneer

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Chinese update: Chinese cuts create an opportunity for aluminium

USA Updade: Aluminium’s 3D printing potential

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New dimensions due to precision in aluminium 2017 Highlights

2 COMMENT

2017 Highlights And just like that, another year seems to be drawing to an end. I admit that I have just had to Google “what happened in 2017” mainly to try and pick out some good news stories. Among the natural disasters and attacks too close to home, did you know that a new species of Orangutan was discovered in Indonesia, becoming the third species of Orangutan and the first great ape to be described for almost a century? Coming back to the aluminium industry and when choosing what news stories to re-live for this issue, I was reminded of the amount of investment and new technology coming to the forefront. We are on the brink of the next Industrial Revolution and I’m not sure if we, as an industry are ready for what Industry 4.0 could mean for aluminium manufacturing and the factory of the future... Thankfully, the knowledge is out there and 2018 will see the launch of the Future Aluminium Forum, which aims to highlight the benefits and explain the challenges that this new era of ‘smart manufacturing’ could bring. You can join in the discussion and find out more at: www.futurealuminiumforum.com I hope you enjoy this special issue and the selection of popular features and technical articles from the past year. It’s just a glimpse into the world of aluminium manufacturing and processing that we bring readers regularly, so don’t miss out next year! nadinebloxsome@quartzltd.com

2017 Highlights

EGA: $300m investment Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial project in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has completed a threeyear, $300 million project to replace older production lines at its Jebel Ali aluminium smelter with the company’s own UAE-developed technology, boosting production capacity and reducing costs and environmental emissions. All EGA’s 2,777 reduction cells will now be run on home-grown technology and reduce emissions of perﬂuorocarbons, a greenhouse gas generated in the aluminium smelting process from anode effects, by 96 per cent. The project boosts EGA’s production capacity by over 58,000

tonnes of aluminium per year. The execution of the modernisation project took six million man-hours of work, and was finished without a single Lost Time Injury. Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at EGA, said: “This project to replace older reduction cells with UAE-developed technology boosts our competitiveness as one of the largest ‘premium aluminium’ producers in the world as the new reduction cells can produce more aluminium with less energy and with lower emissions. The most important achievement for me though was that a continuous focus on safe-

ty meant this challenging project was completed without hurting anyone.” The replacement work at Potline 1 and Potline 3 was conducted progressively in 16 separate sections, to minimise the time reduction cells were out of production. The first stage took 55 days, but this was accelerated to just 38 days by the final section. Last year EGA became the first UAE industrial company to license its technology internationally, in a major milestone for the development of a knowledge-based economy. Aluminium Bahrain selected EGA’s technology for its new Potline 6 following a competitive tender.

Sapa acquisition complete Norsk Hydro’s acquisition of Orkla’s 50% ownership in Sapa was completed on 2nd October, giving Hydro full ownership in the global leader in extruded aluminium solutions and making Hydro a leading force in the global aluminium industry. The combination makes Hydro the only global company in the aluminium industry that is fully integrated across the value chain and markets, and gives Hydro unparalleled strength in technology, R&D, innovation and product development, as well as an unmatched product and service offering to the benefit of more than 30,000 customers throughout the world. It also provides Hydro with the capability and freedom to

grow in the most attractive areas of aluminium, as well as further strengthening the sustainable solutions for the future low-carbon economy. Sapa will become a new business area in Hydro, Extruded Solu-

tions, and will be headed by Egil Hogna. Hydro will consolidate the Sapa financials in its financial statements and at the same time, Hydro will discontinue reporting Sapa as an equity accounted investment.

Aluminium International Today

2017 NEWS 3

ASI: Path to Launch

Karmøy Technology Pilot inaugurated Thousands of Karmøy residents gathered in Kopervik to see Prime Minister Erna Solberg inaugurate the technology pilot at Karmøy in western Norway on 24th August. “The technology pilot here at Karmøy is green, smart and innovative,” said the Prime Minister. “I think it’s fantastic that we are getting the world’s greenest aluminium production here at Karmøy,” says Astrid Margrete

Lie. She is one of the many who were present. The technology pilot at Karmøy is an industrial-scale test plant, and Hydro’s ambition with the pilot is to verify the world’s most climate- and energy-efficient technology for aluminium electrolysis. The ambition is to reduce energy consumption by around 15 percent per kilogram of alumin-

ium produced in relation to the international average, and with the lowest CO2 emissions in the world. Production is expected to start during the fourth quarter of 2017. A total of NOK 4.3 billion has been invested in the project, including NOK 1.6 billion in support from the government energy conservation agency ENOVA.

Hydro launches automotive line

Hydro opened a EUR 130 million automotive line in Germany on May 4. Aluminium from the facility will help lightweight millions of new cars each year – enabling them to further curb emissions. The new automotive line in Grevenbroich, Germany is one of Hydro’s strategic investments in European industry. Car makers increasingly use aluminium to lightweight their vehicles and curb emissions. As a consequence of this industry megatrend, Hydro has over the last few years made several strategic investments in Norway and Germany to meet this demand and at the same time secure the viability of high competence industrial jobs Aluminium International Today

in both countries. The new automotive line in Grevenbroich is a prime example of this. “I look forward to showing the result of great efforts made by our sharpest engineers, leaders and operators. It has taken years of research, experience, ingenuity, in close cooperation with Europe’s world-leading automotive industry, to reach this level of cutting-edge development. Our new automotive line will help lightweight millions of cars each year and strengthen aluminiums’ position as a building block of modern society – which from our new automotive line comes with quality stamp “Made in Europe” – “Mit Leichtigkeit!” says Hydro President & CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg.

The new automotive line investment is closely linked to investments Hydro have made further upstream in the company´s value chain in Norway. Over the last couple of years, casthouses in Sunndal, Høyanger, Årdal and Karmøy have been upgraded with new innovations and equipment, specifically designed to meet the requirements of car makers. Altogether, these investments are worth close to NOK 150 million. New casting technology is under implementation in Høyanger and Årdal, where Hydro produce sheet ingot which at the plants in Germany can be rolled into plates and used in so-called hang-on parts such as doors, hoods, roofs, and trunk lids. 2017 Highlights

Testing and trials are proceeding with active member participation; and improvements based on feedback have already been implemented. The pilot phase began in July to provide each ASI member and invited participants with an opportunity to carry out one or more self assessments against ASI’s draft Standards via ASI’s new online assurance platform, elementAl. Over 65 users have been actively working with elementAl to create test self assessments and learn about the many features this new platform has to offer. Constructive feedback has been plentiful and has already led to improvements to the self assessment maturity ratings, as well as numerous other pages and functionalities. The Secretariat has also been busy preparing support materials to ease the learning curve for new users. To this end, the platform’s Help Desk and FAQ have been active, and the first two of a regular series of elementAl webinars have been produced: one to address how to define the certification scope and a second to explain the maturity rating self assessment procedure. The pilot phase will run through to late September/ early October.

Combilift expansion Combilift, the manufacturer of 4-way forklifts and other handling solutions, is set to double its output in the next few years as its new factory nears completion. €40 million has been invested in the new 46,000m² factory on a 40 hectare site, which will be the largest single manufacturing plant under one roof in Ireland. The expansion will also create around 200 new jobs, mainly for skilled technicians and design engineers.

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2017 MOVERS & SHAKERS 5

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Innoval appointment Effective as of August 1st, 2017, Dr Gary Mahon has become Managing Director of Innoval Technology (Innoval). Gary moves into his new position having been a Director of Innoval for the last 10 years. He replaces Dr Tom Farley who, after much consideration, has decided to retire from the aluminium industry after 28 successful years.

Alumina Ltd appointment Alumina Limited has announced that Mr Peter Day (pictured) has been appointed to the new position of Deputy Chairman of Alumina Limited effective immediately. Mr Day has been an independent non-executive Director of the Company since January 2014 and is Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee and a member of the Company’s Compensation Committee and the Nominations Committee.

Gulf Extrusions: New CEO Arconic Arconic has announced that Eric Roegner, Chief Operating Officer of Investment Castings, Arconic Titanium and Engineered Products and President of Arconic Defense, has been named President of Arconic Global Rolled Products (GRP), effective immediately.

ALFED

Gulf Extrusions is pleased to welcome Christian Witsch as the new Chief Executive Officer, responsible for all the Metals initiatives within the Al Ghurair Group. Christian brings 30 years of extensive business management experience to Gulf Extrusions of which 25 years have been dedicated to the Global Aluminium Extrusion Industry with leading producers such as SAPA and Hydro Aluminium Extrusions.

The Aluminium Federation (ALFED), the trade body of the UK’s aluminium sector, has announced the appointment of a new President. Giles Ashmead, managing director of Powdertech (Corby) Ltd, was previously Vice-President of the Aluminium Federation, and succeeds Adrian Platt.

Alcoa appointment

GARMCO: New CEO

Alcoa has announced that Molly Beerman has been named Vice President and Controller of the company, and she will serve as principal accounting officer. Ms. Beerman succeeds Robert Collins who has been Controller since 2013 and will be taking a role outside of the company.

Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill (Garmco), the Bahrain-based international aluminium rolling mill, has appointed Mohammed Essa, the current general manager of operations, as its interim chief executive officer.

EAFA Bruno Rea, commercial director at Laminazione Sottile Group of Italy, has been elected the new President of the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) at the Association’s summer conference in Bilbao, Spain. He succeeds Jan Homan of Constantia Flexibles, who served two terms.

Aluminium International Today

2017 Highlights

6 2017 NEWS

Mechatherm expands Mechatherm Services continues to grow, adding both a Junior Service Engineer position and a Mechanical Engineer to the team. The UK service division now employs eight people in various roles and will work to add yet more to the team as the company expands into the Middle East with its first branch office.

Ardagh investment Ardagh Group has announced an important investment in its Rugby manufacturing plant for the purpose of converting its beverage can production capabilities from steel to aluminium. This venture will serve to support committed partnership agreements with some of the most well-established beverage brands in the world. The timeline for the conversion involves project commencement in Q4 2017 and with an anticipated completion in Q1 2018. The investment in the UK plant’s manufacturing capabilities signals a clear intent from Ardagh Group in the continued development of its recently acquired beverage can business. “We look at this conversion as a key move in furthering Ardagh’s overall footprint and are confident it will be welcomed by our customers, the Rugby plant and our other key stakeholders,” said Oliver Graham, CEO Ardagh Metal Beverage. The Rugby UK plant was first established in 1989 as a two-line aluminium plant. In 1996, the plant was converted to steel to support customer needs at that time. Processes within the plant are currently being optimised via Ardagh’s Wrexham plant and other locations across Europe to ensure that customer expectations continue to be met during the plant’s downtime. Aluminium is a permanent material meaning it can be infinitely recycled without loss of quality. Universally recognised for its protective qualities, versatility and environmental credentials, aluminium has the strongest recycling rates of all packaging materials in Europe, thus effectively contributing to the fundamental principles of a circular economy. 2017 Highlights

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Ma’aden signs Alcoa MOU Saudi Arabian Mining Company Ma’aden signed two landmark Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with its U.S.-based partners Alcoa and Mosaic at the ongoing inaugural Saudi-U.S.CEO Forum that was launched in Riyadh in May. The Memorandums are expected to provide fresh impetus to the Kingdom’s mining sector which is identified to be a playing a crucial role in the economic diversification of the nation as outlined in Saudi Vision 2030. The first MOU outlines the scope of feasibility assessment of

a potential expansion of aluminium production complex in Ras AlKhair Industrial City, by Ma’aden and Alcoa, the joint developers of the project. Since inception in 2009, the Ma’aden-Alcoa aluminium smelting joint venture complex has made a significant contribution amounting to US$4 billion to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s GDP. On completion of expansion, primary aluminium capacity of the venture is expected to be raised by 600,000 metric tonnes per year. It would also result in over 3,000 high quality jobs creation in the

New rolling mill Danieli Fata Hunter has supplied and installed a cold rolling mill and a tension leveling line at the new Eurometal greenfield plant located in the new Kleszczów Industrial Park in Poland. The cold rolling mill produces 120,000 tpy of aluminium coils, coming from two casting machines, with a thickness of 10 to 6mm and which are rolled down to a minimum thickness of 0.15 mm at a max speed of 1200m/ min., with a max strip width of 2.1m. Equipped with the induction heating system for tight edges

control, a new VOC emission control to guarantee low emissions, and a rolling oil recovery and distillation system, the mill is run by the Danieli FATA Hunter hSystem® to automatically control AGC and AFC and can roll a wide variety of products from foil stock to can body with best-in-the market tolerances and quality. Thanks to Danieli FATA Hunter’s leading leveler technology and design, the tension leveling line can produce quality strip while combining a cleaning section that minimises the use of chemicals employed on conventional lines.

Kingdom. The other two MOU also pertain Ma’aden’s mining and fertiliser businesses. The projects are subject to the definitive studies and obtaining necessary approvals and consents of the Board.

Constellium grand opening Constellium N.V. has announced the grand opening of its new plant in White, Georgia, dedicated to the production of advanced aluminium automotive structural components and crash management systems. The 135,000 sq. ft. facility is strategically located to supply automakers in the Southeast U.S. and may be expanded to 220,000 sq. ft. to meet customers’ supply needs in the future. Constellium expects to have 150 employees in White, Georgia, by 2019. “I am very pleased to be in Georgia today to celebrate the opening of this new plant, its state-of-the art manufacturing capability and world-class team that is committed to work in partnership with our automotive customers,” said Paul Warton, President of Constellium’s Automotive Structures & Industry business unit. “Being closer to our customers’ assembly plants will allow us to better serve automakers in their mission to make vehicles lighter and safer and to respond to the industry’s growing demand for aluminium structural parts.” “On behalf of Constellium, I would like to extend our gratitude to the State of Georgia, Bartow County, our local partners and employees for their strong support in establishing the White, Georgia, plant,” commented Eric Krepps, Vice President and General Manager of Constellium Automotive Structures North America. “We are honoured to be part of your community.” Aluminium International Today

8-9 MAY • HOTEL MICHELANGELO MILAN • ITALY

Applying Industry 4.0 to the aluminium industry What does Industry 4.0 mean to the future of the aluminium industry and how can it assist in the quest for greater efficiencies? The Future Aluminium Forum is a live discussion that will examine how Industry 4.0 and ‘smart manufacturing’ will revolutionise aluminium manufacturing and processing and analyse the benefits that can be gained from doing so. Speakers from academia, across the aluminium supply chain and technology providers will explain key concepts behind the digitalisation of aluminium manufacturing; as well as covering the importance of cyber security, the role of human beings in the factory of the future, autonomous equipment and the all-important process safety and control. Join us to find out how and where Industry 4.0 will be applied across the aluminium value chain and the impacts. GET INVOLVED: If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us TO SPONSOR/EXHIBIT: Ken Clark International Sales Director +44 (0) 1737 855 117 kenclark@quartzltd.com

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8 INDUSTRY 4.0

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Is ‘Digital’ just a ﬂash in the pan? Or is it changing the industry?

By Stefan Koch* Aluminium is the foundation for many of today’s products. It’s used in everything from food and beverage containers to cell phones, automobiles and airplanes. Especially aluminium use in the automotive market is on the rise as vehicle manufacturers replace steel parts with aluminium in order to reduce the weight of vehicles and increase fuel efficiency. To meet the growing demand, worldwide production of primary aluminium is projected to grow Yet despite healthy demand, many aluminium producers have to work hard to remain profitable in an industry characterised by oversupply, strong competition and volatile market conditions. Production is based on enormous capital investments in plants and assets. In order to run their business successfully, many aluminium companies have chosen a long-term partnership with SAP, some of them already for decades. With the many changes now taking place because of the new digital economy, companies are re-imaging their processes, how they manage assets and even how they build lasting customer relationships. This is crucial to ensure they can build sustainable business that can make sure

the final products get sold - even in the future. For the aluminium industry, specifically, companies are applying Industry 4.0 concepts and big data insights to add value along the entire supply chain from managing production to ensuring the appropriate quality and delivering orders exactly as expected. Digital technology trends impacting the aluminium industry Companies across all industries are struggling to capture, analyse and use the vast amounts of data available today. As software applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management have become more robust and comprehensive, they have also become more data-intensive. Likewise, physical assets such as mining equipment, transportation vehicles and obviously machinery in production are delivering continuous streams of information that are steadily growing. Aluminium producers must have the right technology in place to extract value from data and use it to transform how they do business. For example, machine learning is helping to improve product quality and automated processes. Augmented reality is also

changing plant operations by blending physical and virtual models. To take advantage of these latest trends, metal producers need a technology solution with three core features: � A powerful technology platform that combines database, application processing, and integration services capable of quickly processing heavy amounts of data from multiple sources; � A graphical, intuitive and adaptable interface to make it easy for non-technical users to access, share and use data; � Cloud-based services so companies can have sophisticated, always-available solutions when and where they need it. With the right technology solutions in place, it’s possible to begin accessing, analyzing and using data to make smart decisions. In particular, digital innovations are helping companies anticipate realtime changes in demand and supply, enhance operational efficiency, operate resilient supply-chains and add new value to customers. Agility and responsiveness The traditional value chain for aluminium is quickly transforming, driven by massive

*Global Lead for Metals, SAP 2017 Highlights

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INDUSTRY 4.0 9

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structural changes, new technology, highly interactive devices and close-to-real time processes. While no company can ever accurately predict demand 100% of the time, technology is making it possible for metal producers to create digital models, which are analysed in real-time and used to adjust production so that output more closely matches demand. For example, signing a car sales contract might become a data point available and used by an aluminium producer for more accurate planning. This endcustomer data indicates to the producer the demand of his automotive supplier that provides different parts of this car. So, it could shorten time needed to get this demand signal as well as allowing better planning as multiple supplier for this car type are served. Customer focus and added value Digitalizing and connecting systems can add new value to a customer. Technology advancements provide the ability to understand customers and their buying behaviours in ways never before available, allowing for the development of personalised experiences, even in B2B scenarios. The use of digital assistants is making it possible for manufacturers to provide faster service, with less staff. Customers can interact with suppliers using any device (PC, phone, tablet, etc.) and any channel they prefer such as web, email, phone, or chat. An interaction supported by conversational applications can guide the service representative in responsive manner and will incorporate in the background the detailed data that is now available. New services can provide full transparency during order processing and allow access to detailed product data. Operational and energy efficiency Data from machines, vehicles and products can be combined to make better predictions, simulations and decisions. Automation and connectivity throughout the plant is helping to reduce error rates, increase speed and cut operation costs. For example, by integrating systems for demand planning, production capacity and transportation capacity, producers can maximise throughput and asset resources, which also lowers stocks. Additional efficiencies can be achieved by correlating sensor data with business data in real-time, which can help producers, use less energy and reduce their carbon footprint. Fleet management is another opportunity to leverage data insights for increased efficiency. Connected fleets combine vehicle telematics data (tire pressure, engine speed, etc.); driving behaviour data (speed, accelerating, Aluminium International Today

braking, time spent loading and unloading); and business data to save on transportation costs. For example, by viewing fuel consumption under various conditions, such as a full load, no load, idling, etc., producers can identify the trips with the highest fuel consumption, drill down to the details, then compare to fleet benchmarks in order to reduce activities leading to higher-than-normal costs. This is applicable to the trucks that operate within the mines as well as the trucks that go out to deliver to the customers. Supply chain operations In the aluminium industry, the supply chain is long and complicated. It begins with mining operations and ends with the piece of aluminium that is sold. The classic industry set up where a single company handles the end-to-end process from Mining over refining, smelting,

and downstream fabrication has been changing over the past few years. Buying and selling companies has become the norm in the aluminium industry. A classic example of both a merger and a divestment of comes from looking at the history of Novelis, which was a set of separate companies before its acquisition by Alcan. Consequently, the rolling units were reorganized and renamed “Novelis” and then acquired finally by Aditya Birla Group. Another example is Emirates Global Aluminium that is expanding to cover the aluminium value chain from the start. In this case the growth by acquisition of bauxite mining is another factette. Now the norm is constant mergers, acquisitions and divestitures as companies seek to balance portfolios and maximise profits in a much shorter time frame. These frequent organisational shifts can be extremely difficult for organizations to manage. Many companies turn to technology, which can not only smooth the transition but in many situations, can actually support the business case because of the speed and efficiency with which the M&A can happen. Technology and best practice approaches provide

standard processes that can be more easily assimilated by new divisions. Cloud solutions are a natural option because the fact that they are not a physical installation and thus tightly related to a business unit can support a more flexible move of business units. Circular economy One trend that is also driving mergers and divestiture is the concept of circular economy. The circular economy, especially in North America and Europe, is an important industry and business milestone as it implies that the regional amount of commodities in circulation is sufficient. Meaning, no more virgin raw material additions are needed if recycling or even better re-use is orchestrated properly. A related positive impact is the reduction in energy use and CO2 emissions. The vision is to create a virtuous cycle that fosters prosperity in a world of finite resources, moving away from traditional linear consumption patterns. It will also fuel potential new business models. Taking that cycle in motion you will have to perform multiple business tasks like manufacturing of a product, sales and distribution, collection, and recycling. This is nothing new in general but in the future, you can envision that all of this could be administered by one player and complemented by other supporting processes for example, lifetime material tracking, financing and other services like service provisioning. As a result, new business models might evolve like leasing for versus selling aluminium. Digital Technology will play a major role to enable this future. Supporting technologies such as block chain might also enable a decentralised tracking of material not possible as of today. In what has been described as the “era of big data” or Industry 4.0, aluminium manufacturers are finding new ways to use data to make smart decisions, allowing them to meet industry regulations while simultaneously saving money through more efficient operations and increasing customer satisfaction. Yet, this is just the beginning. Thought leading metal companies that support and test creative ideas at all levels of the organisation will discover new ways to achieve sustainable growth while becoming a strong lever for competitiveness and differentiation. SAP is supporting metal companies around the globe on their journey to the Digital Business of the future – and this is no flash in the, hopefully aluminium, pan - but often beyond the plant fence. � Contact www.sap.com/mill

2017 Highlights

10 PRIMARY

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Power supply outages to cells in aluminium smelters By Anthony Kjar *

Unlike data that is systematically collected on the reliability of power station by the Electrical Research Institute[1], there is little analysis of power outages in aluminium smelters. Nevertheless, the need for reliability is well known, particularly for outages greater than two hours when modern cells start to freeze and restart becomes problematic. Some outages can cost up to hundreds of millions of dollars. This paper builds on previous papers[2-6]. A comprehensive, but not necessarily complete, list of outages has been compiled and analysed. While not necessarily totally accurate, enough examples are available to give a reasonable picture. All smelters, excluding China, are included in the analysis. China is only excluded as the data is not readily available and can be confusing with many more stops and starts to fit power availability and market conditions.

in Fig 1, separated into larger (> 5000,000tpy) and smaller smelters. On inspection it is apparent that there was a significant increase in the period 2008 to 2011. This coincided with the startup of a significant number of new, larger smelters in the Middle East and India, with most suffering. Currently these 17 larger smelters represent 48% of production, but only 15% by number. Since that time outages have increased from the lower base power to 2008. It is likely that there have been additional outages in the smaller plants that have not been widely reported. Nevertheless, analysis of data suggests that at a minimum: � Frequency of faults for Larger smelters: 1 / 10 years per plant � Frequency of faults for Smaller smelters: 1 / 40 years per plant � Frequency of faults for all smelters: 1/34 years per plant

History To view a history of 50 outages including a few near misses over the last 15 years visit www.aluminiumtoday.com/features. The references to this information are listed from[7-45]. A history of outages by year is shown

Root Cause Analysis There is not enough data in the public domain to carry out a detailed Root Cause Analysis (RCA) such as outlined in[46]. Nevertheless, it would be useful for individual outages to be investigated in detail by smelter operators. When

sufficient data is available, techniques such as 5 why’s, 8D and Life Cycle analysis can be used to determine the basic physical and human causes of failure. However, using available data, a basic high level RCA can be obtained by grouping failures and near misses into location in the supply chain of the plant, on site power station(s), or in the grid/of site power stations; source of equipment or systems failure eg. bus bar, rectifier etc; and type of failure or event eg. fire, electrical flash-over etc. Further breakdowns are also useful in the age of the system and size of smelter. The variants in technology have not been assessed as all aluminium smelters use the same basic Hall-Héroult technology and internationally procured equipment. Analysis of the fault data is shown, by number of outages in relation to the age of the equipment, in Fig 2. Outages over time are greatest in the mid-life of the smelter. This is in sharp contrast to a classical failure history of individual components with a typical failure history that is lowest in Mid-Life. Also, high outage rates for new large smelters is apparent. A classical failure history is superimposed for individual components, and large

8 6

2 0

0 2000

2002

Larger

2004

2006

Smaller

Fig 1. History of power outages by year

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016 to May

Mid-life

Early Larger

Old

Smaller

Fig 2. Number of outages in smelters (and equipment) of different ages

*Managing Director, Gibson Crest Pty Ltd, arkjar@bigpond.com 2017 Highlights

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0 Plant or main switch yard Larger

Plant or main switch yard & onside power station (direct)

Gridd off site

Onsite power station

Smaller

Larger

Fig 3a. Location of outages in main blocks of the plant

Grid/offsite powerstation(s) (indirect)

Smaller

Fig 3b. Effective company control

20 18 16 14

25 20

12 10 8 6

0 Bus bar Larger

Rectifier Smaller

Transformer Switch yard Transmission line

Fig 4. Outages grouped into type of equipment

smelters reported separately. This analysis indicates that a number of failures are grouped in the early life of the smelter as would generally be expected, as a result of inexperience and preliminary failures, but most unexpectedly occur in the mid-life of the smelter. This is due partly to the grouping of a large number of components, with different equipment lives, but also reflect the many system failures. These differences indicate that many of the outages are due to a systems breakdown, rather than an equipment breakdown, and points to the need for more effort to a maintenance reliability approach[9] and systems engineering, management approach organisation and audit.[52]. In Fig 3a, the number of the outage is shown plotted against the location of the main blocks of the plant and in Fig 3b, against the nature of the effective company control. On inspection, it is apparent that the plant or main switchyard has the most impact. Collectively, the processes within which the operating company has effective control are larger than the grid/offsite. Nevertheless, both need effective (but different) management so as to achieve control. Aluminium International Today

Cells

Other

Fire/Electrical Larger

Mechanical

Smaller

Lightening

Failed protection poor response, poor procedures, poor design, other

Fig 5. Outages grouped into event /result of failure

There have been a large number of major grid failures globally,[54] and with increased financial pressures in the future in a wide range of countries these are likely to continue. Operating in this environment will require additional efforts so as to be able to maintain indirect control over the reliability of these systems. In Fig 4, outages are grouped into type of equipment. By far the largest group is of â&#x20AC;&#x153;otherâ&#x20AC;?, including protection equipment, circuit breakers, unreliable equipment, boiler tube leaks, earth faults, flooding, equipment did not start, etc. Again, this points to systems failures. Of the large items of equipment, the main equipment involved in outages were transformers, switchyard as cells, including leakage resulting in bus bar failures or thermite fires[53]. In Fig 5, outages are grouped into event/result of the failure. Again, the largest group involves systems engineering and operational management training. Following the large number of protection type failures in new large smelters, improvements have been made as outlined in[47-[51]. However, more needs to be done so as to maintain and operate

these complex systems. In addition, particular vigilance is required to develop, record, and organise appropriate management structures, train and then audit the startup, shutdown and restart major electrical and equipment circuits. Further check lists are outlined in[6]. Conclusion Power outages (and also major safety accidents) should be reducing in the future, and each company maintaining meaningful databases of typical root causes is difficult due to a limited sample size. The various aluminium associations have stopped out of this field. It would be useful for all producers if each company published its own high level root causes in their press releases and or annual reports. This would allow easier analysis and encourage improvement so as to be more competitive than other metals. This paper outlines the importance of a focus on system design, maintenance, organisation and smelter management and audit both for processes under direct as well as indirect control. ďż˝ For the full list of references, visit www.aluminiumtoday.com/features 2017 Highlights

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A balancing act Why renewable energy grids need modulating aluminium smelters, by Geoff Matthews*

Since the first power station was commissioned in 1882, a simple industrialage mechanical device, the steam valve, has been used to keep our energy grids in balance without the need for storage. The rules were simple. Exactly the same amount of active power must be generated as is being consumed – a balanced system. By opening and closing steam valves, and spinning turbines faster or slower, thermal power stations have been able to supply exactly the right amount of power as was being consumed at any given time, thus providing reasonably stable energy grids to forge ahead and build a modern world. Our modern world has come at a cost It doesn’t matter if you believe that manmade climate change is real or not, the point is enough people believe it’s real to seek a low emissions future, and to drive real change. For most countries, reducing CO2 emissions is reliant on clean renewably sourced energy. We have all heard the catch-cry that renewable energy sources are disrupting our energy systems, but do we really understand what this means? More importantly, what does it mean for us, both as people of the earth, and as people involved with primary aluminium production? The balance of power has changed With renewable energy sources (particularly solar and wind), there is no steam valve in the process. Electricity generated from these sources flows directly into the grid, making it more difficult for power generators, and the lines companies, to control the process. Dr. Abhisek Ukil, Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, and an expert in disturbance analysis in power systems, sums it up succinctly when he says, “you can’t control nature”. The rules have been broken, and in the future it is going to be up to us, the consumers of energy, to help fix the problem and maintain balance in the system. Two years ago, I was one of a number of people interviewed for a think piece entitled ‘Power to the People’1, the think piece sums up by saying, “we

Disruption The disruption to our energy systems we hear and read about is mostly related to the existing business models of power generators and transmission lines companies, and what will happen to their stock values. This bit is not that interesting, or difficult to predict; they will have to reinvent themselves and become consumer focused, or they risk going bust. The interesting bit is what was discussed in ‘Power to the People’; if we are to have a low emissions future, then energy consumers will be required to adopt new technologies and change their behaviours, so that they become an integral part of the stability of the grid. This leads to the really interesting bit for those of us in the primary aluminium business; how much will the power companies pay us to balance the grid for them? They even have a name for this, the Energy Imbalance Market (EIM).

energy systems over the next 20 years. From the remotest villages to the shining glass towers of our most modern cities, when it comes to energy, all of us will be subject to the forces of three converging economic and technical paradigms, all being driven by the desire for a low emissions future. They are: � Moores-Law, and how it applies to renewable energy generation � The Duck Chart, which are the net load curves caused by the lack of a steam valve � and Demand Response, which is how consumers respond to changes in generation. I refer to this convergence as ‘Duckonomics’. Looking at the next 20 years, when it comes to energy systems, it’s hard to see how ‘Duckonomics’ won’t dominate our discussions, policy decisions, energy systems investment, and our adoption of new technologies. It’s worth taking a little bit of time to better understand how these paradigms will affect our lives.

What change looks like It’s possible that no one on the planet will be unaffected by the changes to our

Moore’s Law Moore’s law is the observation made by Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, in a

must fundamentally change the way we consume power.”

A LOW EMISSIONS FUTURE

MOORE’S LAW

DUCK CHART Variable renewable generation creates net load curves in the shape of a duck

A driving force of technological and social change

Currently we are building capacity, to compound a problem, that we haven’t yet got solutions to.

DEMAND RESPONSE How consumers of electricity respond to changes in generation

CONVERGENCE

DUCKONOMICS

Fundamentally changing the way we consume energy

*PG Dip Mark, FCIM (UK), Vice President, Energia Potior Limited 2017 Highlights

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1965 paper2 that observed the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. Moore’s law has since become far more than just an observation about microchip performance however, it is now described as, “a driving force of technological and social change, productivity, and economic growth.”3 Moore’s law has been applied to renewable energy technology, with evidence to suggest solar PV capacity per installed cost doubling every 22 months, with wind power not being too far behind, or even possibly in front. This is prompting the prediction that we will be able to generate 100% of the planet’s needs from renewables in the next 20-30 years. Whatever the true rate of doubling, it is sufficiently fast enough to confidently predict that we need to seriously deal with the net load curves created with solar PV. The Duck Chart Net load is the difference between forecasted load and expected electricity production from variable generation resources. At certain times of the year, these 24 hour net load curves produce a ‘belly’ appearance in the mid-afternoon that quickly ramps up to produce an ‘arch,’ similar to the neck of a duck-hence the industry moniker of ‘The Duck Chart.’4 These conditions provide a headache for the electricity generator as short steep ramps mean they must bring on, or shut down, generation resources to meet an increasing or decreasing electricity demand quickly, to maintain grid reliability. Demand response Flattening the duck curve will drive technology such as household batteries, smart homes, and a host of other storage technologies and devices. Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, predicts it will also lead to a two-tier electricity network, where you buy your cheap, variable power from one or more electricity providers when it is available, to store in batteries, water heaters, your electric vehicle, or underfloor heating et al, and your more expensive, dispatchable power from yet another provider when you need it.5 Technologically short To compound the problem of the duck chart, is the fact is that no matter where we look, we are currently ‘technologically short’ across the board when it comes to technologies that can help with demand response. Grid level batteries and storage systems, and virtual mega grids, are not with us Aluminium International Today

yet. Neither are household batteries, nor the really smart systems to monitor and top up our homes. A two-tier electricity market also seems a long way off. Furthermore, transmission pricing in most countries is either 35 or 135 years out of date, depending on who you talk to. Liebriech also worries that renewable generation will quickly saturate the market for variable power (low hanging fruit), and that deeper penetration of renewables will stall because it can’t replace the harder-to-obtain and guaranteed dispatchable power. Currently, if you take a dispassionate look at it you could sum it up like this; we are building capacity, to compound a problem, that we haven’t yet got solutions to. How modulating the energy use of an aluminium smelters helps 1. We are technologically ready, with proven modulating technology for primary aluminium smelting that allows smelters to vary energy consumption (and therefore production) by + or – 30%. 2. Size matters. Even a medium sized aluminium smelter modulating up and down 30%, can free up, or soak up 150MW or more, enough electricity to power a small city. That’s a lot of house batteries or BEVs. Having one large customer who can, at the turn of a dial, soak up excess generation, or shed load, allows an electricity generator to maintain price stability in the rest of the market, as well as grid security. 3. Deeper penetration of the market by renewables will be dependent on industries and technologies that can ‘convert’, or use, variable power as if it were dispatchable power. Modulation technology allows

a smelter to convert large amounts of variable power into usable power, after all when it comes to the Hall-Herault process, it all makes aluminium. 4. Smelters are also ideal partners to help smooth out frequency issues and to provide reliance and stability to grids. Some smelters already participate in the Primary Electricity Market (frequency response), on a second by second basis. Such power variations don’t affect the process or quality of final product, and because these power fluctuations are short-term in nature, smelters don’t even require modulation technology. A productive grid-level battery The first significant installation of EnPot Shell Heat Exchanger modulating technology was at TRIMET Aluminium’s Essen smelter in 2014. CEO of TRIMET, Dr Martin Iffert, referred to the EnPot Shell Heat Exchanger system as a “virtual battery” for the grid. The term was questioned by some in online forums, especially when one article described the virtual battery as storing energy in “lakes of molten aluminium”. Therefore, I posed the question to Dr. Abhisek Ukil; “yes, an aluminium smelter fitted with modulation technology can be regarded as a grid level battery, or virtual power plant (VVP),” he says. “The purpose of any grid-level battery is to store energy so it can be fed back into the grid when generation is low or demand high. An aluminium smelter fitted with EnPot is essentially doing the same job as a gridlevel battery. When generation is low and/ or demand is high, the heat exchangers insulate the cells and maintain the heat

DISRUPTION TO OUR ENERGY SYSTEMS MEANS END-CONSUMERS WILL NEED TO PLAY A GREATER ROLE IN HELPING BALANCE THE GRID

DISPATCHABLE POWER (harder to obtain) $$$$

DISPATCHABLE POWER 60% VARIABLE POWER 40%

100% USEABLE POWER

RENEWABLE VARIABLE POWER (low hanging fruit)

ENPOT ENABLED ALUMINIUM SMELTER

Modulation of /- 30% means large amounts of cheaper variable power becomes usable power for the aluminium smelter as well as helps balance the grid. +

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy Technology Perspectives 2017 Report, identifies TRIMET Aluminium’s use of the Virtual Battery system as a transformative technology in providing flexibility to the energy grid through demand response.

2017 Highlights

14 PRIMARY

balance of the pot, so a portion of the usual power required can be returned to the grid. “In essence, you are just storing energy in the form of heat, rather than in a battery”, Dr. Ukil says. Aluminium – the beautiful metal Dr. Mark Dorreen, Director of the Light Metals Research Centre and Vice President of Energia Potior Ltd, points out that because heat exchangers maintain the heat in the pots, they perform better than a grid level battery because the smelter doesn’t require recharging. “When full power becomes available again, the pots don’t require energy input to get back up to temperature,” he says. “Batteries are also non-productive, that is they don’t perform any other function than storing and discharging energy. Once a battery is charged, it is full, it doesn’t do anything else. An aluminium smelter on the other hand, keeps on producing aluminium, taking the energy generated today and transforming it into metal to be stored for reuse by future generations,” he says. “As we go forward over the next

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2-3 decades, the appeal and desirability of taking todays renewable energy and transforming it into a metal that we can use, recycle and then reuse, over-andover again for generations to come, will resonate with consumers,” Dr. Dorreen says. Both Dr. Ukil and Dr. Dorreen are of course referring to Einstein’s law that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only transformed from one form to another. Aluminium in its metallic form is not just an inert metal, it is storing energy for the future. The return of aluminium smelting to the west Over the last 20 years we have seen the migration of aluminium smelting essentially away from centres of population, and towards either isolated, or cheap sources of power. The need for demand response over the next 20 years to stabilise the energy grids of our most populated areas may however, see expansion of aluminium smelting again in western countries. Professor Basil Sharp, Chair in Energy

Economics the University of Auckland, says the proposition of aluminium smelters integrating with energy grids, “arguably makes sense, especially as grids seek to increase the percentage of power generated from renewables.” “Duckonomics is a real challenge for transmission lines companies, who see the value of their assets under threat. Essentially, by being able to modulate to such an extent you are turning variable power into dispatchable power,” he says. “It will also be appealing for power generation and transmission lines companies to deal with one large partner, such as an aluminium smelter, to help maintain both price and grid stability to the domestic consumer base,” Professor Sharp says. Dr. Dorreen also points out that the economics of smelting in the west may also changing. “Given the recent resurgence in the aluminium metal price, it is understandable that many idled western smelter operations are being considered for restart. “The addition of modulating technology to these smelters would allow for new types of energy contracts between energy providers and the smelters, and should add to the attractiveness of the business case, in particular in regions such as mainland USA,” he says. Change is with us We have to accept that we cannot change what we cannot control, but at the same time, we need to learn to change what we can. We may not be able to control nature, or the forces driving a need for a low emissions future, but we now can control how our aluminium smelters consume energy. Maybe we can learn how to use duckanomics to work in our favour, and not against us. We live in interesting times. � References 1. Power to the People, author, Dr. Linda Wright. 2. Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law. 4. www.caiso.com, Flexible Resources Help Renewables Fast facts. 5. Six Design Principles for the Power Markets of the Future – A Personal View by Michael Liebreich, Chairman of the Advisory Board Bloomberg New Energy Finance

2017 Highlights

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ROLLING 15 5 Göksal Güngör, the General Manager of Assan Alüminyum

Assan Alüminyum’s expansion The largest flat-rolled aluminium producer of Turkey, Assan Alüminyum’s new investment plans are in full force. Assan Alüminyum, a subsidiary of Kibar Holding, has currently reached an installed annual production capacity of 300,000 tonnes as of the final quarter of 2017. This year’s expansion plans included two new casting lines, which have started production in the first half of the year, and a universal foil mill, which has just started production. As a result of these investments, the company now has a total of 19 casting lines and 10 foil rolling mills. Göksal Güngör, the General Manager of Assan Alüminyum, notes: “We believe that aluminium will play a key role in the advancement of many industries, with its superior qualities, such as lightness, formability and excellent barrier properties. Therefore, we plan to invest further in aluminium. With our current investments this year, our annual foil production capacity is projected to reach 100,000 tonnes very soon, which makes us the third largest foil production capacity in all of Europe. The new foil mill will allow us to focus more on highvalue-added flexible packaging products. While making plans to grow further, we always have our core values of reliability, flexibility and innovativeness at the center of our strategies. As a result, we dedicate ourselves to providing tailor-made solutions for our business partners.” Assan Alüminyum, founded in 1988, currently has an annual installed production capacity of 300,000 tonnes of flat-rolled aluminium and 60,000 tonnes of aluminium coil pre-painting. It produces out of two facilities: Istanbul Tuzla and Kocaeli Dilovası. Göksal Güngör also states that sustainability is a main focus in their growth strategies at Assan Alüminyum: “We have acquired a renewable energy power plant to ensure that all necessary electricity is supplied from renewables. With a strong focus on sustainability, Assan Alüminyum has become one of the Aluminium International Today

worldwide pioneers of continuous casting technology, both in terms of production capacity and technical know-how.” In order to reduce the overall carbon footprint even further, the company continues to work on new energy-saving projects every year. The recycling capacity of the aluminium recycling facility, which has acquired a few years ago, is projected to increase through a series of investments. This facility also serves the company’s sustainability perspective.

Assan Alümniyum exports more than 75% of its products, mainly to Western European countries. With the core brand values of reliability, flexibility and innovation, the company clearly has a customer-oriented business approach. The results of the customer satisfaction survey, which is carried out regularly every year, confirm the company’s approach, with an 89% satisfaction rate, which is well

above the industrial averages in Europe. The company’s focus on R&D (Research & Development) is also a significant contributing factor to the consistently high customer satisfaction and continuing growth trend. Assan Alüminyum’s officially certified R&D Center is dedicated to continuous progress through process innovations, which sheds light on the industry through many papers and proceedings published and presented at specialised global conferences throughout the years. Most of the R&D projects are triggered by customer requests and expectations, ultimately developing customised and better-performing products for the customers. The Industry 4.0 Revolution is also an important concept for Assan Alüminyum. The company is working on building a strong foundation for Industry 4.0, while developing new investment projects in accordance with it. Within the year 2017, a new ERP system has been implemented, which fully integrates all processes of the company. Assan Alüminyum aims to maximise customer satisfaction and corporate performance with its new fully integrated ERP system. The Supply Chain Optimisation Project is yet another high-value-added, extensive project that aims to improve process efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction. About the company’s future plans, Göksal Güngör states: “As Assan Alüminyum, which is currently ranked as the 41st largest industrial company of Turkey, according to the statistics of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, has become a prominent player in the Western aluminium market with its position as the third largest aluminium foil producer in Europe. We are currently in line with our end-of-2017 sales figure of 266.000 tonnes. We also take pride in the fact that we are the fastest growing flatrolled aluminium producer in Europe and will keep advancing thanks to our devoted and highly qualified 1,350 employees. � 2017 Highlights

16 ROLLING

Let the good times roll… Having recently celebrated the second anniversary of its formation, it seems that the only way is up for Aludium. Nadine Bloxsome* visited the Alicante plant and spoke with Arnaud de Weert** and Manuel Ruano*** about what has changed and more importantly, what has stayed the same. I’m the first to jump at an opportunity for a bit of ‘winter sun’, so when kindly invited to visit Aludium in Alicante, I was on a flight quicker than you can say “Easyjet”. The reason is that over the past two years Aludium has been transformed. The company has made the change from being a small part of a multi-national, to a fully independent business with a global outlook and the result is a full order book. “The reason we are growing is because we are servicing our customers,” says Manuel Ruano, Chief Operating Officer. He joins the interview in a flurry of excitement, fresh from a phone call with a customer, “And I am part of the service!” “We were in bad shape back in 2014 and now we are growing, just by taking care of our customers and being dedicated to our markets,” he continues. “It is not solely about maintaining a customer relationship, but by improving the service, we keep the relationship!”

In the beginning While Aludium is a new entity, it benefits from more than 60 years of experience in the sector. The company comprises three former Alcoa mills; two in Spain, one in France and a research and development centre in Spain. These assets have been consolidated under the Aludium brand by Atlas Holdings, a global industrial holding company with an approach to growing industrial companies with a long-term investment horizon. Aludium is committed to the building and construction, distribution and specialities product markets. Whilst the recent industry trend is for aluminium companies to focus on automotive and aerospace markets, the company’s focus is to continue to provide know-how to the core markets. “We are very proud to have been born out of Alcoa. The Alcoa operational excellence legacy is something we want to continue, but we want to take it to the

next level,” says Arnaud de Weert, Chief Executive Officer. Investing in development “When we started, the first thing we had to do was become standalone,” says Arnaud. “The next thing was to grow selectively with our customers through short lead times and co-engineering to also help them grow.” One of the main ways Aludium is working towards its focus is with continued investment in new services and tools to help its customers. And while the facilities have deep industrial pedigree, having been established since the 1950s, it is for this very reason that the most attention has been paid to the assets when it comes to investment projects. “We want to become the best performing mill in Europe and to do this, we are driving a number of debottlenecking projects across the three locations,” says Manuel.

*Editor, Aluminium International Today **CEO, Aludium ***COO, Aludium 2017 Highlights

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Manuel Ruano, Chief Operating Officer

“Our goal is to reach an output of 300,000 tonnes, with the same level of assets,” he continues. “To put it into context of where we are currently; in 2014 we were at 145,000 tonnes. In 2015 we had reached 185,000 and by 2017 we will produce 229,000 tonnes. The expectation is to increase the output again by 15% taking us nearer to our goal.” Back in the autumn of 2016, the Aludium Board approved a new investment. One of the projects will focus on the reduction of non-rolling time in the hot mill and is being implemented at Easter, with the second phase planned for the summer. The second bottleneck area that required attention was the annealing capacity. Last year, Aludium invested in a new furnace at Alicante and a new furnace has just been commissioned in Amorebieta, which will result in 20,000 extra tonnes of output across both. “Finally, we have to update our finishing lines,” says Manuel. Some of the technology in this area Aluminium International Today

dates back to 1998 and there has been a lot of progress during the last 20 years, so Aludium is investing in the electronics here to improve the quality and to increase the output by approximately 30%. This will be carried out in both Alicante and Amorebieta over the coming months. Arnaud tells me that the investments in technology are part of the move towards ‘Aludium 4.0’, which takes us off on a tangent. This is an area I am interested in knowing more about how it will be applied to the aluminium industry… “What does Industry 4.0 really mean? Everyone is trying to find that out,” says Arnaud. “What we are doing, which is relatively new for us, is finding a whole new way of looking at and utilising data we are capturing in production using the latest technology. We are actually working with an artificial intelligence company based in the UK to take every piece of data and examine the patterns, behaviours and the way we measure the business to define new ways of improving our production processes and workflows.” Sustainability While ‘Industry 4.0’ seems like the latest buzzword, the aluminium industry is more dedicated than ever when it comes to sustainable manufacturing and reducing its carbon footprint. The Alicante plant is surrounded by a lot of rural land that cannot be built upon, so Aludium is working closely with the local community and Council to build a forest for the city. “This is a very exciting project that we are working on to remove the carbon footprint,” explains Manuel. “It is part of our commitment to the community and sustainability.” Another way that Aludium is working towards a sustainable future is by helping customers to close the loop. The company has invested in its rotary furnace, which enables the re-use of dirty scrap and more

Arnaud de Weert, Chief Executive Officer

investments are planned in this area in the future. “We are investing in recycling, but we also want to invest in our service, so we are working to help our customers close the loop by collecting scrap from them to bring back to Aludium,” says Manuel. This is a very important area for Aludium and the company is investing time and money into ways to recuperate the scrap from smaller customers, who only have 50 – 100 tonnes of scrap and compact this scrap for re-use in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible. “Post consumer recycling is a very important point, but I also see so many opportunities for aluminium when it comes to lightweight technology,” adds Arnaud. “People are going to get fed up with plastic and see the benefits of the can and all the sustainability aspects. We don’t do a good job at selling that as the aluminium industry and the lobby is very small compared to what the plastics guys do, but the story is very good and ultimately, the facts will win.” 2017 Highlights

18 ROLLING

Cindal As part of its portfolio, Aludium operates the Cindal R&D centre, also based in Alicante. The team of experts includes specialists in all aluminium technology areas, products and processes. I was lucky enough to be given a guided tour of the facilities by Antonio Quereda, Director of Innovation and Technology. As well as taking responsibility for optimising Aludium’s own products and processes, Cindal R&D provides valuable support and advice to customers. There are advanced laboratories for the development of new products and to satisfy customers’ requirements for testing and new product development. The Cindal researchers regularly work with customers to co-engineer new products and over the years, Cindal R&D has amassed an extensive reference library covering all aspects of aluminium metallurgy and processing. The R&D centre also holds a constantly growing number of patents. “The co-engineering approach is part of our DNA,” says Antonio. “We don’t just supply metal, we want to be a real solution provider for our customers.” The Cindal R&D centre has also just opened a new facility dedicated to exploring aluminium solutions for the

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automotive industry. To be known as Aludium Transportation, the facility will become a centre of excellence within the company and identify opportunities for Aludium to further its involvement in the sector. Antonio explained that the centre could provide sample characterisation, metallographic analysis, thermomechanical analysis and on-site assessments when required. There is also

a plan in place to become more involved in the development phase much earlier. The future “The next step for us is more investments to lower our metal costs and creating closed loop recycling for our customers,” says Arnaud. “Our start-up success really comes down to the proximity and intimacy we have with the customer and driving that forward is a priority.” �

Surface

Aluminium hot rolling In a trial opportunity, Quaker Chemical Corporation (“Quaker”), proposed the hot rolling oil, QUAKEROL® AHR 301, an ester based product with a reduced amount of soap content, which was specifically formulated to the aluminum manufacturer’s process requirements. Once implemented, the performance of QUAKEROL® AHR 301 resulted in improvements: � Better rolled aluminum quality � No occurrence of staining leading to reduced internal scrap and customer

2017 Highlights

quality rejections � Cleaner mill which reduced mill cleaning downtime � Reduced specific emulsion consumption (Liters/Ton) resulting in less fresh water used and less waste created during partial dumps � No additives needed � Reduced Total Cost of Ownership Quaker was able to offer more extensive support throughout the trial with regular meetings and sample analysis to follow up the situation. �

CHALLENGES A manufacturer of aluminum sheets and coils requires high quality standards at all levels due to a focus on aerospace applications. In the breakdown mill process, a soap based emulsion was causing issues including: � Stains on the rolled aluminum � Dirt buildup in the mill � Tankside additives needed Additionally, the company did not have any product support from their supplier.

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INNOVATIVE ALUMINUM MILL FLUID SOLUTIONS FROM QUAKER. Because when it comes to improving your overall business, you need the expertise and experience of a proven leader with over 40 years of service to the aluminum industry. That’s where Quaker comes in. We’ve served some of the world’s largest reversing mills, single and multi-stand tandem finishing mills, and combination mill systems. We’re a valuable partner in not only reducing costs but also improving your operations by providing process expertise and customized support services at the local level, for everything from rolling to cleaning to downstream requirements of your customers.

It’s what’s inside that counts.® quakerchem.com

20 PROFILE

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Investing in British aluminium It has been nearly a year since GFG Alliance companies SIMEC Lochaber Power and Liberty British Aluminium announced the takeover of the Lochaber smelter from Rio Tinto, along with plans to invest in the UK aluminium manufacturing industry and changes are afoot. Nadine Bloxsome* recently visited the Fort William site and spoke to Brian King** about the exciting plans for the future. The purchase of the Lochaber smelter at the end of 2016 represented the latest piece in the UK industrial jigsaw being assembled by Liberty House, which has recently bought a number of heavy manufacturing businesses. Not only did the deal safeguard 170 jobs at the site, plans to build an alloy wheel manufacturing facility alongside the smelter will create an additional 300 jobs directly, with another 300 in the supply chain. “The project isn’t just building a wheel factory, it is much bigger than that,” says Brian King, Managing Director, Lochaber Operations. What’s new? The biggest tangible difference when you walk round the plant is the onsite generating capacity, which has been installed over and above the hydropower. I was also thrown by the large new shopping centre that was being built just outside of the main entrance, but Brian assured me this is not part of the development plans! The investment in power means there is now 18MW produced from bio-liquid generators, which reduces the reliance on the grid. “To have new generators already installed within six months of being in operation under new ownership is amazing,” says Brian. “We appreciate that the smelter is an old smelter and we are quite limited to what we can do, but we will be investing in some areas.” The estate also offers potential for small hydro schemes, which could open up an extra 10MW, so this is currently being looked into. “We are planning to install a metal treatment facility and refurbish or replace the main cranes used in the potlines,” Brian continues. “The technology in the potlines isn’t the latest technology, but it works really well and it will continue to go as long as we look after it.”

Alloy wheel plant Clearly the project taking the most focus is the alloy wheel plant and at the time of visiting, the planning application was in the process of being prepared for submission. The new factory will use aluminium from the smelter to produce around two million wheels a year, for UK manufactured cars. “We are in discussions with all the UK based car manufacturers and there seems to be a general consensus that with Brexit looming, they want to secure as much UK manufacturing as possible,” said Brian. “Two million wheels is a lot, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s nothing. When you consider that the British car industry is targeting the production of over 2 million vehicles a year within the next few years, with four wheels plus a spare on each car, means over eight million wheels. That’s a lot of wheels!” The wheel plant project will be

community changing, as well as securing a future for aluminium manufacturing in the UK. “It’s interesting, the way the UK car market is going and the key part aluminium is now playing in the automotive industry with light-weighting and low CO2 emissions, the smelter is probably in the strongest position it has been in for a long time to satisfy that market,” says Brian. The Scottish Government is supporting the development and is keen to ensure it is a success. “Housing is at a premium in Fort William and there are around 1,000 people on the waiting list for houses already,” says Brian. “If we are potentially, even conservatively, looking to bring 800 people here, then it is a question of working with the government and local council to ensure we can provide temporary accommodation, as well as all aspects of executive housing through to

*Editor, Aluminium International Today **Managing Director, Lochaber Operations 2017 Highlights

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PROFILE 21 5

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starter family housing.” The main challenge being faced by the company is finding skilled workers to fill the positions in the factory. “The local unemployment rate is less that 1%, which means finding 400 people in a population of around 12,000 is a challenge,” continues Brian. “We are working on ways to encourage workers to Fort William and there is a big focus on lifestyle. It is a fantastic location, with a lot to offer, but we will be working hard on the community aspect and maintaining that.”

Other projects Well-known for its outdoor activities, Fort William has lots to offer and Liberty British Aluminium is also getting in on the action with certain projects across the estate. “One of the most exciting ideas we are working on is using the water ﬂow from the tailrace for a white water kayaking course!” says Brian. “We are also working with the local community to source land to build a heliport, because the land the existing one is on is for sale. With so much remote land around, you need helicopters for emergencies, mountain rescue and the air ambulance.” There are also areas of the estate that have fallen into disrepair, so the company is considering refurbishing these and using the land for more commercial causes. The most recent project announced by the GFG Alliance, which owns the Fort William smelter and associated hydro power stations, is a wind farm development by SIMEC Energy of 54 turbines to generate up to 178MW

energy at Glenshero at the north end of the estate. SIMEC says the development of renewable energy across its estate lands will contribute valuable low-cost, lowcarbon power for industrial schemes such as the GFG Alliance’s aluminium smelter and planned Fort William alloy wheels factory and its steel mills in Lanarkshire. Next steps The overwhelming feeling at Lochaber seems to be ‘watch this space’ and exciting times are ahead. “My immediate focus is securing the planning consent for the wheel plant and then the real work begins!” says Brian. “It will be great to see the investments come into fruition on site and there is nothing nicer to be able to say to people than I’ve got several hundred jobs to offer, come and knock on my door and let’s get started.” As the birthplace of aluminium, thankfully it seems that Lochaber has a light and bright future ahead. �

2017 Highlights

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HANDLING 23

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New Combilift fleet for Kawneer By Liz Townsend* Kawneer is part of Alcoa Building and Construction Systems and offers a comprehensive range of architectural aluminium building products and systems, which include curtain wall, windows, commercial entrance doors and framing systems. Its manufacturing facility in Runcorn supplies an ‘end to end’ process of extruding, inserting thermal breaks and powder coating for the UK market. Four bespoke Combilift STE models have recently been delivered to this site to ensure smooth and efficient handling of the large volume of aluminium profiles that is produced on a daily basis. An original fleet of Combilift EST trucks had been used at Runcorn for around eight years to place and pick stillages of profiles in the racking in one section of the warehouse. The need to maximise storage density made these stand-on trucks the ideal solution as their narrower depth enables operation in tighter aisles than those needed by ride-on forklifts. Using guided rail operation allowed aisle widths to be set at just 1700mm rail to rail to accommodate around 900 stillages in the high bay racking. When the ESTs came to the end of their operational life however the management at Kawneer had quite a lengthy list of refinements for Combilift and materials handling suppliers Forkway Group to work on prior to choosing replacements. “Our requirements had evolved over the years” said Maintenance manager Ian Gillaspy, “and it’s fair to say that we put the Combilift and Forkway Group personnel through their paces before we went for the new C2500 STEs. They certainly came up with the goods though and the new models are the easiest trucks to work with that we have ever had in the facility.” One major hallmark of Kawneer’s new trucks is the bespoke diagonal cab design which enabled Combilift engineers to fit a seat into the operator compartment whilst preserving all the internal operator space. This offers a high level of comfort throughout a total shift, and as the position of the steering wheel has also been adjusted, easy entry and exit to the cab is still assured. Drivers also like the improved ergonomics such as the hand

throttle which eliminates foot fatigue, and excellent visibility. The Curtis N-Gage 7 user interface on the dashboard displays real time information as to the current status of, for example, battery capacity, truck travel speed and wheel position. Various other features distinguish the STEs from their EST counterparts: the depth of the new models is 250mm shorter which makes it easier to turn in from intersecting aisles and allows access to previously restrictive areas; regenerative brake electric drive motors and improved programing make battery efficiency 1/3

employee accountability. This incorporates our ZoneSafe proximity warning system that can detect pedestrians and trucks in surrounding areas, which improves driver awareness to minimise accidents and collisions in the warehouse. Intelligent battery charging technology from Fronius also delivers improved performance and benefits.” “We are all more than happy with the outcome,” said Process Leader Jonathan Goggin. Engineering Manager Tony Sharkey, who led the project added “Our company prides itself on listening to our

more effective and AC motor technology provides smoother acceleration and more power whilst at the same time guaranteeing quieter operation. “This project required close collaboration from all involved,” said Paul Sercombe, Major Accounts Manager at Forkway Group. “As well as the specialist input from Combilift’s engineers for the redesign, Forkway Group also supplied a number of features which put these trucks at the top of their game when it comes to efficient and safe operation. Kawneer chose to install the Forkway FleetSafe fleet management system which provides a wealth of data in real time to ensure a safer working environment, reduced operating costs and heightened

customers to provide the tools they need to succeed and the approach of Combilift and Forkway Group mirrored this. They took all of our feedback on board to engineer and supply a fleet that enables us to keep products on the move and to store them efficiently as well as to keep the drivers safe and happy with their trucks. We are now planning to add racking in another part of the warehouse which will be easily accessed by the Combi-STEs to give us extra capacity for our growing output.” � Contact www.combilift.com www.forkway.co.uk www.kawneer.com

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2017 Highlights

24 CHINESE UPDATE

Chinese cuts create an opportunity for aluminium The anticipated 30% cuts to Chinese aluminium remain the main driver of investor optimism for the sector, according to a report published by Berenberg, an investment bank, on 20 July 2017. The industry report, entitled ‘Aluminium industry outlook: All eyes on China’, outlines the investment outlook for the aluminium and alumina markets, supported by Berenberg’s breakdown of the key macro- and micro-economic indicators for the industry. Overall, Berenberg analysts remain ‘modestly bullish’ on the global aluminium and certain alumina markets, continuing to see ‘sizeable upside’. This stance is largely supported by the anticipated cuts in Chinese production and capacities over Q4 2017 – Q1 2018, which are set to increase prices for the metal and result in stable growth for the sector. A tale of two quarters The Berenberg team’s analysis of H1 2017 was split ﬁrmly down the middle, with Q1 and Q2 providing two different narratives for the sector. The ﬁrst three months of 2017 saw a continuation of strong aluminium market recovery that started in 2016. All three 2017 Highlights

aluminium stocks (Alcoa, Rusal and Norsk Hydro) outperformed the LME aluminium, the sector indices (FTSE 350 Metals & Mining Index, MSCI Metals & Mining Index) as well as the market in general (S&P 500 Index). Meanwhile, Q2 delivered a different performance for the majority of sector assets, with aluminium pricing performing marginally negatively at -2% and aluminium equities posting a -5% return. However, the Berenberg team expect the aluminium sector to demonstrate a stable-to-positive performance over the next 12 months, driven by price/margin stability, global and Chinese supply/ demand balance and the anticipated optimisation of Chinese smelting and reﬁning capacities. Change in China Around 2-3 million tonnes of operating aluminium capacity is expected to be closed by the end of 2017 by the Chinese government, in addition to the 3.8 million

tonnes of that have reportedly been closed already this year in the country. Ecological concerns were purported to be the main reason for Chinese government’s recent initiatives to cut alumina and aluminium output in 28 cities in the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan. The initiative, originated by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, was supported by the Chinese Ministry of Finance and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Building on that motive, Berenberg expect that “old, high-cost smelting facilities” will be closed and be replaced by new, more energy-efficient smelters – this could globally create an opportunity for aluminium producers who are first to adopt eco-friendly technologies and processes in their production chain. This tightening of aluminium supply, combined with the increase in demand from the automotive industry, has led to a significant increase in the price of Aluminium International Today

aluminium: as of 3 August 2017, the LME aluminium price has increased to USD 1891/ tonne from USD 1701/tonne on 1 January 2017. Driving the aluminium growth opportunity Another key reason for aluminium investors to remain bullish on the sector is the growing importance of the metal in the automotive industry. The use of aluminium in the automotive industry has been increasing since the 1970s, to the extent that it is the secondmost used metal in the sector after steel. Aluminium’s use in the automotive industry is set to increase even more in the years to come, as automobile manufactures seek to capitalise further on its advantages over steel, including environmental, safety and performance. In 2014, the global automotive industry (excluding China) used 2.87 million tonnes of aluminium. This ﬁgure is expected to rise to 4.49 million by 2020. In 2014, the ﬁrst all-aluminium body vehicle was built, a Ford 150 truck, which was 315kg lighter than the previous model. Subsequent all-aluminium vehicles include the Jaguar XJ; the Jaguar F-Type; and the Tesla Model S.

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Environmental angle A recurring theme in the metals industry is the transition to ecofriendly practices, and the interest of the automotive industry towards aluminium is a prime example. Aluminium is significantly lighter than steel, which increases cars’ fuel efficiency, meaning CO2 emissions are significantly lower in cars with a high proportion of aluminium. Indeed, an aluminium-intensive vehicle can achieve up to a 20% reduction in total life cycle energy consumption and up to a 17% reduction in CO2 emissions. This is important globally, but especially in the US, where vehicles are required to travel 54 miles/gallon by 2025. Moreover, nearly 90% of aluminium is recycled at the end of a vehicle’s life, often into new cars. This saves more than 90% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with primary aluminium production, and requires only 8% of the energy. How can aluminium investors capitalise? The Berenberg analysts believe the best way to play the alumina shortage in China is by investing in companies with ‘significant exposure to alumina’, in particularly Alcoa, Norsk Hydro and Rusal (owned by En+ Group, which has reportedly been considering listing on the LSE in 2H 2017). Alcoa is Berenberg’s stock of choice, presenting a suitable opportunity for conservative investors and pension funds with a long-term investment horizon. Meanwhile, the analysts note that Rusal offers a balanced high risk/high reward investment case, given the company’s above-the-sector average FCF yield (14-20%) and high dividend yield of 2.9%. Meanwhile, Berenberg’s approval of Norsk Hydro was underpinned by the company’s announcement of its acquisition of the remaining 50% of aluminium-extruding business Sapa, which Berenberg believe will add long-term stability to the company, heightening the appeal for long-term investors and pension funds (a guaranteed 2017-18 dividend yield of 2.5% is implied). Andrey Petrushinin, Corporate Affairs director at Central European Aluminium Company, said: ““The aluminium sector continues to demonstrate positive trends, particularly in terms of pricing, which is forecasted by many industry analysts and players to strengthen further by the proposed cuts to Chinese output. Wider trends, including the growth in demand for aluminium from the automotive industry, will also strengthen the metal’s global positioning.” � 2017 Highlights

• Improved storage utilisation • Safer product handling • Increased productivity • Indoor / Outdoor

26 USA UPDATE

While more attention has been paid to certain higher cost, harder to work with nonferrous metals, the use of aluminium in additive manufacturing, including for certain commercial applications, is also growing. Aluminium is a lightweight metal, which offers excellent thermal properties. It has great potential for 3D printing in aerospace and certain other end use markets, especially for certain complex geometries that would not be possible with traditional manufacturing processes. Given certain work by his company and others to develop new aluminium powders that are being optimised for 3D printing, which could allow companies to achieve enhanced microstructures and properties, Rod Heiple, director of engineered products and solutions research and development at New Yorkbased Arconic Inc., pointed out: “Taken together, these factors open the door for highly optimised 3D printed parts that offer enhanced properties, lighter weight and improved cost structure.” Currently, according to Richard Grylls, technical director of SLM Solutions NA, about a quarter of 3D printers regularly run aluminium. “I believe that at least over the next few years the proportion will remain approximately the same, but with a lot more machines being used.” He predicts about 50% per year growth of the overall additive manufacturing market over the next five years. In fact, according to Joshua Pearce, head of the Open Sustainability Technology Laboratory at Michigan Technology University, more or less all major aluminium producers and OEMs in a number of aluminium consuming end markets are at least looking at additive manufacturing if they aren’t already doing something in that space. “It is moving from the stage of using aluminium for prototyping and some tooling and they are finally starting to manufacture some aluminium parts, components or assemblies using additive manufacturing.” Grylls admits that this has surprised him given that aluminium casts easily, machines easily and forges easily,. Aluminium 3D printing has actually become a very exciting market and one with potential for further growth, at least in applications that make sense. “If you have a part that you could just put on a machine tool and easily machine, then you should do that,” Grylls says. “But there are a lot of components where that might not be the case,” including some very complex parts. “While it might not be entirely true, it is said that with

Aluminium’s 3D printing potential By Myra Pinkham* 3D printing complexity is free.” While progress is being made, “It isn’t that aluminium is a great gift,” Pearce says. “It is one of the more challenging metals to be used in additive manufacturing,” but given the combination of it being low cost, low weight and high strength and that through the additive process engineers could be given greater ﬂexibility as to the geometry of object to be 3D printed, he says it is something that OEMs are working hard to get a handle on. While there are the obvious incentives, including the ability to achieve much nearer net shapes vs. subtractive machining methods and the ability to enhance product properties as you build the component layer by layer using either powder or wire depending upon the technology used, Jim Withers, chief executive officer at Materials and Electrochemicals Research (MER) Corp., says there are many factors that need to be considered, including the particular component, its size and what properties are important to the company. “But you can definitely get greater properties than through casting as well as less scrap generation,” he maintains. John Wilcynski, deputy director for technology development at America Makes-National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, which was the first U.S. public-private partnership manufacturing innovation institute started by Obama in 2012, says that some companies have shied away from aluminium additive manufacturing, at least to date, because, in general, it is more difficult to print with than some other metals, including titanium and nickel alloys, due to certain problems with some components once they were printed. “It could be quite brittle and there have been some problems with microstructures and micro-cracks that could ultimately lead to

potential component failures,” he says. He also says it is possible that the aluminium additive technologies that will likely go mainstream the quickest will not be powder based, but a hot wire-type technology using aluminium alloy wire in what is closer to a conventional welding process. This, Pearce says, is the space that Michigan Tech’s laboratory, with the aid of America Makes funding, is playing in. He differentiates these two major types of technologies as being “high church” vs. “low church,” with the high church consisting of laser printers costing anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million apiece using a powderbased laser sintering process. “The results are fantastic with vetted and validated

*US Correspondent 2017 Highlights

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USA UPDATE 27 5

Propeller for racing boats (scaled model) printed in aluminium to test air ﬂow measurements

Moon rover wheel printed in AlSi10Mg

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properties, so you really know what you will be getting,” he admits. But it is much more expensive than the “low church” wire technology. One challenge aluminium has is that high-purity, finely divided powders are on the government’s watch list for bomb-making materials, Rogers notes. There are also safety considerations. “Aluminium powder has had a bad reputation because of one of its principal uses is in fireworks,” Grylls says. But he says that has been addressed by printer design and by educating users about the risks and about the best ways to store, use and dispose of the aluminium powder. “You could even need to install a blast proof roof in some cases,” Pearce says. He says this is why it is harder for medium-to small-sized shops to do their own 3D printing, although many do farm it out to certain companies who specialise in doing additive manufacturing on such high-end printers on a job-shop basis. Also, DeHoff, observes, many people view today’s powder bed systems, while accurate, as being somewhat slow. Just how slow, however, varies greatly printer by printer. “But there are people doing large scale wire deposition, laying out as much as tens to hundreds of pounds of material per hour. They don’t necessarily get the same resolution but they lay down a lot more material.” Pearce says that the printer under development at the Michigan Tech laboratory uses an off the shelf welding gun and an open source robotic platform based on a refractory printer used to print plastic parts and free software that allows the printer to be used in a noisy electrical environment. Expected to only cost $1,200 per printer, work continues to be underway to improve the resolution and certain physical properties of the parts being produced. A lot of the success of aluminium additive manufacturing, whether high church or low church, however, could come down to what aluminium alloy is used, observes Kirk Rogers, technology leader for the General Electric Center for Additive Manufacturing Advancement, who explains that a lot of aluminium alloys are not amenable to welding. This is a problem given that that the 3D printing processes being used are essentially fancy welding processes. “Alloys not only need to have such desired properties as high temperature strength and good fatigue

resistance, but also be easily weldable to be successful in most additive manufacturing methodologies,” he explains. Ryan DeHoff, group leader of the deposition science and technology group and the metals additive manufacturing lead at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, notes that the aluminium alloys that were adopted early in the additive manufacturing space included certain casting alloys, such as AlSi10Mg and AlSi12. “But the challenge with those alloys is that while they might meet a lot of material properties for some lower end applications, what a lot of companies are desiring in the additive space are alloys that have properties closer to those of 6000- and 7000-series alloys, which, while having much higher strength than a lot of casting grade materials, have been traditionally difficult to manufacture and get good properties using additive systems,” he says. Heiple says that Arconic is in the process of developing closes of aluminium alloys specifically for 3D printing at its Arconic Technology Center (formerly known as the Alcoa Technology Center) in Pittsburgh, which he says are not possible to produce through traditional metal processing. “These alloys are enabling improved strength and fatigue performance over current aluminium alloy options,” say Heiple, who maintains that Arconic has already achieved improvements in strength at elevated temperatures of up to 30% over existing commodity alloys. Germany’s Airbus APWorks GmbH is “marching down the road” licensing its Scalmalloy alloy – a very stable precipitation hardened aluminium alloy that also contains magnesium and scandium, which was designed specifically for 3D printing. While originally developed by its parent company, Airbus Group, as a sheet product, spokeswoman Angela Gruenewald says the company realised that the alloy, which while having almost the same density as conventional aluminium alloys used in 3D printing with almost as high specific strength as titanium, had even better mechanical properties in powder form. Given that the alloy is not only high strength, but also has a high level of ductility, APWorks, which is currently at the cusp of going from prototyping to commercial production with its direct laser sintered additively manufactured products, uses Scalmalloy for parts for various end markets, including the aerospace, robotics and automotive sectors. Rogers says acceptance of additive manufacturing varies industry by industry. In aerospace, for example, it needs to 2017 Highlights

28 USA UPDATE

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Additively manufactured aluminium engine block printed on the Concept Laser X-line system at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

overcome certain regulatory requirements, while some other industries are more readily accepting, and even excited, about directly printing parts for low volume production applications. “I don’t think the barrier is necessarily fear, but rather the current lack of standards in the relative industries,” Rogers says, although such groups as the Society of Automotive Engineers, ASM International and ISO are actively working on that. “While today there is just one standard in place, within a year there are expected to be four to five published standards on how to qualify additive manufacturing.” Rogers says the biggest advantage of additive manufacturing is to be able to design a lighter weight design that isn’t producible by conventional means. “Also as you could achieve a more net shape, it is less wasteful.” He says a third advantage is the ability to consolidate several parts into one component. “Direct replacement of conventionally produced parts with additive manufacturing is almost always more costly,” Rogers admits. However, by using 3D printing to produce a component that includes three or four previously cast parts plus the fasteners for those part, it could result in a more cost effective, lighter weight, higher performance component. “Such parts, however, might look crazy, like something out of Star Trek,” Pearce says, given the design freedom that additive manufacturing gives engineers to make parts in the most optimal shape. In automotive, 3D printing is already being used for prototyping of such engine parts as manifolds and turbochargers. “It is easy to prototype out of aluminium,” Grylls says. “With some other metals you often have to iterate to get the supports 2017 Highlights

and shape exactly right, so you might have to build the part two or three times. But because aluminium is so easy to process, it often builds perfectly the first time.” Aluminium is also starting to be used, especially by European OEMs, for certain commercially produced auto components, that have complex internal passages and shapes and, therefore, can’t be easily produced by traditional means, Grylls observes. He admits that, at least at this time, they aren’t mass market parts, but components for high-end sport cars. However, he says over the next 10 years or so it could also be used for parts for high volume vehicles, but only in those specific applications where 3D printing offers a real value proposition. “If you could produce it by traditional means it will always be cheaper to do so.” DeHoff says it is such concerns as material performance, cost and the ability to make extremely large numbers of components – all of which are challenges for additive manufacturing. “But I think that a lot of these challenges are being addressed and overcome in some shape or form from the additive manufacturing technology itself and that within the next 10 to 15 years additive manufacturing will become a much more mainstream manufacturing technology in the automotive industry. “We are already finding some niches in automotive for aluminium additive manufacturing, much as we are seeing in aerospace,” Withers says. “This is particularly for components that require certain special properties including strength, fatigue and friction. In aerospace it’s pretty clear that there is a lot of interest in some applications today in lightweight structures for very light weight, high performance mechanical

parts, structural parts of airplanes or of jet engines that don’t have to withstand high temperatures, Rogers says. “These kinds of things are in active research if not being nearly in production today.” Already a number of satellites in orbit contain certain 3D printed parts, Grylls says, explaining that this makes sense given the low production volumes and the fact that weight is of such extreme importance. As aluminium 3D printing catches on, it could dramatically change the supply chain, Rogers says, explaining that it could replace some of the need for physical inventories at warehousing locations with digital inventories either at the point of use or with distributors manufacturing parts additively on demand. For the end user learning to work with additive could be a little more difficult than the learning curve for other processes, Wilcynski points out, noting that the parameters that need to be controlled are different, especially when they go from material to material. “There is quite a bit of work that needs to be done to transition from one material to another. It could take upwards of a day to clean printers to be sure there isn’t any reaction between materials that could get into every nook and cranny. But equipment makers realise this and are beginning to develop systems to help to make the transition from material to material easier, he says. Wilcynski says it could also be a big change for metals distributors, although he believes they will have time to make the necessary adjustments. “We are a long way from the point that companies will buy large quantities of powders and will keep it in silos to feed to the large volumes of 3D printers. For a long time there will be conventional processes that have to be married to the additive processes.” “I think the future for aluminium additive manufacturing is very bright,” Rogers says. It will be helped both by lightweighting efforts by the aerospace and automotive markets, and possibly some other emerging uses as well. “There are opportunities for much more creative designs to enable things that we can’t even think of today as they can’t be produced by conventional means.” Grylls agrees. “Going forward, 3D printers will be faster and easier to use, resulting in increased use both for prototyping and commercial applications,” he says. “With higher speeds, therefore the ability to print higher volumes, component costs and touch labor will go down,” Withers says. “That could make aluminium additive manufacturing much more economical.” � Aluminium International Today

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CASTHOUSE TECHNOLOGY 29

The sustainable casthouse There are two challenges for every casthouse operation to remain competitive: The changing economics of energy production, availability and efficiency, and stricter guidelines for its production, use and environmental impact. New standards relating to aluminium production and recycling (emissions), EU policies regarding recycling, which demands all vehicles must be 95% recyclable by 2015 and National Restrictions on the production of Greenhouse gasses and carbon footprint are a few examples. To have a clear picture of the possibility for improving the efficiency in producing in aluminium, an approach could be looking at the gap between the current industry values for producing ingots and comparing them to the minimum theoretical values. Production of primary aluminium ingot from bauxite requires approximately 23.8 kWh/kg. Recovering aluminium from post consumer feedstock to produce secondary aluminium ingot consumes about 6% of the energy required to produce primary aluminium (1.428 kWh/kg). These figures are “current practice values” (CPV – Average of the actual measurements of existing processes). This considerable difference drives the emphasis on secondary aluminium production. Although we are “only” using 6% of the energy compared to the primary route, there are still possibilities for improving efficiency and savings. The process theoretical minimum (PTM) – Theoretical minimum energy requirement for chemically transforming a material through chemical reaction – for aluminium at 775°C is 0.33 kWh/ kg. PTM is very simplistic and assumes thermodynamically “ideal” conditions. Energy required to produce secondary aluminium at 775°C is 0.33 kWh/kg. GARMCO project In order to bridge this gap between the CPV and PTM in current aluminium production processes, and to face the increasing environmental and energy needs that today’s casthouses are facing, Fives Group is building a “Sustainable Casthouse”, with its latest project, the GARMCO Re-melt expansion at GARMCO, Bahrain. Aluminium International Today

One of the goals is to produce cast slabs in a sustainable way and to achieve it, three objectives had to be met: The casthouse had to have competitive metal recovery rates, be energy efficient and environmental compliant. The project, which started in October 2015, is a Lump Sum Turnkey EPC project and Fives Group is responsible for all engineering, project management and construction services. Metal recovery is possible thanks to a twin chamber furnace, capable of melting post-consumer feed stock from external and internal sources. The twin chamber furnace has two definitive chambers; a pyrolysis chamber which is dedicated to accepting contaminated metal (oil, paint, plastic, etc.) and a clean chamber where a portion of clean metal can be melted. The profile of the furnace opening matches the profile of a purpose built charging machine charging machine, so that when the door opens, there is a low amount of oxygen that enters the furnace. The chamber dedicated to process the contaminated metal is also atmospherically controlled: Depleted oxygen levels prevent metal loss from oxidation, due to formation of dross. This is achieved by a small burner, running gas rich to maintain the desired oxygen levels. Once the door has closed, the pyrolysis process will start, at Low levels of oxygen and lower temperatures (600°C) which are ideal conditions for the recovery of aluminium. At this temperature, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released from the contaminant, without the risk of burning metal. Also, during the de-coating stage, the metal is effectively preheated before being submerged into the molten metal. After a predefined time, a second charge of metal is pushed onto the slope. This in turn pushes the previous charge (now decoated) into the melt. This combination means that higher recovery rates can be achieved than in a conventional reverberatory furnace. Pyrolysis gasses released from the contaminant are collected and diverted to an afterburner they then improve energy efficiency in the clean chamber by enhancing combustion. A dedicated proprietary APC has been

designed to match the requirements for the fumes coming from the TCF, specifically hydrogen chloride and dioxins. In order to comply with the local regulations, such fumes are conveyed to a Venturi reactor where pollutants are neutralised by injecting hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2 for the HCl) and activated carbon (for dioxins). This design provides an optimised contact between pollutants and reagent, while minimising at best pressure drop. Then, dust and the by-product are separated from the fumes by TGT® filter bags. This technology allows a large fumes flow rate (more than 200,000m3/h), in a compact footprint. The GARMCO project also involved Fives best practises in energy efficient design: a good example is resorting to “power on demand” technology, by using variable speed drives on components like fans, pumps, etc., to supply power only when their working cycle demands for it. Further than good design practises, operations and maintenance are two key aspects to make sure the casthouse runs efficiently. There are numerous ways to ensure cost efficient operations within a furnace, the two main complementary approaches include: Maximising available heat and minimising controllable losses. Making sure the burners work with the right air ratio is key to maximising efficiency, as well as reducing fuel consumption and carbon monoxide production: Monitoring exhaust gas emissions gives an indication of burner efficiency and furnace Oxygen content. Having high air preheat with the use of regenerative burners is another example of the first approach. Minimising controllable losses, on the other hand, will help to make the most out of the available heat. Losses can be: Infiltration through openings, radiation from openings and through refractory walls. Having a reliable pressure control by adjusting the flue damper or tuning door and spouts cycle times are good ways to tackles these possible problems. Last but not least, it is worth mentioning the importance of good maintenance (i.e. seals, thermocouples and other components) which ensure the efficient functionality of the furnace. � Fives Group www.fivesgroup.com

2017 Highlights

30 AUTOMOTIVE

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Getting real with recycling Jaguar Land Rover, the UK’s largest vehicle manufacturer, is expanding the use of recycled aluminium in its car bodies to cut waste and reduce carbon emissions.

The £2 million project, called REALITY (Recycled Aluminium through Innovative Technology) has set a target to enable the closed-loop recycling of aluminium from vehicles at the end of their life, back into high-performance product forms for new vehicle body manufacture in the UK by Jaguar Land Rover. The 34-month project enables the development and industrial deployment of sensor-based scrap sorting technologies to separate wrought and cast alloys, and then to further separate wrought alloys into alloy types for the first time in high volume. Full-scale recycled scrap based sheet and castings will be produced and evaluated. End-of-Life vehicles will be shredded and automatically sorted using state of the art sensing and sorting technologies. The recovered wrought and cast scrap will be alloyed, then supplied for either coil production or commercial scale shape casting production by high-pressure vacuum die casting with melt conditioning to remove or tolerate impurities. Materials evaluation and characterisation will then be carried out on both the resultant sheet and cast product forms. Cost effective automated separation processes for shredder scrap will enable the closed-loop recycling of End-of-Life vehicles, providing significant CO2 savings 2017 Highlights

(due to their being less, or no primary metal) and major cost savings. Innovations in the sorting and separating technologies applied to automotive end-of-life waste streams will also help other sectors, including packaging and construction. It is driving a new culture to further develop the circular economy model to deliver both financial and environmental benefits by treating waste material as a high-value commodity. Quality will remain paramount, and the project will evaluate aluminium grades at a chemical and microstructure level to increase tolerance to recycling. Resource recovery specialist Axion has joined the project to develop the sorting technologies for the recovery of high grade recycled aluminium. The project partners are Jaguar Land Rover, Axion Recycling, Novelis, Norton Aluminium, Brunel University London, WMG University of Warwick, Innoval Technology and Innovate UK. REALITY builds on the REALCAR (REcycled ALuminium CAR) and REALCAR 2 projects allowing tens of thousands of tonnes of aluminium generated in the manufacturing process to be recycled and reused in a closed loop. Aluminium from other sources, including End-of-Life vehicles, have the potential to be graded and ‘born again’ in the manufacture of

new cars. REALCAR began as a partnership between Jaguar Land Rover, Innovate UK, Novelis, Norton Aluminium, Stadco, Brunel University London, Zyomax and Innoval Technology. The original project and subsequent work with suppliers enabled Jaguar Land Rover to reclaim more than 75,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap and re-use it in the aluminium production process in 2016/17. REALCAR was a research project based on high recycled sheet aluminium developments from closed loop sources. The Jaguar Land Rover led project was funded by the Innovate UK from 2008 to 2011 and resulted in the development of a modified aluminium sheet alloy. The alloy accommodates higher recycling rates through closed loop recycling of high quality segregated scrap at Jaguar Land Rover press shops and key external suppliers. To support the project, investment has been made in internal Jaguar Land Rover press shops to upgrade scrap segregation processes to retain alloy quality. The modified alloy has been developed for application as a sheet alloy in the latest generation Jaguar Land Rover vehicle body structures. Implementing closed-loop aluminium recycling has involved cutting-edge chemistry, new infrastructure and Aluminium International Today

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investment of more than £13 million. The project, part-funded by Innovate UK, has involved more than 10 press shops (Jaguar Land Rover and external suppliers) with aluminium being re-melted by Novelis. Jaguar Land Rover have invested more than £7m across its own Halewood, Castle Bromwich and Solihull press shops to install intricate segregation systems to capture and distribute the aluminium scrap for re-melting, reducing waste, retaining higher quality and value in the material. Project partner, Novelis, also expanded its recycling plant in Latchford, Warrington in the UK in 2013, with an investment of approximately £6m, to enable the closed loop manufacturing for growing automotive aluminium sheet market. The investment in new equipment for recycling automotive aluminium scrap included a dedicated furnace, upgraded casting system, magnetic separation and handling equipment, as well as world class environmental controls. The next innovation project REALCAR 2 was launched in February 2013 in conjunction with Innovate UK to investigate opportunities to exploit additional recycled aluminium from postconsumer sources through extraction

from advanced waste separation facilities. This was a £1 million project to explore the business case and technology for including an additional 25% of recycled post-consumer, non-automotive scrap (including drink cans) in a new grade of aluminium alloy. The challenge was to develop an alloy that can absorb the wider range of chemical variations that result from post-consumer recycled materials, and still provide the high performance required for use in car body structures. The project also evaluated the potential for aluminium sourced from End-of-Life vehicles. REALITY builds on the technological, commercial and value chain opportunities identified within REALCAR and REALCAR 2 to refine the process of turning aluminium from ‘end-of-life’ cars into new vehicles. The project continues to deliver significant sustainability benefits with aluminium recycling requiring up to 95 per cent less energy than primary aluminium production. Innovate UK awarded a grant of £1.3 million to the project in 2016 as part of its Manufacturing and Materials Round One funding competition. Simon Edmonds, Director of Manufacturing and Materials at Innovate

UK, said: “Innovate UK is proud of our support for the REALCAR programme, and this exciting latest stage of the project, REALITY, is another excellent example of collaboration between large and small businesses in the supply chain, supporting them to scale up and become more productive. These projects have been a model in terms of professional delivery of complex research and development.” Jaguar Land Rover are members of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), a global, multi-stakeholder, nonprofit standards setting and certification organisation. It is the result of producers, users and stakeholders in the aluminium value chain coming together with a commitment to maximising the contribution of aluminium to a sustainable society. The REALCAR and REALITY projects support the Material Stewardship Principle in the ASI Performance Standard to take a life cycle perspective and to promote resource efficiency, collection and recycling of aluminium within its operations as well as within the value chain. � For more information on how the REALITY project is an evolution from the REALCAR project, visit: www.youtu.be/2493lsmnCHM www.media.jaguarlandrover.com

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32 ADVERTORIAL - GILLESPIE & POWERS

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Gillespie & Powers answers 1. What are your views on the current state of the global aluminium industry? We are very fortunate to be involved with the current global expanding demand for DELACQUERING aluminium. Our previous background in the secondary aluminium industry should position us nicely for future growth. The global aluminium industry is maturing into a quiet lion that is swallowing most of the smaller companies where only the larger global players will prevail. 2. Where in the world are you busiest at present? We continue to nurture the partnerships of our customer base in the United

States with many on-going projects involving designs and modiﬁcations to key recycling and casthouse equipment. We are currently in process with a signiﬁcant recycling TILTING project&in the Middle East and MELTING HOLDER Europe and are completing projects in Mexico, Korea, and Brazil. 3. What products are proving the most lucrative? With the rapidly expanding secondary aluminium marketplace developing worldwide there is keen interest in the Gillespie & Powers Mass Flow Delacquering Process, which has proven to be very successful and highly effective. 4. How quickly has Gillespie &

Powers responded to “green politics” in terms of helping to make the heat treatment process more environmentally friendly? Our combustion SIDEWELL group has been a key player with our equipment suppliers with the development of Iow NOx burners, quick change media beds, fume incineration, close coupled to the Melters, low BTU per pound with stirring equipment. 5. What does Gillespie & Powers have in store for 2017? We will bring online two major high production Delacquering lines early in the year: One domestically and one in the Middle East which includes total scrap preparation and melting. �

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Aluminium International Today

OMOTING TH PR E

YEARS

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INIUM IND UM U AL

EDITORIAL FEATURES

EDITORIAL FEATURES LIST FOR 2018

EVENT DISTRIBUTION

Jan/Feb

Primary: Aluminium production technology; anode manufacture and rodding; power supply; pot room equipment; metal transfer. Extrusion: Billet heating; low saws; extrusion presses; die production and maintenance; handling extruded products; cutting; value-added products. Spanish Supplement

TMS, USA (11 - 15 March 2018)

March/April

Furnaces/heat treatment: Homogenising furnaces; slab heating furnaces; ageing ovens; Future Aluminium Forum, Milan annealing furnaces; solution heat treatment furnaces; die heaters; log and billet heaters (Date TBC) and associated handling equipment; refractories; heat measurement technology. Analysis & Testing: Mechanical testing; spectrometry; measurement; software. Rolling: Hot and cold rolling technology; annealing; alloys; strip casting; twin-roll casting; twin-belt casting; rolled products. Italian Supplement

May/June

Secondary: Aluminium scrap processing; metal recovery; contaminated scrap; dross recovery; metal filtration. Transport & handling: Tyred vehicles, rail vehicles, pot room vehicles; cranes; bundling and strapping; wrapping. Special Focus: The Future of Aluminium Manufacturing

July/August

Casthouse technology: Aluminium transfer and casting; degassing; treatment; sawing. Mining and refining: Bauxite mining and alumina refining technology; developments; R&D projects; community conservation. Value-Added Supplement

September/ October

Primary: Aluminium production technology; anode manufacture and rodding; power supply; pot room equipment; metal transfer. Rolling: Hot and cold rolling technology; annealing; alloys; strip casting; twin-roll casting; twin-belt casting; rolled products. Special Focus: Aluminium in Automotive

ALUMINIUM 2018, Germany (9 - 11 October 2018)

November/ December

Secondary: Aluminium scrap processing; metal recovery; contaminated scrap; dross recovery; metal filtration. Extrusion: Billet heating; low saws; extrusion presses; die production and maintenance; handling extruded products; cutting; value-added products. Sustainability Supplement

ARABAL (Date and venue TBC)

Aluminium China, Shanghai (18 - 20 July 2018)

Foreign Language Issues Regular foreign issues enable advertisers to reach different markets around the world. If required translation services are available on request. ISSUE

LANGUAGE

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Russian

July

China

June

ADVERTISING COPY DEADLINE Metal Expo, Date TBC

KEY EVENTS FOR DISTRIBUTION Aluminium Siberia, Krasnoyarsk, Date TBC

Aluminium China, 18 - 20 July 2018

Aluminium International Today contains a digest of global news, events, and statistics, as well as more detailed technical articles, company and country profiles, conference reports and regular regional economic briefings. In order to keep the journal up-to-date with changing markets and innovation, a select number of features have been omitted from the list and will instead be included on a regular basis. These are: • Automotive • Aerospace • Packaging • Environment/Sustainability • Value-added products • Pricing & Warehousing Any companies wishing to supply articles on these topics can contact Nadine Bloxsome, Editor on nadinebloxsome@quartzltd.com. Tel: +44 1737 855115

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BWG answers Nadine Bloxsome* caught up with Stefan Sonntag, Technical Director at BWG, to find out the company’s plans going forward. 1. How are things going at BWG? At the moment things are still going slow. The steel industry is suffering from huge over capacities in China. But BWG could get some small orders for revamps, as well as some midsize orders for quality improvements especially for hot strip after rolling. The big aluminium projects are in a late stage shortly before acceptance or are already finished. 2. What are your views on the current state of the global aluminium industry? After huge investments in China, North America and Europe, also the aluminium industry is cooling down. Currently there are only some projects in Europe and in North America. China is still investing but on a lower scale as the years before. 3. What products are proving the most lucrative? All products around the automotive industry, but also packaging and lithographic products. 4. What are the big trends in technology? BWG is for many years the leading supplier of cleaning and tension levelling lines for lithographic strips. In recent years, we have focused more and more on the complex heat treatment and processing lines for the automotive products. Today we are quite successful in supplying complete high quality heat treatment and processing lines for automotive and aircraft aluminium sheet. 5. Where do you see the most innovation in terms of production technologies – primary, secondary, or further downstream?

Quality of the final product is one of the key issues to be successful. Therefore, all parts of the production processes are involved in innovative production technologies. Nevertheless especially for the automotive industry heat treatment and surface treatment technologies have the driving innovations in the downstream operations. 6. Do you see BWG as an innovator within the industry? Yes, BWG is always searching for innovative solutions for our customers. As one of our most successful innovations, we can name our Pure- Stretch- Levelflex® technology, which became the leading straightening technology for Lithographic printing plates and bright-annealed stainless steel. 7. How do you view BWG’s development over the shortto-mid term in relation to the global aluminium industry? We think our new developments will be a big step forward for better surface quality for automotive aluminium sheets. Midterm we are hoping that this will get standard within the aluminium industry. 8. What does BWG have in store for 2017? We have new developments made in regard of surface treatment for automotive sheets. This development is still treated under confidentiality. Within this year we will be allowed to promote this actively to the market. Nevertheless, our new developments for a high performance flatness-measuring roll and out new joining (clinching) technology will be actively promoted this year. �

BWG Pure- Stretch- Levelflex®, Cleaning and Trimming Line

*Editor, Aluminium International Today 2017 Highlights

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