Aluminium International today Jan/Feb 2016

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

TRANSPORT & HANDLING

SURFACE TREATMENT

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: EGIL HOGNA, SAPA PRESIDENT

www.aluminiumtoday.com January/February 2016—Vol.28 No.1

THE JOURNAL OF ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING

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CONTENTS 1

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Volume 28 No. 1 – January/February 2016 Editorial Editor: Nadine Firth Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855115 nadinefirth@quartzltd.com

2

LEADER

2

NEWS

COVER PRIMARY PRODUCTION

UPDATES

TRANSPORT & HANDLING

SURFACE TREATMENT

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: EGIL HOGNA, SAPA PRESIDENT

Consulting Editor: Tim Smith PhD, CEng, MIM Production Editor: Annie Baker

www.aluminiumtoday.com January/February 2016—Vol.28 No.1

THE JOURNAL OF ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING

8 USA - Shrink-to-grow 10

UK - ALFED gets closer to its members

12

RUSSIA - ‘Green’ initiatives of global

business: A Russian approach

Sales Manager: Anne Considine anneconsidine@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0)1737 855139

15

GBR Gulf Report

Sales Director: Ken Clark kenclark@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0)1737 855117

INTERVIEW: SAPA

Sales

26 New president tours the world of Sapa

Advertisement Production Production Executive: Martin Lawrence

PRIMARY

Circulation/subscriptions Elizabeth Barford Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034­ email subscriptions@quartzltd.com Annual subscription: UK £224, all other countries £244. For two year subscription: UK £403, all other countries £439. Airmail prices on request.

Single copies £41

28 The power of electricity 30 Striving for energy optimisation Cover picture courtesy of EGA

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32 Rodding machine installation

26

34 Alumina handling know-how 38 Rotary thimble cleaning and carbon crushing

Supporters of Aluminium International Today

PACKAGING 46 Looking to 2016:

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ALUMINIUM INTERNATIONAL TODAY is published six times a year by Quartz Business Media Ltd, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QX, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855000 Fax: +44 (0) 1737 855034 Email: aluminium@quartzltd.com

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48

TRANSPORT & HANDLING

51 Handling together

59

SURFACE TREATMENT

53 Association Profile: ESTAL 55 Surface preparation and cleaning 57 The finishing touch 59 Aluminium’s role in architecture 62 Making an impact

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ISSN1475-455X

EVENT REVIEW

64 Arabal 2016 January/February 2016

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2 COMMENT

Rio Tinto approves bauxite project

Future of innovation Time flies when you’re having fun and that certainly felt like the case towards the end of 2015, with a number of aluminium industry events spread across the globe. Unfortunately, I wasn’t organised enough to factor in any Christmas shopping trips, but the last-minute Duty Free shops got a lot of business out of me!

The underlying theme across the ESTAL Congress, Aluminum USA, ICSOBA and ARABAL was innovation and sustainability across upstream and downstream operations.

Where possible, it seems like aluminium producers are striving to save energy, control emissions and improve efficiency. This is certainly the case in this issue’s ‘Primary’ feature, which starts on page 28 with articles from ABB, Emirates Global Aluminium, and Fives.

And it’s not just upstream operations making steps towards a more sustainable industry. This issue also includes a dedicated ‘Surface Treatment’ feature, which highlights the environmental impact of a product throughout its lifetime, with a particular focus on aluminium in green buildings and improvements to thermal efficiency technology in order to make huge savings in energy consumption. You can read more in an exclusive interview with Adrian Toon, FAECF President on page 59.

Finally, as 2016 gets underway, we look forward to the aluminium industry continuing its role as an innovator and tackling anymore challenges that come its way. nadinefirth@quartzltd.com January/February 2016

Nadine JAN FEB.indd 1

Rio Tinto will expand output from one of the world’s premier bauxite deposits following approval of the $1.9 billion Amrun project.

Amrun involves the construction of a bauxite mine and associated processing and port facilities on the Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland.

The planned initial output is 22.8 million tonnes a year, replacing production from the depleting East Weipa mine and increas-

ing annual bauxite exports from Cape York by around 10 million tonnes.

Production and shipping are expected to commence in the first half of 2019, ramping up to full production by the end of the year.

The project’s design provides options for future expansion to 50 million tonnes a year. The majority of capital expenditure for the Amrun project is scheduled for 2017 and 2018.

Rio Tinto Chief Executive Sam Walsh said: “Amrun is one of the highest quality bauxite projects in the world. It is a tier one asset that will deliver significant benefits to all our stakeholders.

“In addition to generating attractive returns, with mining costs in the first quartile of the industry cost curve, it will provide jobs and strengthen the economy for the people of Cape York and Queensland for many decades.”

Century continues operation Century Aluminum Sebree LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, has announced that it will continue to operate all of its production lines at its Sebree, Ky. smelter.

The company had previously announced plans to curtail one of its three production lines by December 31, 2015.

Sebree’s continued operation

will help save hundreds of jobs in western Kentucky.

“We are very happy to announce that Sebree will continue to operate,” commented Michael Bless, President and CEO. “Sebree’s ability to access low-cost market power gives it a competitive advantage over many of the remaining U.S. smelters. Past hard work and cooperation among Kentucky state

legislators and regulators, the local utility, and the Company to create this access will now allow the plant to continue to operate despite continued illegal Chinese trade behaviour.”

There are approximately 525 employees at Sebree. At full capacity, the plant annually produces approximately 210,000 metric tonnes of aluminium.

AluSolutions 2016: Conference speakers announced AluSolutions 2016, the only free exhibition and conference addressing sustainability challenges in aluminium production and processing, will host Dr Fiona Solomon, Executive Director of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), as a keynote speaker.

Dr Solomon brings nearly 20 years of experience in sustainability and corporate social responsibility to her role at the ASI and will present on how the industry can address the environmental, social and governance aspects of the aluminium value chain.

As members of the ASI, Rio Tinto, Norsk Hydro and Schueco will also present their roles in working towards a sustainable future.

Other speakers will include a representative from European Aluminium, Melanie Williams, Sustainability Consultant, Graham Bruce from Taha International Corporation, as well as a representative from the Bureau for Middle East Recycling.

The two-day event, being held on 10-11 May 2016 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, will host equipment OEMs, plant suppliers, smelters and recyclers, while the conference will invite speakers from around the world to discuss growing sustainability across the industry, recycling targets, case studies, and technological innovations. www.alusolutions.com Aluminium International Today

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INDUSTRY NEWS 3

Novelis: Auto sheet line Novelis has celebrated the opening of an aluminium automotive sheet production line in Nachterstedt, Germany, to serve European and global automotive customers.

Located adjacent to Novelis’ existing rolling mill and the world’s largest aluminium recycling centre, the $85 million investment will increase production capacity by 120,000 metric tons of automotive sheet annually.

At full production, this line will increase Novelis’ European automotive sheet capacity to 350,000 metric tons per year and will provide global customers with

high-quality automotive sheet, including the Novelis Advanz portfolio of alloys used in lightweight ve-

hicle structures and body panels.

Since 2011, Novelis has invest-

ed more than $550 million globally to triple its automotive sheet capacity.

“Coupled with our recent automotive expansions in North America and Asia, the opening of the new production line in Europe strengthens our industry leadership in the automotive market and uniquely positions Novelis to serve our global customers,” said Steve Fisher, President and CEO of Novelis.

With this expansion, the company widens its global manufacturing operations to serve the rapidly growing automotive market.

Rolling specialist anniversary The UK’s only remaining manufacturer of rolled aluminium coils recently celebrated a prestigious milestone, with its Litho Centre marking 25 years in business.

“We’re thrilled to be celebrating this fantastic milestone,” explained Simon MacVicker, Managing Director of Bridgnorth Aluminium.

“Over the past 25 years, our business truly has gone from strengthto-strength, and our demand for lithographic printing material is continuing to grow.”

Bridgnorth Aluminium’s Litho Centre uses rolling slab as a raw material for its lithographic material production, which is sourced from its very own casthouse on site

– which was recently expanded – or from stringently-approved casthouses, which share all aspects of the company’s quality and logistics requirements.

“With the exciting investments

we’re continuing to make at Bridgnorth Aluminium we’re placing ourselves in better stead for future development and growth, and we very much look forward to another 25 years!” Simon concluded.

ed results.

The rolling mill in Cisterna di Latina produces aluminium rolled products, mainly standard strip and sheet, as well as plain foil.

Through the agreement, Rolling Mills International GmbH has acquired 100% of the shares in Hydro Aluminium Slim S.p.A. Rolling Mills International GmbH is controlled by Quantum Capital Part-

ners AG, a Munich-based investment company.

The rolling mill has around 430 employees and a production capacity of around 92,000 metric tonnes rolled products per year.

The plant was established in 1964, and Hydro took over the plant in 2002 as part of the acquisition of German aluminium producer VAW.

Aluminum Association Update The Aluminum Association has announced membership growth, additions to its board, and the election of a new Chairman.

Aluminium International Today

Nadine JAN FEB.indd 2

Hydro’s Scharf-Bergmann named to European Aluminium post

Roland Scharf-Bergmann, Head of Recycling in Hydro’s Primary Metal business, has been elected chairman of the Recycling Division of European Aluminium by the organisation’s General Assembly.

“It is a great honour to be elected the third time to chair European Aluminium’s Recycling Division,” said Mr ScharfBergmann.

“The main focus for the future will be on supporting European Aluminium and EU Commission work on ‘Circular Economy,’ waste-related topics, trade and other issues to illustrate the sustainability of aluminium and promote the aluminium industry.”

Kaiser Aluminum: New President and COO

Divestment of rolling mill The announced sale of Hydro’s rolling mill in Cisterna di Latina, Italy, has been finalised.

From 1st January 2016, the Slim plant in Cisterna di Latina will be operated by Rolling Mills International GmbH under the name of SLIM Aluminium S.p.A. An after-tax book loss of €45 55 million will be realised in Hydro’s fourth-quarter 2015 report-

APPOINTMENTS

“This is an exciting time for the North American aluminium industry with strong demand growth and domestic expansion,” said

newly elected Association Chairman Garney Scott, President & CEO of Scepter, Inc. “But serious challenges remain.”

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation has appointed Keith A. Harvey as President and Chief Operating Officer.

Mr Harvey has served as the company’s Executive Vice President — Fabricated Products since June 2014 with full responsibility for the sales, marketing, manufacturing and advanced engineering functions of the company’s Fabricated Products business.

Granco Clark promotion

Granco Clark is pleased to announce the promotion of long-time team member Jason Luscombe to the position of Customer Service Manager.

January/February 2016

1/21/16 8:24 AM

4 INDUSTRY NEWS

CONTRACTS FATA Hunter FATA Hunter was recently awarded a contract for the supply of one new hSystem automation system to Shandong Wantong Metal Technology Co., Ltd., Shandong Province, P.R. of China.

The system will be installed on a 4-high Aluminium Cold Rolling Mill. It will be complete with Automatic Gauge control (AGC), Automatic Flatness Control (AFC), flatness measurement system, coolant spray bars, thickness measurement system and one integrated Level 2 control system for automatic pass schedule calculation, primary mill data management and PDA (Process data Acquisition system).

Aleris selected for Grand Egyptian Museum

www.aluminiumtoday.com

Green building guidelines The Aluminum Association has released Aluminum in Green Buildings: A Guide to Green Building Development and Certification with Aluminum Products.

The new guide features information on aluminium’s unique properties for use in building and construction, as well as data on the metal’s life-cycle characteristics and environmental perfor-

mance.

The Guide is intended to assist and support aluminium end-users – architects, designers and engineers – in understanding how aluminium contributes to green building development and achieving certifications like Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design.

“The aluminium industry is committed to advancing the sus-

tainability efforts of its customers through the use of aluminium,” said Heidi Brock, President & CEO of the Aluminum Association.

“The Green Building Guidelines will allow the industry’s building and construction end-users to make informed decisions about using one of the greenest, most innovative materials in their projects today.”

Maritime aluminium According to Sapa, more customers from the offshore and maritime sectors are ordering extruded aluminium solutions.

The statement came from President & CEO Egil Hogna, who recently saw some of this growth first-hand at the company’s plant in Norway.

Sapa in Magnor, Norway mainly

serves customers in the building and construction market, however, it has also experienced an increase in customer requests from the offshore and maritime sectors.

Gangways, helidecks, wind farm boats and ferries are among the application areas where customers are looking for lighter and more cost-effective solutions.

Solutions for new Ford F-Series

Aleris has signed a contract with Alico/ORASCOM to supply an aluminium product for the roofing and wall cladding of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).

Aleris will contribute to this project by supplying its 151EX aluminium product for the roofing, ceiling and wall cladding of the museum.

AMAG certifies final acceptance of Danieli’s Twin-Coiler Rolling Mill In 2012, AMAG rolling GmbH selected Danieli to design, manufacture and install a new aluminium hot rolling mill, with its auxiliaries.

The first plate was successfully hot-rolled in September 2014, ahead of the contractual milestone, and AMAG signed the Final Acceptance Certificate in October 2015.

January/February 2016

Nadine JAN FEB.indd 3

Novelis has announced it is supplying high-strength, military-grade, aluminium for the upcoming Ford F-Series Super Duty lineup of trucks.

Following the launch of the 2015 Ford F-150, the aluminium-intensive F-Series Super Duty trucks also feature high-strength, military-grade, Novelis aluminium alloys in the body and bed, reducing overall vehicle weight by up to

350 pounds. This weight reduction enables the use of tougher underbody components such as an all-new, fully boxed highstrength frame, stronger axles and springs, larger brakes and driveline parts for superior performance.

The truck series will represent the second-highest volume aluminium application in automotive to date, surpassed only by the F-150, which saved up to 700 pounds of

weight for increased capability, performance and efficiency.

Novelis will produce the aluminium sheet for the F-Series Super Duty trucks at its plant in Oswego, N.Y. The plant is in the process of commissioning its third automotive sheet finishing line, which has been fully contracted to support production of the Super Duty and will begin shipping product in spring 2016.

Taking off in style Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, and Warsteiner, one of Germany’s largest and privately owned brewery’s have had a close relationship for many years.

Last year marked Lufthansa’s 60th anniversary and so Warsteiner congratulated them with a lim-

ited edition aluminium beer bottle.

A key decision for Warsteiner was how to present its limited edition product for such an important milestone in the history of one of Germany’s most iconic brands, so they turned to one of its most trusted packaging suppliers, Ard-

agh Group.

In 2014, Ardagh developed a range of aluminium bottles - the Warsteiner Art Collection. These bottles were created at the stateof-the-art printing facility in Beaurepaire, France. The resulting launch attracted many new younger customers from around the world to the Warsteiner brand and also lead to the company winning several international packaging design awards.

A similar approach was followed for the Lufthansa 60th anniversary bottle. The application of sharp screens combined with solid covering colours on brushed transparent metal effects and gold tones.

Aluminium International Today

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6 INDUSTRY NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF UC Rusal joins ASI Rusal has joined the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) with a view to take part in developing global sustainability standards for international application in the aluminium value chain.

The importance of the aluminium industry’s sustainable development has acquired greater attention with the 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21).

Innoval: New website The website (www.innovaltec. com), which has been completely overhauled and given a new design, focuses on how the company can help visitors from the aluminium industry.

New additions to the site include a section on ‘Technology’, which showcases the areas in which the Innoval team has particular expertise, such as rolling, extrusion and continuous casting.

Lightweight luxury The future of pure luxury motoring is already taking shape as RollsRoyce Motor Cars begins testing its new aluminium space-frame architecture which will underpin all future Rolls-Royce model lines.

Engineering mules will be assessed on public roads in various locations around the world.

The current testing phase aims to ensure that the new spaceframe structure perfectly delivers Rolls-Royce’s trademark ‘magiccarpet ride’ on a variety of surfaces and that it is resilient to extreme weather conditions.

www.aluminiumtoday.com

Brazil leads can recycling The Brazilian Aluminium Association (ABAL) and the Brazilian Association of Highly Recyclable Cans Manufacturers (ABRALATAS) has reported that in 2014 the country recycled 289,500 tons of aluminium beverage cans out of the 294,200 tons available in the market, a growth of 12.5% over the previous year.

Thus, the recycling rate for aluminium beverage cans reached 98.4%, keeping Brazil as the world leader since 2001. According to data of the two entities, 22.9 billion of packs were recycled last year, which corresponds

New data released by the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) confirms that recycling rates in Europe for alufoil trays and semi-rigid containers in 2013 reached about 55%.

The previous reporting period (2010) saw that figure rise above 50% following concerted efforts by the industry to promote the benefits of resource efficient and sustainable packaging options.

The Association says continued work by the industry to promote the value of collection and recycling; along with national campaigns are having significant

February/March 29 - 02 22nd Bauxite & Alumina

Nadine JAN FEB.indd 4

effects. Increased awareness has seen consumers recognise all aluminium foil trays and containers, not only those used as primary packaging, can be recycled, as well as other kitchen products, such as disposable alufoil BBQ and oven trays.

EAFA’s Container Group Chairman Peter Wallach commented, “We appreciate these positive developments, accentuating the environmental credentials of alufoil containers, in addition to their advantages for fillers and consumers.”

2016 DIARY The TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition will be held in Nashville, Tennesse this year. www.tms.org

January/February 2016

The REDWAVE Metal Days, at BT-Wolfgang Binder in Gleisdorf, provided the context for international experts from various sectors of the metal and aluminium recycling industry to exchange information on markets, technologies and practical experience.

In addition, the new REDWAVE XRF-M sorting system, for recycling in the metals sector, was presented to the participants.

International visitors, from 16 countries and three different continents, gained an overview of the metals recycling sector through presentations and the demonstration of live sorting.

Alufoil recycling new high

February 14 - 16 TMS*

For up-to-date news & views www.aluminiumtoday.com

to 62.7 million/day or 2.6 million/ hour.

According to ABAL’s Recycling Market Committee coordinator, Mario Fernandez, the recycling industry in Brazil has grown and matured: “For over 10 years we have been the country with the highest rate of aluminium cans recycling worldwide, sustaining a performance of over 90%. This demonstrates both the maturity level and the structure for the Brazilian recycling market. This is an increasingly outstanding market for the industry, the society and the environment.“

Redwave Metal Days

This conference is a key event for individuals interested in these two important materials. www.metalbulletin.com/events

16 - 18 The AFSA International Aluminium Conference and Exhibition This event forms part of the Aluminium Federation of South Africa’s overall strategic plan to position the South African aluminium industry in the short, medium and long term. www.afsa-aluminium-conference. co.za

May 02 - 06

ET 16 The seminar addresses aluminum profile production, die design and technology, metallurgy, equipment, and product applications. www.ET16.org

10 - 11 AluSolutions The only free-of-charge exhibition and conference dedicated to promoting sustainable aluminium production and processing technologies. www.alusolutions.com

*Pick up a free copy of Aluminium International Today at this event For a full listing visit www.aluminiumtoday.com and click on Events Diary Aluminium International Today

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8 USA UPDATE

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Shrink-to-grow Alcoa wheels for commercial transportation. Courtesy of Alcoa.

There have been murmurs for some time that Alcoa Inc. should follow in Rio Tinto Alcan’s footsteps and separate into two more highly focused publicly traded companies; especially given the way the company has transformed itself to become less of an aluminium pure play company and more of a supplier of multi-light metals, while also attempting to maintain its roots as a producer of aluminium commodity products. Myra Pinkham* explains.

“Those who have been following us have seen this coming for some time,” Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa’s chairman and chief executive officer, told attendees of its Investor Day in early November – just a little over a month after the company made the official announcement that at sometime in the second half of 2016 it would be separating its upstream and downstream operations to form two publicly traded Fortune 500 companies; each of which would attract an investor base best suited to their unique value proposition and operational and financial characteristics.

It could be said that the roots of this separation stretch all the way back to late 2007 when Kleinfeld first came to Alcoa as president and chief operating officer after a 20-year career at Siemens AG, prior to taking over the reins of the company from Alain Belda approximately a year later.

Early in 2008, after initiating a strategic review of the companies’ businesses, Kleinfeld became convinced that Alcoa needed a better balance of its upstream and downstream businesses, a dramatic rise in innovation capability, a significant change in cost structures, a bigger stake in future industries, a new model of global customer service, better management of market presences and a stronger presence in such high growth potential markets as aerospace and automotive.

During the “Great Recession” Alcoa switched its efforts from such transformational moves to concentrating on protecting and stabilising the company. But once the economic recovery started to take hold, the company once

again looked to transform itself, building out its downstream business through targeted organic and inorganic growth and investments in technologies, while creating a globally competitive upstream business by optimising its portfolio, growing its top line and fixing, closing or selling its high cost capacity.

Fjardaál smelter, Iceland potline. Courtesy of Alcoa

At the same time the investor community had been urging Alcoa that the integrated producer model might not be the most appropriate way for the company to continue to operate. “There are many inherent differences between its upstream and downstream operations,” Timothy Hayes, principal of Lawrence Capital Management, points out.

“This has made it very difficult for

analysts to accurately put a value upon Alcoa stock,” says Lloyd O’Carroll, senior aluminium analyst – North America for CRU Group. Therefore he says that splitting the company into two separate companies is a very logical move.

He explains that Alcoa’s downstream businesses run more like a typical industrial company, centred on strong growth markets, such as automotive and aerospace, and therefore their value is relatively predictable for analysts and investors.

In addition, Hayes points out, part of Alcoa’s downstream business involves production of other metals. This is especially true of certain businesses acquired within the past 18 months or so – many of which sell heavily into the aerospace market – that produce various speciality metals products.

By contrast, the upstream business is a pure commodities business and is therefore valued very differently, O’Carroll explains. “Commodity prices tend to move all over the place, therefore the business’ earnings move all over the place,” and require a strategy to ensure long term earning power throughout the business cycle.

He says that these two parts of Alcoa not only require very different valuation methodologies, but often very different investors are interested in different segments of the company. “Timing is everything for commodity investors,” but is less so for those investing in the downstream side of Alcoa.

“Even though Alcoa still has a lot of work to do to accomplish this and that

*US Correspondent January/February 2016

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Aluminium International Today

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USA UPDATE 9 5

there are costs associated with splitting up the company, I believe that they are making the right decision as there is no reason that both of the companies shouldn’t do well,” and the move could double the value of the companies.

As Kleinfeld, who will be heading the yet unnamed downstream business once the separation is complete, has been telling investors in several venues in the past few months, recent moves have prepared Alcoa for this moment where it is ready to launch two district global leading companies and in doing so, unleashing additional value and offering investors additional choices. “And choices is what life is all about.”

He calls the downstream, valueadded company a lightweight multimaterial powerhouse as well as a premier supplier of multi-material products that’s positioned to grow along with the end markets it serves including aerospace, automotive, commercial transportation, industrial gas turbines, building and construction and packaging.

“Modern materials is the essence of the company,” Kleinfeld says. “It is going to be an innovation leader. It is going to be continuously shifting further into higher value added, more complicated, more competitive products.” Continuing current trends in that direction, such as Alcoa’s acquisition of Firth Rixson resulted in Alcoa becoming a dominant supplier of content for jet engines and its acquisitions of Tital and RTI, which has filled out its capabilities to produce titanium, as well as such organic growth as the automotive-related investments the company has recently made in both its Davenport and Tennessee facilities, as well as the recent introduction of its Micromill technology.

The downstream oriented company will include Alcoa’s Global Rolled Products (GRP) business unit, including its aerospace, transportation and industrial rolled products businesses, which Alcoa says are global leaders in lightweighting efforts in the automotive and aerospace Aluminium International Today

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markets, and packaging rolled products.

It will also include Alcoa’s Engineered Products and Solutions (EPS) group, which consists of its Power and Propulsion unit, which produces jet engine and industrial gas turbine airfoils; its Fastening Systems and Rings unit, which produces aerospace fasteners and jet engine rings; its Forgings and Extrusions unit, which produces aerospace and defence structures and jet engine disks; and its Titanium Engineered Products unit, which is a vertically integrated player in the titanium value chain; as well as its newly formed Transportation and Construction Solutions (TCS) group that consists of its Building and Construction Systems businesses, which is a North American leader in commercial architectural systems, and its Wheels and Transportation Products unit, which is a global leader in forged aluminium commercial vehicle wheels.

Alcoa says that approximately 40% of the downstream business’ pro-formal revenues for the 12 months through June 30, 2015 came from the aerospace market, while the company will also be at the forefront of capturing demand as aluminium intensity increases in the auto sector. In fact, the company expects to see its automotive revenues increase by 2.4 times from 2014 to $1.8 billion in 2018.

The upstream company will operate under the Alcoa name after separation and will be headed by Roy Harvey, who was recently promoted to president of the company’s Global Primary Products (GPP) group after having served as executive vice president human resources and environment, health, safety and sustainability.

Kleinfeld says the new upstream company will also be very attractive and capable of not only standing on its own, but doing quite well.

“At times the commodities are seen as being a four letter word, but I would argue that aluminium is different for a number of reasons, especially due to consumer demand,” he maintains. “No other material has grown on average by 6.5% in the past decade,” and to see a doubling between 2010 and 2020 – demand that Kleinfeld says the company will be positioned to meet with its “very attractive” portfolio.

Alcoa says it has the world’s largest, lowcost bauxite miner at the 19th percentile on the cost curve, the world’s largest, most attractive alumina business in the first quartile of the cost curve, substantial

energy assets with operational flexibility, optimised smelting capacity that is continuing to improve its second quartile cost-curve position and 17 casthouses providing value-added products.

It is this new company that is likely to undergo the greatest transformation after separation, given that it will no longer have the downstream business to subsidise it in a down market, O’Carroll says. But on the other hand, it could potentially be able to make decisions, including those involving shutting or adding capacity, faster than it did in the past given that it will have less layers to go to get such moves approved.

Power and Propulsion product from Whitehall, MI. Courtesy of Alcoa

He adds that while cost cutting will be absolutely essential, the new upstream company might also look at doing more hedging, which would be a big change from Alcoa’s current business philosophy but could be necessary to run this commodity-based company without a safety net. “But if it is operated in a different way, it will not only survive but it will thrive,” O’Carroll says.

Alcoa says after separation it will be the world’s fourth largest aluminium producer with an “unrivalled” value-added casthouse network in close proximity to its customer and a “substantial” portfolio of energy assets with power production capacity of approximately 1,550 megawatts with operational flexibility to profit from market cyclicality.

It has already aggressively reshaped its alumina and primary metals segments, closing, divesting or curtailing 33% of its total smelting operating capacity since 2007 as well as securing approximately 75% of its smelter power needs.

Kleinfeld says he believes that the timing is right for this separation move. “Both companies are ready. They have enough strength. They have enough scale. They can stand on their own.”  January/February 2016

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10 UK UPDATE

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ALFED gets closer to its members Adrian Platt, ALFED President

“The reason for the change is that the profile of today’s aluminium industry in the UK is almost unrecognisable from that of

”

50 years ago

The Aluminium Federation (ALFED), the UK’s aluminium industry trade body, went through the biggest change in its 53-year history in 2015. Formed in 1962 as a federation of smaller trade bodies each representing a single part of the UK industry, such as extruding and finishing, the organisation moved in 2015 to a new ‘direct membership’ model, where each individual company is a member of the Aluminium Federation, rather than being an indirect member, through membership of an intermediary body.

“The reason for the change is that the profile of today’s aluminium industry in the UK is almost unrecognisable from that of 50 years ago”, says Adrian Platt of Befesa, newly-elected Aluminium Federation President. “Then, the UK was still a major primary producer, with big multinational companies dominating the Federation. Today, the picture is very different. Most of our members are medium-sized companies, and they are

Molten Metal Level Control

increasingly companies that manufacture using aluminium, such as JLR, rather than processing it.”

“We are a small organisation, and we came to realise that too much staff time was being taken in administering a multitude of subsidiary associations, rather than in adding value. The switch to direct membership means that the Aluminium Federation can be much more responsive to its members, while retaining all that was good about the old associations.”

“One such initiative is the formation of cluster groups – groups of member companies with a common interest.

Our Finishing, Recycling and Extruding Groups continue the work of former trade associations, but the new Automotive Group, which brings together car manufacturers and aluminium component suppliers, provides a template for the formation of future groups. One that’s in planning currently is a group that focuses on Research, Development and Innovation.

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12 RUSSIA UPDATE

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‘Green’ initiatives of global business:

A Russian approach

The UN Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21), which was held in Paris in December 2015, was considered the last chance for the world to agree a deal to limit global warming to 2°C. It was a necessary gesture, which recognised the magnitude of humanity’s shared problem.

It is time to bring real solutions, and the velocity of emissions means that time is running out. UC RUSAL, which powers more than 90% of its smelters by ecofriendly hydro energy, believes that there are key steps both on a corporate and global level which must be taken in order to support sustainable production.

After the Copenhagen summit in 2009, the world business community turned its attention to sustainable development, with the struggle against climate change as its top priority. Six of the largest European energy companies offered their help to the UN in order to develop a plan to help combat global warming.

They believed that the introduction of CO2 emission charges to all countries would be the best course of action and the most similar to the system, which was successfully operating in the EU. At least 150 companies, including January/February 2016

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Microsoft, Google and ExxonMobil, agreed on the cost of CO2 emissions for decision making purposes. More than 1,000 companies, including BlackRock, BHP Billiton, Statoil and British Airways, urged the global community to set a price for emissions.

Large financial institutions such as the Bank of America provided three times more loans for the development of renewable energy projects than it did for coal related projects. In 2015, Axa, one of the largest global insurance companies, was targeted to cut investments in coal projects to EUR 500 mln and will triple investments in environmentally friendly projects to up to EUR 3 bln by 2020.

Elion Resources, a global leader in the environmental rehabilitation in deserts and cities, is the first Chinese company to enter RE100 – a group of companies committed to use energy from renewable sources only.

In November 2015, RUSAL, Sberbank, one of Russia’s largest banks, RusNano, Russia’s key nano-tech developer, RusHydro, one of Russia’s largest power generating companies, and Ingosstrakh, one of Russia’s largest insurance

companies, introduced an initiative to consolidate the efforts of Russian business to mitigate their environmental impact and help prevent climate change by creating the ‘Climate partnership of Russia’.

This initiative is another step towards the introduction of new climate agreements in line with COP21 recommendations. The majority view amongst Russian businesses is that there should be a unified and generalised format for the obligations, which is applicable to all countries.

There should be integrated mechanisms to ensure that these obligations are delivered, as well as comprehensive monitoring of all countries’ compliance with the commitments undertaken.

It is crucial to shift the collective focus of the Russian business community to a low-carbon, “green” economy, and the companies, current and potential members of the partnership, will strive to ensure their products comply with the highest environmental standards.

Starting from one’s own example The aluminium industry is extremely energy intensive, with one of the key environmental issues facing the sector Aluminium International Today

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being the procurement of electricity.

Despite the fact that many international aluminium producers have indicated a desire to start using green hydro power, the share of coal fuel remains high.

The emissions from one tonne of aluminium produced by burning coal are five times higher than the emissions from one tonne of aluminium produced by utilising hydro power. CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants account for 75% of total emissions coming from aluminium production in terms of the entire chain of production.

RUSAL has for a long time been working on its goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. In 2006, the company began to develop its strategy to tackle climate change and implement projects in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2007, RUSAL signed a framework agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which stipulated that RUSAL would work together with the UNDP on climate change issues. RUSAL is the first company in the world to have implemented JI projects which reduced greenhouse gas emissions through reducing anode effect frequency.

The efficient use of the mechanism defined in the Kyoto Protocol as “joint implementation” has helped the company to curtail its CO2 emissions by 14 million tonnes over the period between 20082012. It is through its consistent effort that RUSAL has been able to achieve a 50% reduction of its total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in comparison to the 1990 figures - this being deemed the reference year in monitoring the dynamic of greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

The company’s five strategic goals for reducing GHG emissions are: To achieve 100% carbon-free power in company’s energy mix by 2020 To reduce specific greenhouse gas emissions at our aluminium smelters by 15% by 2025 from 2014 levels To reduce specific greenhouse gas emissions at our alumina refineries by 10% by 2025 from 2014 levels To reduce annual energy consumption by our aluminium smelters by 3,400GWh by 2020 as compared to the 2011 level To ensure specific GHG emissions from at least 85% of our primary aluminium production do not exceed six tonnes level of tCO2eq/tAl by 2025 including direct and indirect emissions through the whole production chain – from bauxite mining to aluminium smelting.

RUSAL’s ultimate goal is to achieve a zero carbon footprint for its aluminium products. To reach this goal, the company Aluminium International Today

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is also investing in R&D and developing new energy-saving technologies such as smelter technologies (RA550) and inert anodes (replacing carbon anodes with inert anodes).

Considering carbon emission levy RUSAL is steadfast in its belief that one way to ensure a reduction of emissions is to put a price on those emissions. This may appear politically difficult but there is no other way to approach the ambitious target of only 2oC warming without pricing carbon emissions.

Overnight, a one-for-all carbon levy, which would also provide finance for international and national climate programmes, would change the world’s economic calculus and corresponding emissions. A carbon emission levy is a straightforward idea that reduces demand for high-carbon emission fuels and discourages businesses from emitting greenhouse gases. The price could be set initially at a modest level of 15 US$/t and escalated over time. Such a tax would constitute a clear pricing mechanism and signal to the global market a powerful disincentive to carbon producers and consumers. It would also incentivise and unleash an unprecedented wave of R&D investment in energy efficient and lower carbon emissions energy sources.

A third of the revenue generated from the carbon emission levy would be deployed in an international carbon fund to support innovative renewable energy projects. A part of the revenue would be given back to a producing company to implement programmes on energy efficiency and GHG emissions cuts.

The remainder would help countries meet their own national decarbonisation objectives, supporting structural adjustment, efficiency upgrades and some compensation to ease the pain for carbondependent industries. All countries would agree to a minimum carbon emission levy and apply it to their carbon emitting producers, with each country nationally

administering the tax. The impact and amount of the levy should be assessed on a regular basis.

Step by step For all industry intensive countries, including aluminium producing states, reducing emissions is both in the global public interest and in their national interest: Activities associated with carbon emissions, such as heavy industry, often also have other detrimental impacts on the environment in other ways, including air, water and soil pollution.

These have a serious impact on the health and well-being of citizens. This is why sustainable development must include the active involvement of business in environmental projects as well as in the formation of mechanisms for economic regulation and market instruments for environment protection at national and supranational levels.

Charges for a negative environmental impact suggested by some business communities may become an inherent component of the environment impact management. It is no less important to stimulate production facilities, which carry out environmental modernisation and rehabilitate land, as well as to ensure wide spread public private partnership with state financed projects to recover environmentally unfriendly land and liquidate environmental damage caused by economic and other activities of the past.

The formation of a market with environmentally friendly products, technologies, equipment and services is an important parameter. In the long term, the development of market instruments to conserve the environment and ensure environmental safety will become the ultimate motive for the business community to increase their environmental and social responsibilities.

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GULF REPORT 15

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All Roads Lead to Here In this first part of a two-part investigation, Global Business Reports looks at the winning formula behind the GCC’s plan to attract future investment in primary and secondary aluminium production.

Within the aluminium community the world over, the hot topic is the current low price of the commodity. From aluminium’s LME peak price of US$2,678.11 per tonne (mt) in April 2011, it has plunged to US$1,589.60 as of September 2015, a 40% drop in less than five years. Though its decline has neither been as sharp nor as drastic as that of oil, aluminium producers worldwide have felt the tangible effects of the LME price reduction, not necessarily in sales, but in marginal profit. Separate from this short-term trend, within the last few decades, primary aluminium production has seen tectonic shifts. As the metal has gained popularity as an alternative to steel and iron in many applications, new production is taking place outside traditional markets.

Describing some of the global trends, Pete Forakis, regional director of STAS Middle East, of the Quebec-based high tech equipment specialist company, stated: “The aluminium sector in North America is in decline, in Western Europe it is virtually decimated due to energy prices, China is a challenge as they have their own domestic supply, there is no expansion in Australia and while India has potential, it is not without its own challenges.”

Considering the short and long-term dynamics taking place, the GCC region has the perfect formula to attract future investment in aluminium.

Recognising the energy-intensive nature of the industry, the leadership of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (of which the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman are members) saw an opportunity: “The countries of the region have taken wise steps to benefit from their resources and diversify their economies. The aluminium sector represented a logical path for such countries to industrialise their economies,” explained Joseph

Joseph Kirikian, Head, Industrials & Services, Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat)

Mahmood Daylami, Secretary General, Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC)

Kirikian, head of industrials & services at Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), the investment arm of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

There are three main elements needed to build successful aluminium smelters according to Mahmood Daylami, secretary general of the Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC). The first is energy, and the Gulf is rich in this regard. The availability of cheap energy translates into lower costs.

The chairman of the GAC and managing director and CEO of Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), Abdulla Kalban, noted: “According to an October 2013 report produced by the Centre for European Policy Studies on behalf of the European Commission, the Middle East smelters boasted the lowest in terms of conversion cost, business cost and economic cost per mt of aluminium in 2012. The region ranked among the lowest in terms of power costs per mt of aluminium at the same point in time.”

The second factor is financial strength,

which in the GCC region was built on energy resources, as it is home to 56% of the proven world reserves of oil and 40% of the proven world reserves of gas, and also the capital made available through local and international banks.

Furthermore, according to Kalban: “At the industry level, the primary aluminium producers in the GCC enjoy financial backing from their respective national governments, who are, without exception, major shareholders if not outright owners.

Substantial investments of finance and industry know-how by major global players, notably Rio Tinto Alcan, Alcoa and Hydro, have been made in several of the newer players in the region. What’s more, the GCC region is inherently stable from a political perspective and the financial risk to investors is minimal.”

The third component is markets. “The local industry for aluminium in the Gulf is increasing and world demand for the metal enjoys an annual increase of 5%,” stated Daylami.

The following content is provided by Global Business Reports (www.gbreports.com)

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EGA’s primary aluminium production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per year places the business among the five largest in the world. Photo courtesy of EGA.

Demand for aluminium in the GCC has increased drastically in the last few decades. “Twenty years ago, having a presence in the Middle East was simply a smart cost strategy: Cheap metal and cheap energy,” according to Jean-Baptiste Lucas, CEO of the Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill Co, (GARMCO), the oldest aluminium rolling mill in the Middle East. Lucas

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continued: “Nowadays, the Middle East has become a major and interesting player in terms of demand; the GCC population including Saudi Arabia is 50 million. Demand for aluminium is driven by the highly aluminium-dependent construction in Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, a growing middle class that consumes many products that require aluminium

packaging, and downstream demand in automotive or transportation applications to produce ever-lighter vehicles, achieved through the increased substitution of steel parts for aluminium ones.”

In 2008, there were only two smelters in the region, Alba and DUBAL, with a total hot metal production capacity of 1.92 million mt/y, of which DUBAL accounted for the lion’s share. “The excellent prospects for the Middle East aluminium industry,” said Kalban, “were identified by the global industry some eight years ago, as confirmed by the announcement (and subsequent construction) of EMAL, Sohar Aluminium, Qatalum and Ma’aden.”

Today, there are six smelters in the region: Alba, DUBAL, EMAL, Sohar, Qatalum and Ma’aden whose combined production capacity is approaching five million mt/y.

The world has turned its eyes to the GCC region for upstream production and the growing downstream. Each country is uniquely poised to respond to the local, regional and global demand and in turn the GCC will become an even more significant player on the aluminium sector’s world stage as all roads lead to GCC aluminium. 

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Final inspection of the cut-to-length flat sheet before being dispatched to customer. Photo courtesy of Garmco

Bahrain The Birth of Aluminium in the GCC Though the smallest GCC country by population, landmass and GDP, Bahrain has played a leading role in the development of an aluminium industry in the Gulf. Today, 10% of the country’s GDP is derived from the aluminium sector. So important is this industry to the country that it was a major focus of the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, which came into force in 2006. Steven Brown, managing attorney of ASAR Al-Ruwayeh & Partners’ Bahrain office, explained: “The agreement allowed Alcoa to ship inputs, such as alumina, to Bahrain without duties and facilitates aluminium being exported back to the United States without excise taxes and duties.”

With production first starting up in 1971, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) essentially heralded the birth of the aluminium sector in the region and today, the company is considered a significant national asset. It is majority owned by Mumtalakat (69.38%), SABIC Investment Company (20.62%), and is partially listed on the Bahrain Bourse. “From a small start in an effort to make use of the trapped gas resources through smelting, and as an endeavor to diversify the economy away from oil and gas by exporting billets, Alba has now grown to produce roughly 932,000 mt/y, making Alba the fifth largest single-site smelter in the world,” declared Tim Murray, Alba’s CEO. Alba has created an ecosystem around itself, feeding 50% of its total production, including billets, foundry alloys, rolling slabs and liquid metal, to the local downstream, which offers a better value proposition. “Alba’s strategy is two-fold,” continued Murray: “Maximise value-added products, which provide leniency for price Aluminium International Today

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fluctuations and market buffers, and keep our base load downstream liquid.”

Alba’s line 6 expansion In June 2015, Alba’s board of directors approved the brownfield expansion of Line 6, which, according to Murray: “Will mean capitalising on existing infrastructure and systems already in place for cost efficiency, that will bring Alba’s production up to roughly 1.5 million mt/y, making Alba the largest single-site smelter in the world.”

Tim Murray CEO, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba)

Furthermore, according to a 2015 press release from Alba, “[The] Board of Directors looked at various options from the Line 6 Bankable Feasibility Study and ultimately finally opted for the largest expansion option of 514,000 mt/y which will significantly improve Alba’s overall cost position. The Line 6 potline will utilize DUBAL’s DX+ Technology which will bring

state-of-the-art technology to optimise cost performance and reduce energy consumption.”

However, this expansion is not only strategic for Alba, but also for Bahrain, as Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist of the Bahrain Economic Development Board explained: “Part of the Line 6 expansion is reengineering Alba as a whole; but more importantly for Bahrain, however, is that the expansion is about utilising human capital in downstream production.”

Though the aluminium LME price is currently in a trough, Murray maintains confidence going forward with the expansion: “Alba’s expansion is a brownfield expansion, which means capitalizing on existing infrastructure and systems already in place for cost efficiency.

The aluminium LME price had already come down a bit when the project was approved in June, so the economics still work – the lower aluminium LME price has affected the project, but, nevertheless, Line 6 is still viable.”

Moreover, as Julian Clark, the regional director for MENA of Hatch, a global project delivery company, explained that there are significant cost advantages to expanding now: “When prices are depressed, any major project needs to procure a significant amount of metals, parts and services, all of which at present can be procured cheaper than in a bull market, meaning it is also the perfect time for investment in new facilities. The smelters are in a strategic position to expand; however, making the decision to do so right now is a difficult one, but those who do will likely reap the rewards in the medium term as the global supply January/February 2016

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Billets are inspected by a Port worker.

Photo courtesy of APM Terminals Bahrain

and demand rebalances and prices rise again.”

Considering the long-term outlook for aluminium, Murray is less concerned about the current low price of aluminium: “The advantage of Line 6 being a threeand-a-half year project is that it is not coming onto the market tomorrow; the aluminium forecasts are still fairly positive in the long run, in line with our 2019 target for completion. In terms of costper-tonne to build, Line 6 will probably be the best project in the world.”

Bahrain’s buoyant downstream At present, Bahrain has the most developed downstream sector in the GCC, largely due to its longevity. Referring to the historical model in Bahrain, Garry Martin, plant executive manager at Bahrain Aluminium Extrusion Co, (Balexco), pointed out: “This basic model of having the smelter with the downstream industries directly adjacent or in close proximity started in Bahrain with Alba supplying liquid metal in crucibles to Midal Cables, BAMCO, and Bahrain Atomizers. GARMCO and Balexco do not take supply in liquid metal form but being in the close proximity to Alba allows the efficient supply of the required cast products from Alba for the production of semi-fabricated rolled and extruded

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products respectively.”

Though not all downstream endeavors have been successful, it is this integration and ecosystem that Bahrain has built around Alba that has allowed aluminium to contribute to 10% of the country’s GDP. A case in point is that of Midal Cables, a significant player in the aluminium and electrical transmission industry in Bahrain and abroad. “Midal Cables and Alba have grown as a daughter and as a mother,” said Hamid Rashid Al Zayani, managing director of Midal Cables. “When Alba started, it produced 120,000 mt/y, while Midal Cables produced 12,000 mt/y.

Today, Alba stands at around 900,000 mt/y while Midal Cables stands at 300,000 mt/y. In other words, Midal Cables takes roughly 25-30% of Alba’s product.”

While Alba and the downstream have grown together in near proximity, service providers, have also taken advantage of the opportunity to be near their clients to ensure efficiency of service.

One such company was Pyrotek, a recognised world-leader for equipment, consumables and consulting related to the refining, melting, processing and casting of molten aluminium. In 2012, Pyrotek built its brand new 5,000m2 plant at the Askar industrial area near Alba. Nigel Clear, General Manager for

the region for Pyrotek, explained: “This move is part of the company’s global strategy to locate operations near to those of our clients so that the company is able to operate as a local supplier that offers immediate support. Pyrotek has the technology and resources and our own-developed materials, and so the main areas of service include after-sales and technical support to casthouses.”

The presence of such a warehouse facility relieves plants of considerations that are non-core to their business. Clear added: “Pyrotek is able to support customers’ reduction of their inventory by offering the opportunity to stock their products in our compound under a consignment stock agreement. Smelters have tens-ofthousands of numbered parts and would need a smelter-sized facility in order to store them all. Smelters depend heavily on cast house suppliers, with quick, local and specialised distribution. This responsive service becomes key, since the lead-time for customised material can sometimes be longer than our customers are able to accommodate.”

With nearby service providers and a well-established downstream sector, aluminium in Bahrain is continuing to move forward as existing companies further develop their operations and also as the sector prepares for the entrance of new players. Balancing current trends and expectations for the long-term, in 2015 GARMCO announced its partnership with Fives Solios, the aluminium branch of the international industrial engineering group, to build a new casthouse in Bahrain. Lucas outlines the goals of this new facility: “One of the main objectives of this project is to reduce GARMCO’s operational costs by internalising our slab casting. A second objective is asset

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protection integrity through risk diversification. Currently, 100% of our external supply comes from Alba’s casting pit, and given that GARMCO’s own capacity is currently limited, we could not survive if anything were to happen to Alba. Overreliance on one source for material is dangerous for any business, so this new cast house will provide GARMCO with security of supply. Additionally, another main objective of the casthouse project is to achieve sustainability by adopting recycling best practices. Recycling is a growing global trend and even though in the Middle East it has not gained the same popularity as in Europe or the United States, it is guaranteed to come in the near future, perhaps within the next five to 10 years.”

Fives was a logical choice for this project said François Pahmer, chief representative, Fives Middle East: “We have provided around 75% of all the casthouse furnaces that were built by the different smelters in the Gulf region.”

Moreover, Fives’ involvement shows how this service provider is moving into new areas just as its clients are, as Pahmer explained: “The Fives Group has identified aluminium as a key sector for growth and is constantly looking for new opportunities in this space. The group’s experience with casthouse furnaces provided to smelters is very extensive and we are looking to build a bigger footprint in the downstream area.

It is a competitive environment, with many players capable of providing partial solutions for casthouses. However, what is much less common, and where Fives excels, is its capability of providing customised turnkey solutions for our customers, from civil works and building, to the process equipment and the plant utilities, in an EPC contract. This is how we can best combine the strengths and resources of the different Fives Solios companies and provide most valuable solutions for our customers looking for integrated solutions.”

Molten metal park Having pioneered the model of locating the downstream near a smelter, Bahrain is looking to expand it further in anticipation of the new tonnage that Alba’s Line Aluminium International Today

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6 will produce because, as Tim Mc Laughlin, general manager of Bahrain Atomisers International, explained: “Currently, the downstream in Bahrain could possibly take another 20% of their current aluminium capacity leaving about 40% to 50% to stay in Bahrain.”

To encourage new downstream industries, Bahrain is attracting new investment into the Molten Metal Park.

“The biggest government incentive for the aluminium industry today is the Molten Metal Park which is a combined initiative between the EDB and Mumtalakat,” stated Kotilaine.

The land has been secured for this purpose and is being administered by Mumtalakat’s sister company, Edamah, which is obtaining all the necessary approvals to establish the infrastructure and connectivity required for any operation to be set up in the park. “In parallel to Alba’s line 6 expansion,” explained Kirikian, “Mumtalakat is working on establishing joint ventures with world class companies in various aluminium downstream subsectors that can benefit from liquid aluminium supply such as high performance conductors, castings (specialty automotive wheels), extrusions and rolling (continuous casting FRP). The unique aspect of this project is that Mumtalakat is willing to invest and acquire a stake in these various downstream companies operating inside the Molten Metal Park.”

This last point adds an extra layer of comfort to the foreign investors looking at the opportunities in Bahrain, even though Bahrain is already considered a favorable investment destination. FDI Intelligence’s Middle East & African Countries of the Future 2015-2016 ranking named Bahrain as number one in Foreign Direct Investment Strategy for the Middle East region and with good reason. Describing the attractiveness of Bahrain as an investment destination, Hassan Radhi, senior partner of the Bahraini law firm Hassan Radhi & Associates, said: “Bahrain is a very open country; it is the most open country in the region in terms of investment. Bahrain has one of the largest free-zones in January/February 2016

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Mark Hardiman, Managing Director, APM Terminals Bahrain

the world to the extent that there is no need for a sectioned-off area; the whole country is an economic free-zone. The recent amendment of the Commercial Companies Law is creating an even more favourable environment for foreign direct investment, as it no longer requires for Bahraini shareholders. So, in terms of investing and setting up a business in Bahrain, there are almost no restrictions at all.”

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Logistics: Moving material in and out While Bahrain enjoys strong production and an accommodating infrastructural setup, the outbound supply chain is of critical importance. A product’s timely delivery or its delay can make or break a client relationship, especially in this more difficult economic environment.

An island, Bahrain has natural obstacles to moving products via roads. Qays Zu’bi, senior partner at the Bahrain based law firm, Zu’bi & Partners, said: “One of impediments at the moment for the aluminium industry is the King Fahd Causeway that links Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. Trucking delays are a major issue for the aluminium industry because of alternative cost. The delays have improved, but not to the extent that they are no longer an issue.”

While Bahrain delivers a significant amount of aluminium products to Saudi Arabia, the better part goes out to international markets, via the ports, which are a much more reliable method of transport. As Zu’bi noted: “Bahrain’s ports are superior to many other ports in the region. For example, in other ports freight can sometimes take six months to clear. Despite the problems with the

causeway, it is still faster to ship and clear goods in Bahrain rather than directly to neighboring ports.”

Inefficiencies within ports can be caused by under-capacity, resulting in congestion and thus making it difficult to maintain high productivity. “The Khalifa Bin Salman Port has been built for the future,” said Mark Hardiman, managing director of APM Terminals Bahrain, “and as a result we have more than sufficient space for current market demands, meaning we can also easily maintain a very high level of productivity and efficiency. We can also supplement the KSA market. For example, whereas some nearby ports have a deficit of containers, APM Terminals has surplus capacity meaning cargo can be sent to Bahrain for consolidation and transhipment thereby making use of the surplus equipment at the same time as reducing costs of evacuation for the carriers. In terms of APM Terminals’ infrastructure, we have state of the art equipment, employing the leading container terminal operating system in the world and offering frontline warehouses.”

While the infrastructure is indeed important to a smooth operation, just as important to the aluminium industry are the differentiated services that APM Terminals Bahrain can provide such as container stripping stuffing and product storage, including warehousing to local downstream companies in the aluminium industry with the facilities already in place.

The human capital factor Unmatched by the other GCC countries is Bahrain’s competitive edge when it comes to human capital. Bahrain contains a well-educated and skilled national labour force. Radhi explained: “The Kingdom started investing in formal education more than a century ago, which was very much a pioneering venture in the regional context. Developing excellence in human capital is a long term strategic project that the government has undertaken and is actively pursuing, as seen through the establishment of Tamkeen, the special labour fund, that provides training solutions for companies needing qualified technicians or engineers by paying for the training and development of available local talent.”

While expatriates can still be found within many of Bahrain’s aluminium companies, particularly in the senior managerial roles, there is no scramble to find experienced technicians or engineers.

With an aluminium industry founded nearly four decades ago, industrial work is understood and respected and many argue that this is where Bahrain’s true strength lies. 

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Dross segregation process. Photo courtesy of Cast Aluminium Industries

UAE

The Aluminium Powerhouse of the GCC Bahrain may have been the first, but it certainly was not the only GCC country to set its sights on aluminium four decades ago. With the vision of the late H H Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Dubai sought to diversify the Emirate’s economic base beyond oil and gas by signing a decree to establish DUBAL in 1975 with production starting in 1979. Built on a 4.75 sq. km site in Jebel Ali, DUBAL today operates one of the world’s largest singlesite primary aluminium smelters, with a hot metal production capacity of 1,035 million mt/y.

The success of DUBAL helped pave the way for the UAE’s second smelter, EMAL, another one of the world’s largest singlesite primary aluminium smelters housed on a 6 sq. km site in Al Taweelah, Abu Dhabi. EMAL Phase I, commissioned in late-2010, was the world’s largest greenfield smelter development with a smelter capacity of 800,000 mt/y; EMAL Phase II, commissioned in mid-2014, established the world’s single-longest potline, comprising 444 cells with a design capacity of 520,000 mt/y. The completed smelter has a total hot metal production capacity of around 1.32 million mt/y.

The ramp-up of EMAL Phase I & II was delivered in part by SNC-Lavalin, a Montreal-based company that provides EPC and EPCM services. Ezzeddine Chouikhi, director of business development in mining and metallurgy in the Middle East and Africa for SNC-Lavalin, said: “Both project phases achieved first hot metal ahead of schedule and within budget, while attaining outstanding health, safety and environment performance.”

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In June 2013, Mubadala Development Company and Investment Corporation of Dubai announced the formation of Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), into which DUBAL and EMAL would be integrated. “The merger,” according to Kalban, “immediately put EGA among the world’s five largest primary aluminium producers, with a hot metal production capacity of more than 2.4 million mt/y.

It also allowed us to capitalise on several

Abdulla Kalban Chairman, Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC), Managing Director and CEO, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA)

synergistic opportunities by centralising the support functions (e.g. supply, finance, human capital, marketing & sales, information technology, legal) and by leveraging the operational expertise across the two plants.”

EGA’s first fully operational year was quite successful as Kalban recounted: “Financially, EGA achieved sales revenues of AED 19.8 billion, a roughly 30% increase compared to the combined sales of EMAL and DUBAL in 2013; and net income of AED 3.7 billion, a roughly 75% increase compared to the combined net income of EMAL and DUBAL in 2013.

The results were driven in particular by the successful ramp-up of EMAL Phase II to full production by mid-year and a continued focus on cost-reduction initiatives.”

Vertical integration to the hilt The only major global player without upstream assets, and determined to fulfil at least part of its alumina requirements, EGA acquired Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC) at the former’s incorporation in Q1 of 2014. GAC holds a mining concession for over 50 years in Guinea’s North West, a bauxite-rich region with a deposit base of approximately 1.3 billion mt of bauxite (around 16% of Guinea’s total bauxite reserve) and will develop an eight to 12 million mt/y bauxite export mine with production scheduled to begin at the end of 2017. Supporting mine infrastructure will include a rail line that will connect to a 15 million mt/y multi-user port facility. The bauxite will be shipped from Guinea’s Port Kamsar to the EMAL berth in Khalifa Port to be processed by the alumina refinery that EGA is planning to develop at Al Taweelah.

After comprehensive feasibility studies, EGA has partnered with leading technology suppliers who will work in collaboration with skilled local January/February 2016

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optimising the productivity from 520 existing pots. Essentially, we will be replacing less energy-efficient pots with pots that are more energy-efficient, using design modifications developed in-house at EGA.” Waheed Ahmed, General Manager, Cast Aluminium Industries

Magdy Samoul, CEO, OSE Industries

construction and service companies to construct the refinery. Specifically, BechtelPetrofac Joint Venture is the appointed EPCM contractor, while Rio Tinto Alcan is the refinery technology provider, including start-up and operations assistance, and Hatch & Outotec Joint Venture is the digestion design technology provider. As Clark explained: “Hatch holds patents and considerable intellectual property for many metallurgical processes, most notably the tube digestion process for producing alumina. With continued environmental pressures, where maximising extraction and minimising water and other raw material usage is key to long term business success, this places Hatch in an enviable position for assisting our clients not only in new projects, but modernising and expanding existing operations.”

Emphasizing the importance of the project, Kalban stated: “The proposed alumina refinery in the UAE will contribute substantially to securing a supply of high quality smelter grade alumina for the EMAL and DUBAL smelters. This is aligned with EGA’s strategy of expansion along the aluminium value chain, allowing the

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company to capture upstream margins and strengthening EGA’s effective position on the aluminium cost curve.”

Optimisation during the troughs Following one of the biggest mergers in the aluminium sector, EGA is now focusing on streamlining its operations, especially during a period when the LME price for aluminium is low. Clark explained: “In times of depressed metal prices and lack of demand, the best way to protect the asset is to optimise and produce the highest quantity at the lowest cost, which translates into very big potential for all smelters, even newer ones in the GCC region, to increase performance and focus on cost optimisation.”

Chouikhi echoed this message: “The most significant element to optimising operations is through the optimisation of the assets as this is where the greatest efficiencies can be achieved.”

In the first quarter of 2015, SNC-Lavalin was awarded a component of DUBAL’s Energy Optimisation and Capacity Creep project that will likely continue into 2018.

Chouikhi explained: “This will focus on

UAE downstream development Bahrain was the first to create a robust downstream, yet the UAE downstream industry has developed significantly in the last decade due to substantial increases in primary production. “Over the last 10 years, the primary sector in the UAE has gone from producing less than 600,000 mt/y of primary metal to 2.4 million mt/y,” stated Modar Al Mekdad, general manager of Gulf Extrusions, a downstream player founded in 1976 and the flagship company of the conglomerate Metals Industries, the holding group for a number of extrusion and downstream businesses.

In May 2011, Gulf Extrusions entered in a JV with Senaat General Holding, one of Abu Dhabi’s largest industrial investment holding companies, to establish Taweelah Aluminium Extrusion Company (TALEX), which will operate over 100,000 mt/y of production capacity. This US$200 million investment will make Senaat the largest global customer of EGA, which will bring significant synergies to all of Senaat’s projects in aluminium. In addition to TALEX, Senaat has invested AED 220 million into a JV with Dubai Cables (Ducab) to start producing aluminium alloy rods, wires and bare overhead conductors during Q2 2016.

Senaat’s acting CEO, Jamal Salem Al Dhaheri, explained Senaat’s AED five billion investment to develop downstream industries: “We recognised at an early stage that the unique position of Abu Dhabi, with its privileged conditions and

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THE FUTURE WAS OUR STARTING POINT Emirates Global Aluminium, born from a union between DUBAL and EMAL, is the combined incarnation of these leading, global aluminium producers under a new name. Already experts in high performance aluminium, excellent service and sustainable practices, we will continue to create a lasting legacy for the UAE and promote new industry standards in a brand new world. www.ega.ae

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industrial framework, will allow Senaat to become a relevant player in the high value added products market. As such, the development of downstream aluminium plants has become core to Senaat’s strategy.”

While established players like Gulf Extrusions and investment holding companies like Senaat are marking the largest waves in terms of investment dollars, a number of smaller downstream players are starting to pop up, such as OSE Industries, a highly specialised aluminium extrusion company that was established in 2012 and began operations with two extrusion presses with a capacity of 10,000 mt/y.

Establishing operations in the UAE was very strategic for OSE industries, according to CEO Magdy Samoul: “Dubai is very well connected from a logistics standpoint and it is relatively easy to import and export product. In addition, OSE Industries benefits from its proximity to DUBAL which provides OSE industries with primary high quality alloy that can be delivered from its site to our plant within 20 minutes.”

UAE: Setting up for success In order for the aluminium sector to continue expanding and developing downstream, it needed to find a new home.

Waheed Ahmed, general manager of Cast Aluminium Industries, a prominent dross recycler in the region, highlighted the issue: “One challenge that Cast Aluminium Industries had to overcome was the site size constraint in Al Quoz. When Cast Aluminium Industries was first established in Al Quoz, this was Dubai’s only industrial area allocated by the authorities.

However, the growth of Dubai has been robust over the last three decades. The enormous growth in the real estate sector has rendered Al Quoz the heart of the city.”

As aluminium companies were dealing with the effects of urbanisation encroaching on industrial areas and business slowing down as transportation and documentation processes became more complex, the Abu Dhabi government provided a solution in the form of a new industrial zone, Kizad, January/February 2016

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where many are setting up new operations, including Cast Aluminium Industries. “To accommodate existing and expected new business, Cast Aluminium Industries will need a much larger facility in Kizad, as the company currently only has 8,000m2 in Al Quoz. Cast Aluminium Industries is looking to expand into 33,000m2, with what will be a state of the art facility. With the civil contract already awarded, the goal is to start construction by the middle of 2015 so that operations can begin in the fourth quarter of 2016,” explained Ahmed.

Conceptualised as part of Abu Dhabi’s 2030 vision, a 25year road-map for economic development aimed to diversify the economy away from oil and gas revenues, Kizad is a worldclass, state-of-the-art industrial complex built to harness industrial diversification for industries from aluminium to petrochemicals, food, paper, print, and packaging on its 417 sq. km greenfield site.

Martijn Van De Linde, CEO of Abu Dhabi Terminals, with its core business being the operation and management of the Khalifa Port Container Terminal within Kizad, explained: “What differentiates Kizad is that the industrial zone is integrated with the port. It takes exactly 12 minutes for trucks to enter the port with their product, drop it off, and exit. From the moment that the product is put into a container it can be on the ocean within an hour. This level of efficiency can only be achieved when the industrial zone is integrated with the port.”

“The master plan behind Khalifa Port and Kizad is one rife with innovation as we were not building for 10 years down the road, but rather 100 years down the road,” said Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports.

Kizad has some of the most modern infrastructures with a pioneering design, evidenced through very wide roads, ample land to allow for expansion, numerous culverts and ducts to enable all of the factories to connect to utilities, as well as additional room for pipelines in the future. The uniqueness of this industrial zone is that it is constructed in vertically Aluminium International Today

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integrated clusters such as heavy industry and its respective midstream, downstream and logistics components. “In laying out Kizad,” Shamisi said, “we reserved one of the clusters around EMAL precisely for the aluminium industries. This alone offers a great boon to the aluminium industry. Kizad’s objective for this sector was to offer a platform to consolidate the fragmented, expansive aluminium business and reduce operating expenses by having prime land with state-of-the-art infrastructure already in place, allowing it to become a matter of plug- and-play.”

While being located minutes away from EMAL alone is a big draw for aluminium companies, a “Hot Metal Road” further sweetens the deal. EMAL includes a liquid metal transfer (“LMT”) facility that, together with the dedicated Hot Metal Road, enables the transfer of hot molten aluminium from the smelter directly to downstream industry within the cluster.

For aluminium downstream players, the benefits are great: “The capacity to supply liquid metal to downstream industries within the Kizad aluminium cluster will give these companies the ability to create innovative new products. They will also benefit hugely by eliminating shipping costs, massive reductions in energy

Martijn Van De Linde, CEO, Abu Dhabi Terminals

Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO, Abu Dhabi Ports

usage through not having to re-melt cold product, and lowered CO2 emissions, thereby enhancing their environmental credentials,” noted Kalban.

Kizad already has 71 investors assigned to zone A and a few interesting tenants in aluminium besides EMAL, including TALEX, Ducab and Cast Aluminium Industries.

While in the supporting downstream clusters important international players include Al Braik, Morgan Advanced Materials and Saif Al Kahili Group for the caustic soda are setting up to support the

aluminium and steel industries.

At the same time that Abu Dhabi was developing Kizad, it was improving the logistics as part of the government’s 2030 vision.

Now With a number of aluminium companies scheduled to become operational in 2015 and 2016, Abu Dhabi’s Kizad and logistical and infrastructural investments look to be not only the answer to consolidating the aluminium industry, but major factors that will push it forward, taking the sector to the next level. 

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New President tours the world of Sapa The first few days in any new job are always a bit of a blur, but Sapa’s new President, Egil Hogna, took it all in his stride and began with a 100-day tour of the company. Here, he took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to Nadine Firth* about his future plans.

1. It has been a busy introduction to the role, have you enjoyed your tour around the world of Sapa?

During the last weeks I’ve toured Europe, Asia and North America. Many places I’ve had townhall meetings and I’ve been impressed with our employees’ level of engagement showing both a great enthusiasm for meeting our customers’ needs for innovative aluminium solutions and at the same time striving to constantly improve our operations.

and vegetable farmers in China. Likewise, one of Sapa’s achievements is the development, production and marketing of unique aluminium solutions, which fetch a premium amongst the world’s most quality conscious customers today.

2. Were there any areas you were specifically interested in exploring?

While I’ve still to see many interesting sites, it was important for me to see early on a representative selection of Sapa’s sites.

I‘ve now been to all of Sapa’s business areas representing both general extrusion, precision tubing and building systems, in both mature and emerging markets.

3. How does the aluminium industry differ from your previous roles?

While I have worked two years in the aluminium industry before, my main experience is from the fertilizer industry.

I also worked with downstream in the fertilizer industry, but a key difference is that the end customers for fertilizers are the worlds’ farmers. In order to be successful in the fertilizer industry, it’s a lot about understanding the needs of the world’s farmers and where global agriculture is heading.

4. Are there any similarities that you can apply?

Both aluminium and fertilizers are, as a starting point, commodities. However, if one truly understands the needs of the customers, it’s possible to identify high value niches in every market. One example in my former job was that the export market for our largest plant in a high cost country like Norway was the fruit

Egil Hogna, Sapa President

5. What excites you most about this role in the aluminium industry?

Currently, the global aluminium industry faces challenges from overcapacity in China and many of the industry players struggle with low profitability. Such situations are challenging for everyone, but they also contain opportunities for growth through consolidation and preparing for the upturn. I like the uphill battles because it’s only then you move upwards!

6. Sapa is well positioned as an innovator in the industry. Is this

something you will be continuing efforts in?

Definitely! The only way a global company like Sapa can compete with the mostly commodity-focused competition is by developing and producing better solutions and products than the others.

Truly understanding future trends and customer needs and then linking those to R&D is key to our long-term profitability.

That is why in Sapa we invest heavily in R&D in order to put our knowledge to use. We have more than 1,000 engineers at our R&D centres including specialists in materials technology, technical physics and chemistry. We conduct research, down to the level of the atom, resulting in new alloys and products that are competitive in all markets. We work to spread knowledge and awareness regarding the properties of aluminium and its uses, including seminars for customers and partners.

7. In your opinion, what do you think are the main challenges that the aluminium industry and Sapa in particular are facing?

The aluminium industry needs to get to grips with the supply-demand balance of the industry. While that partly will mean that unsustainable plants may have to close, it also means working on the demand side by continuing to show the world the benefits of aluminium relative to traditional materials like steel and copper. The potential for substituting lower performing materials is still great, for example in automotive.

8. One of the key messages you have expressed while touring Sapa is that safety is paramount. How will you work with employees to maintain high safety standards?

While Sapa has made great improvements in recent years and currently is operating at a Total Recordable Injury rate of less

*Editor, Aluminium International Today January/February 2016

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than 3.5 per million hours worked, I will never be satisfied as long as accidents occur. At Sapa we have made an active choice to be safe, which implies that we will continue to work for a zero accident future. Such an ambition requires all of us in Sapa to work together and to always think about safety before taking action or making decisions.

9. Are there any other areas that you think require a focus?

An obvious improvement both for Sapa and the industry is to improve the profitability in order to make sure we are able to continue to invest in both maintenance and future growth.

That will require both a focus on better covering the needs of our customers to make our solutions even more attractive, and a focus on minimising costs. Only costs that truly help us delivering a better solution to our customers are costs we like.

10. What do you think the future holds for Sapa?

As the only truly global aluminium solutions and extrusions company, I believe Sapa has a unique position to be the shaper of the industry. Sapa is a leader today and should be able to continue to lead in innovation, safety standards and quality going forward. It will require hard work from myself and my 24,000 Sapa colleagues, but we are determined to deliver.

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ABB Equipment at Rio Tinto Kitimat smelter substation

The power of electricity Worldwide, ABB is involved in major power or industrial projects where energy is involved. The company is a respected reference in the supply of technology solutions to more than one hundred aluminium smelters all over the world. This article looks at new electrification technology for aluminium smelters.

By Ghislain Gonthier* Aluminium current market conditions are presenting challenges and most smelters are adopting strategies of either securing their assets to reduce operational risk or attempting to maximise the most efficiency out of existing assets. China is currently forecast to engage in building new production capacity, whereas the rest of the world producers are either curtailing production or creating solutions to increase output of existing assets.

Different solutions are currently being implemented in Canadian smelter operations and ABB is a pro-active agent of this transformation. At the substation level, three main strategies are being implemented by aluminium producers, such as, 1. Increasing DC current; 2.

Revamping DC output control; and 3.

Substation Advanced Services.

Increasing DC current supplied from the substation can be achieved with installation of additional rectifier systems.

This technique brings several benefits.

In a case where existing equipment has been in operation, for example, for several

decades, bringing new DC supply capacity allows a reduction on the burden of the existing “legacy� equipment. It can also provide the ability to extend shut downs of other units for revamp, inspection and other maintenance. All these have a direct impact on extending the life of rectifier and transformer substation equipment.

Revamping DC output control also brings several benefits. Primarily, the first benefit is the reduction of operational risk.

Over time, the spare parts on the controller components are difficult to source, sometimes unavailable or are unsupported by the manufacturers.

Moreover, modern communication elements such as IEC61850 for Intelligent Electronic Device (IED), which were not available on previous generation equipment, can greatly improve efficiency. Availability of machine-to-machine communication brings more information, faster. If well used, it could increase availability of equipment by better predicting equipment behaviour and prevent failure.

Increasing potline current stability

allows producers to focus their attention to other aspects of process variability to maximise potential aluminium output.

ABB is experienced in implementing high-speed controller systems that can precisely monitor DC current output from rectifier substations. As an example, an ABB customer, after reviewing his before and after current output curves from the smelter potline, informed ABB that the signal was so nice it must be filtered somewhere. In fact the signal was a direct measure of the current at the main DC bus just before entering the potline.

Modern rectifier controllers offer high speed I/O with imbedded software capabilities that make it possible to reduce imbalance within rectifier legs or wheels, then between several rectifiers. ABB experience shows, with respect to certain project contexts where the imbalance correction was significant, the investment was repaid for the whole project within several months.

Substation Advanced Services enable the asset owner to manage the risk

*Aluminium market segment manager, North America January/February 2016

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of operating and maintaining substation equipment to ensure optimal investment to keep the desired system reliability.

Three different solutions were developed to address the asset management challenge: a) Substation Assessment, b) Substation Care and c) Substation LifeStretch.

All three together provide a clear understanding of the actual risk profile of the substation and also a path forward to long term operations.

Substation Assessment: A reliability model of the installation is built to understand risk related to each component and prioritise the technical recommendations to improve substation reliability, which are then presented into an Assessment technical report.

The risk associated to each component is calculated based into the site assessment of the condition and the calculation of its importance which is related to the failures modes and consequences of a potential failure.

Substation Care Packages: Maintenance investment optimisation is a process where the cost related to all planned tasks must be balanced with the benefit of the investment.

The challenge lies on performing the right action at the right time.

Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) methodology is based into planning the cost allocation based on the risk related to each component in the substation.

By following this methodology, total maintenance investment is reduced. The number of unnecessary maintenance actions planned is minimised. Increased uptime of equipment is achieved by shedding light on the critical items where focus should be.

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Substation LifeStretch: Multiple technical solutions can be considered both when the substation lifecycle is reaching the design limit, and when there is a need to extend the functionality of the asset.

ABB has developed LifeStretch methodology, which is used to support the asset owner and help to make informed decisions.

These are based on a detailed analysis of the alternatives considering multiobjective criteria including financials, technology and technical KPIs such as lifecycle cost, failure rate, expected cost of power interruption or environmental and health and safety considerations.

All three strategies described above allows the increase in DC current supply availability with limited investment, compared to adding new potlines.

When well planned, it brings the substation back to N operating condition that is often lost because of multiple creeping programs implemented over the years. It also has a positive and significant impact to insurance premium.

The new Kitimat smelter built by Rio Tinto is a great example of current stability and modern communication. Equipped with the latest controller, the current is always optimum. Substation equipment were supplied by ABB. They are made of modern control systems with high speed I/O and IEC61850 connectivity. Building a brand new smelter in a brown field environment is challenging, however, equipment was energised on time and made 100% available.

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Striving for energy optimisation In the first of a two-part article, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) highlights the technologies contributing to a more sustainable production process.

It’s an undisputable fact that the production of primary aluminium is an energy-intensive business. Not only does energy consumption account for a sizeable proportion of production costs, but it also has an impact on the environment arising from carbon emissions during the combustion of fossil fuels to generate the energy required. Conversely, using less energy contributes to greater costefficiency while reducing fossil fuel consumption and the associated carbon footprint.

The environmental benefits, in particular, have been the driving force behind the in-house development of advanced proprietary smelting technologies at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) over the last 25 years or so – with other goals including increased production efficiency, reduced CAPEX and improved operational safety. As Dr Ali Al Zarouni (Vice President, Jebel Ali Smelter Operations & Technology Development) explains, “For EGA, optimising energy efficiency is a key strategic objective that aims to minimise operational impact on the environment while ameliorating the significant cost of energy. Developing technologies that fulfil this mandate is integral to EGA’s drive to ensure longterm competitiveness in an industry that is sensitive to product quality, costs and, increasingly, environmental performance.”

deliver higher production volumes, improved current efficiencies and lower specific energy consumption. Advanced cell control logic, developed in-house, has also dramatically reduced the frequency and duration of anode effect (AE) incidents in EGA’s reduction technologies, leading to substantially lower perfluorocarbon (PFC) emissions. Inspired by a culture of continous improvement, substantial resources continue to be invested in further technology developments.

D18+ Technology – from concept to implementation EGA’s intensive research and innovation has given the business the expertise to retrofit older potlines – as evidenced by the same quest for energy optimisation

across its operations leading, in 2013, to EGA’s in-house Technology Development team conceiving and designing an improved D18 cell (called D18+) that could replace the existing 520 D18 cells in EGA Jebel Ali’s Potlines 1 and 3 with the more energy-efficient cells. D18+ cells, which have the same pot-to-pot distance as the original D18 cells, incorporate new magnetically compensated aluminium busbars and anode risers.

The D18+ pots are longer than their predecessors, so as to accommodate two additional anodes and two cathode blocks. The existing potshell has been modified and a modern alumina point feeding system has been installed.

In a seven-cell pilot project, net specific energy consumption declined from

Reduction technologies The years of sustained research and development efforts culminated in EGA’s flagship DX and DX+ Technologies in 2008 and 2010 respectively, both of which operate at high amperage and therefore www.ega.ae January/February 2016

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approximately 15.1 kWh/kg Al (in D18 cells) to below 12.6 kWh/kg Al. Based on this success, the decision was taken to modernise the remaining 513 D18 Technology cells in EGA Jebel Ali’s Potlines 1 to 3 to D18+ Technology. The project, announced in February 2015, has proceeded apace. On 18 October, the start-up of the first 32 D18+ cells in Potline 1 (Section 2) was successfully completed as planned, without any compromise to employee safety or operational security. The full conversion of the remaining sections will continue throughout the course of 2016.

The D18+ upgrade is the first project at EGA Jebel Ali to install new technology in an existing potline. When the project is completed, the operating amperage of Potlines 1 to 3 will have increased from 205 kA to 230 kA, increasing production by about 40,000 tpa, while using similar power as the existing D18 potlines.

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Defined Cooling of Hot Bath Material

D20+ Technology – aspiring to further energy optimisation Inspired by the success of the D18+ Technology pilot project in maximising production with the available power, experimental modifications were introduced to modernise the D20 Technology cells in Potline 5B at EGA Jebel Ali. This resulted in reduced specific energy consumption, allowing for an additional six D20+ Technology cells to be added to the line.

The modifications also yielded higher hot metal production, which will thus contribute to further production creep. The startup of the six D20+ cells is scheduled for mid-2016. A reduction in net specific energy consumption from 14 kWh/kg Al (in D20 cells) to less than 12.5 kWh/kg Al is targeted.

DX+ Ultra Technology – pilot cells performing excellently Building on the success of DX and DX+ Technologies, EGA has continued to invest further efforts to develop lower CAPEX and even lower energy, high amperage reduction cells. The resulting design – known as DX+ Ultra Technology – has the same dimensions as DX+ cells, but incorporates a new cathode design with lower voltage drop, enabling substantially reduced specific energy consumption than earlier generation cells and thus saving in OPEX. Enhancements to overall cell design enable a shorter pot-to-pot distance, which translates into lower CAPEX per installed tonne of capacity and higher production per building surface area.

DX+ Ultra Technology cells are designed to operate at the same amperage as DX+, but with specific energy consumption of less than or equal to 12.5 kWh/kg Al in an industrial version cell. In 2014, five DX+ Ultra demonstration cells were built and commissioned in EGA Jebel Ali’s dedicated demonstration Eagle section. One of the pots has been constructed with a heat recovery system (HRS) in place and has, since start-up in May 2014, achieved a heat recovery rate of around 200 kW. The five pilot DX+ Ultra cells are performing extremely well, delivering against the modelled design parameters.

For the Primary Aluminium Smelting Process • Cooling from 850 °C down to below 100 °C • Reduction of HF emission • Clean and environmentally safe conveying and cooling

DZ Technology – the next generation is on the horizon Driven by its perennial quest for energy optimisation, EGA is already working on a new cell technology concept that relies on building a high amperage technology (above 600 kA) with even lower energy consumption (less than 12 kWh/kg Al), which will compete extremely well against other technologies. A prefeasibility study to install a demonstration section to pilot DZ Technology is currently in progress.  Read the second part of this article in the March/April issue of Aluminium International Today and find out how EGA is extending energy optimisation beyond its smelter operations.

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AUMUND Foerdertechnik GmbH Saalhoffer Str. 17 • 47495 Rheinberg • Germany metallurgy@aumund.de · www.aumund.com

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Rodding machine installation Detail – Stub Straightener for Century Aluminum Hawesville

VHE of Iceland has completed the installation and has commissioned three rodding plant machines for Century Aluminum, Hawesville smelter, Kentucky, USA. The three machines comprise a stub straightener, a rod straightener and an anode-rod mating station and were shipped to Hawesville during August 2015. VHE engineers have now overseen the installation and have successfully commissioned all three.

VHE has supplied a number of stub straighteners to smelters worldwide and is able to offer designs suitable for all yoke configurations and stub diameters. The machines are designed to remove stub toe-in and return stubs to the original yoke geometry. A hydraulically operated press controlled by a PLC provides fully automatic operation.

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The rod straightener from VHE is a multipoint design, able to remove complex bends from the rod stem. A number of hydraulically operated cylinders apply straightening forces to the stem, removing bends. Concurrently the yoke alignment is checked and adjusted as necessary to the original rod configuration.

VHE‘s Anode-Rod Mating Station is installed immediately prior to the Rod/ Anode Sealing Station. The Mating Station automatically assembles anode rods and anode carbon blocks, correctly locating the rod stubs into the anode holes, centring them to ensure optimal cast iron thimble formation.

Contact www.vhe.is

Aluminium International Today

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The leading Mixing Technology for Anode Pastes For over 50 years BUSS KE and CP series Kneaders have been the benchmark for reliable, cost-effective compounding of anode pastes. Now we went one step further.

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Alumina handling know-how

By Alix Courau* and Vincent Verin**

Fives has been supplying solutions to treat emissions in aluminium smelters for more than 50 years. Based on a dry scrubbing technology, Fives’ treatment plants are recognised for their efficiency when it comes to treating gases and fumes emitted by reduction pots (Gas Treatment Centres – GTCs) or anode baking furnaces (Fume Treatment Centres – FTCs).

Gas and fume treatment is performed by injecting alumina in reactors upstream of filter bags to adsorb fluorides. A dedicated alumina network is provided to supply all reactors and filters with fresh alumina. After contact with fluorides, fluorinated alumina then discharges from filter hoppers in the downstream part of the network for ultimate distribution to electrolysis pots. Transporting alumina is typically achieved through air gravity conveyors and airlifts. Up to now, Fives has been providing its own air gravity conveyors, a proven technology with proprietary equipment adapted to GTC flow rates, while sub-contracting other pieces of equipment such as airlifts when necessary.

With time and experience, the company has acquired the know-how to engineer and provide some of the technologies

usually procured through third parties.

Two products have recently been added to Fives’ alumina-handling portfolio: The vertical conveying airlift as well as a new horizontal fresh alumina conveyor named Aerios. These new pieces of equipment will provide more flexibility to deliver a complete alumina handling solution both for GTCs and FTCs. Airlifts for vertical alumina conveying Recycling fluorinated alumina is a key factor regarding aluminium production, as an input in fluorides at electrolysis stage allows a more efficient production.

Therefore, in downstream GTC filters, fluorinated alumina is collected and carried back to electrolysis pots via alumina handling equipment, which include airlifts.

An airlift is a system designed to elevate alumina by dozens of metres. It is always provided at the discharge end of a GTC to convey fluorinated alumina into an elevated storage silo that is used as a buffer between the GTC and the pots alumina feeding system. An airlift consists of a reservoir located at ground level or in a pit that receives the incoming alumina

from an air gravity conveyor. Such alumina is then conveyed pneumatically through a riser pipe up to a disengagement chamber. In the disengagement chamber, the air is separated from alumina. The alumina discharges into a dedicated air gravity conveyor or directly into a storage silo while the vented air joins the venting network that is connected to the GTC or FTC inlet duct. This piece of equipment is usually provided in a pair with one unit in standby mode for maintenance comfort.

According to the company, the airlifts can ensure alumina transport for all sizes of GTCs, with capacity up to 70 T/h. The main advantages are: • A relatively high transport velocity • A low concentration of alumina in the air called diluted phase • A dispersion of alumina particles in the conveying pipe that ensures no plugging.

The robustness of this technology relies on the pressure balance between two columns of different density that naturally auto-adjust. Important parameters that must be controlled are the available height for the reservoir and the air flow and velocity that allow this equilibrium to occur.

Fives’ airlifts in ALBA GTC

*Process engineer **Process Technician, Fives January/February 2016

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Fives’ Aerios in ALRO GTC

In January 2015, Fives commissioned its first proprietary airlifts, designed to convey 48 T/h of fluorinated alumina in the aluminium smelter of Alba, Bahrain.

The plant amperage increase leads to have hotter gases, so more alumina is needed to keep same performance. The airlift is conveying alumina up to the silo (approx 40 metres high). Alumina is then discharged in the enriched network for the needs of the potrooms. Whether supplied as lone pieces of equipment, integrated in revamping, or incorporated in new treatment units, Fives can manage engineering, fabrication, erection and commissioning of airlifts to ensure complete satisfaction of its customers.

Aerios for horizontal alumina conveying With Fives’ Aerios system, alumina is transported upstream filters through a flat conveyor. Aerios is designed as an air conveyor with two compartments separated by a fabric – the upper part being used for alumina flow and the lower part for fluidization air. Compared to air gravity conveyors traditionally installed with a slope where alumina flows like a liquid, the Aerios system is

completely filled with fluidised alumina.

It is the alumina pressure that allows the horizontal transport until the extremity of Aerios. Alumina is distributed among each filter through lateral chutes that feed variable speed rotary airlocks.

Thanks to this horizontal solution, GTC/FTC height can be reduced (as no inclination is required from traditional air gravity conveyors) thus reducing associated costs – especially regarding structure. Compared to other solutions, Aerios provides an accurate dosing of fresh alumina for each filter leading to

an optimum efficiency regarding fluoride removal.

Furthermore, Aerios has the capability to allow adjustments in the fresh alumina distribution at each filter when combined with an HF monitoring system providing continuous HF measurement at the outlet of each filter module. This feature is provided thanks to variable speed metering rotary valves that distribute alumina to each filter. These rotary valves combine three functions which are transportation, distribution to each filter, and metering of alumina inside GTCs. The Aerios design is an alternate configuration to the classical solution requiring a distribution box with individual air gravity conveyors that feed each reactor/filter. However, the distribution box configuration remains more favourable for plants where alumina flow is regulated at the day silo discharge, at the very inlet of the GTC. Aerios has been developed and installed by Fives in cooperation with the aluminium smelter of Vimetco, ALRO, in Romania. With the courtesy of ALRO it has been operating for nearly one year, since its commissioning where it handles 30 T/h of fresh alumina and distributes it to the 10 GTC filters.

Following this successful implementation, a standard Fives’ solution has been developed, including different sizes of Aerios covering a large range of alumina flows. With Aerios and the distribution box, Fives can now supply two reliable solutions for fresh alumina supply depending on plant configuration, conveying distance and customer requirements (eg. alumina supply adjustment depending on HF measurement at each filter outlet, a feature possible with Aerios).  Contact www.fivesgroup.com

Cascade, an alumina feed solution started up at Alma Fives has successfully put in operation its Cascade Feeding System on three Gas Treatment Centres (GTCs) at the Rio Tinto‘s Alma smelter, located in Quebec, Canada.

This system has been implemented as part of the global AP30 Pot Amperage Increase Program, boosting pot amperage to 400 kA, while respecting the HF emission limits allowed by the existing permit.

According to Fives, the integration of the Cascade system has occurred

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smoothly despite all three GTCs operating 24 hours a day without interruption; it was a key factor synchronising the installation process with the sequence of annual maintenance.

The Cascade Feeding System is a patented invention from Fives. It consists of a redistribution of fresh alumina within the GTC, that enhances the capture of HF pollutants at higher pot gas temperature.

This is a premiere retrofit implemented on the TGT–RI filtering technology, confirming the successful results already

obtained on the last generation of filters, Ozeos, installed at the Rio Tinto’s Jonquiere plant.

The Cascade Feeding System is a simple solution for modifying and improving the performance of GTCs. Test results have shown a 35% improvement of HF capture on the TGT-RI while operating under the Cascade mode with hot gas temperature. www.fivesgroup.com

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Rotary thimble cleaning and carbon crushing Aluminium smelters typically use a series of crushers, conveyors screens and magnetic separation for crushing spent anodes for recycling into the green carbon plant. Maintenance costs on this type of equipment in ageing smelters are quite high and the downtime significant, resulting in primary aluminium smelters being interested in improving efficiency and energy saving. David Roth* explains how this could be possible.

DIDION has the most widely developed equipment and applications for rotary crushing and separation systems for the recycling and recovery of dissimilar materials that are often mechanically bonded together. The development of this technology was started in the foundry industry in the early 1970’s.

The first step was the separating of metal castings from the foundry sand mold pieces in which the castings were created.

Handling these hot, heavy castings required the development of a very durable machine.

The equipment was next used for sand reclamation applications to keep these foundry materials in use and out of landfills.

The continued improvement of the DIDION RT/RS TUMBLERS has made mechanical processing of mixed materials a cost effective and low maintenance alternative to other processing systems[1].

These systems can perform surface scrubbing, crushing, screening and sizing in one single piece of equipment.

Design features There are four basic features of the DIDION RT/RS Rotary Processing Systems:  First, the ability to process very large pieces of feed stock in the same processing step as finer materials. Depending on the model, up to 1800mm (72”) blocks can be processed at the same time as granulated fines.  Second, the ability to “scrub” a surface removing materials that is foreign to the base structure allowing for valuable base structure materials to be recycled and reused.  Third, the ability to crush with controlled fines generation and full dust control.

DIDION RT 108 DIDION Crusher/Metal Separator

 Fourth, the ability to classify several sizes of material from bag house dust to 1800mm (72”) solid metallic pieces, within the same piece of equipment.

Spent carbon anode processing The standard recycling process for spent anodes typically involves a primary jaw crusher, two or three horizontal shaft impactors and several cone crushers for the final carbon sizing. Magnetic separation units for the removal of tramp iron in the crushed carbon are located at multiple locations in the processing line.

Multiple conveyors and screens keep the material flowing in the right size to the right crusher. If there are full size, either green or baked anode blocks that are scrap, they have to be handled separately and manually crushed. Thimbles and stubs must be removed from the process line as they could seriously damage the jaw and impact crushers.

Conversely, the RT systems will handle full size baked carbon anodes and crush them without any problems. Stubs/spiders can be charged into the unit without any fear of damage, as they will be restrained to the first crushing chamber and simply help in the autogenous crushing process.

Thimbles imbedded in the spent anodes too are no issue in the process and will ultimately be discharged clean from the carbon crushing RT unit. This is a very unique and money saving feature of this process. This one RT unit will also replace the primary jaw, secondary impact and fine cone crushing steps and perform this job in one RT unit. Screening the material to size and controlling the dust generated in the process all in the one processing step, saving significant floor space, energy and maintenance dollars that would have been spent on the standard type of crushing system along with its many conveyors and screening systems.

*President, GPS Global Solutions, USA January/February 2016

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The RT Rotary crushing approach to spent anode and carbon recycling gives a lower cost recycled product to be reintroduced into the green carbon recycling process that is high quality and from a system that is more flexible with anomalies that may occur in the process. The crushed carbon product that is produced is angular in nature and with an acceptable fines level for green carbon recycling.

Crushing of large blocks Handling large blocks of material can be particularly difficult for most processing systems. Most systems either use a primary jaw crusher or a mobile hydraulic hammer/ crusher for this first breaking step.

The RT Systems process these blocks in the first section of the drum. The larger material is charged by end loader into a large hooded vibratory feed hopper that loads the drum. Hot materials can be charged with a vibratory cooling conveyor.

Large cast steel teeth lift the blocks and then crash them down on hardened spikes for severe impact and size reduction.

Stub/spiders or thimbles if mistakenly still attached to the carbon blocks cause no

Spent anode, stub, thimble & bath

damage in this stag of the operation. The dam ring separating the main autogenous crushing chamber from the Concentric Crusher (CC) chamber will not allow – 250mm materials to pass through to the next chamber.

Carbon pieces now less than 250mm will pass through the CC chamber and be impact crushed by this massive rotating fixture. This impact action produces the angular product with out generating large quantities of carbon dust and fines.

Crushing with controlled fines generation The impact action of the material falling on the cast steel flights in the secondary autogenous chamber produces a violent crushing action. Uniquely this system also immediately removes the fines that are being generated in the process. The impact breaking action of the system continues to Aluminium International Today

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give sharp fracture angles on the particles, which are preferred for most bath and carbon recycling process. This step is critical to achieving process efficiency and success. The key technical challenge that the RT unit accomplishes is both removing these fines and preserving the preferred crushed material sizing, chosen by the liner slot openings.

Preselecting the correct liner opening and screen size determines the distinctiveness of materials, accomplishing the generation of the appropriate sized fines for further processing. This flexibility is a significant advantage of this process. Each smelter tends to have an upper size limit that can be closely set in the RT system.

Rotary thimble cleaning Dirt, rust and frozen alumina bath is left on the cast iron thimbles after they are removed from the stubs on anode rods.

This contamination of the thimbles when melted in the induction furnaces reduce the quality of the cast iron thimbles and increases significantly the voltage drop between the stubs and carbon anodes and thus reduces the metal output from the cells.

Good smelter practice warrants cleaning these thimbles before remelting for their next campaign. This will provide better cast iron sealing of the stubs and carbon anodes and thus improved electric conductivity in the cells, reduce the anode voltage drop and increase metal output.

Today, most aluminium smelters use conventional “shot blasting chambers” for cleaning the thimbles from the stubs on anode rods with some variation of a wheel shot blasting machines. These shot blasting machines are quite a big chamber with four/five blasting wheels. The experience from most aluminium smelters is that these shot blasting machines work quite well the first year in operation, but then the main problems are:  High maintenance cost of the blasting wheels,  High operation cost of steel shots,  Steel shots on the floor, etc,  Quite big machine and difficult to install in existing rodding shop,  High investment cost in supply and installation.

Many smelters have stopped using these machines and are looking for better solutions. Some simple material tumblers have been used with mixed process results and maintenance characteristics. The DIDION RS System has proven very good at replacing these shot blast units in several primary aluminium smelters. DIDION Rotary Carbon Separator / Thimble Cleaners utilise a highly efficient tumbling action for thorough cleaning of carbon and dirt from cast iron thimbles, including recesses for a cleaner melt.

The patented segmented alloyed wearliner design, provides lower noise levels and much better wear resistance than other equipment possibilities. Cost savings include the elimination of shot blasting altogether, saving equipment, shot consumption, wear parts, maintenance time, floor space, and labour costs.

The machine also serves as a horizontal storage silo with fully automatic feed of thimbles to reduce labour costs. The most common capacities of thimble cleaning in aluminium smelters are 2 tph or 4 tph.

Scrubbing surfaces The principle of operation for the DIDION RS is low velocity impact and scrubbing action of the cast iron feed material. This feed material is lifted by the rotation of the drum and consequently drops from lifters cast in the wear liners within the drum itself. The system works by using the bits and pieces of the thimble materials to process itself, relying on the size differences of individual pieces of the material to clean even in the pockets where small amount of bath or carbon may be trapped. This tumbling action causes the

Crushed carbon

products to impact and scrub upon each other and in doing so releases the trapped fluorinated waste and adhered carbon along with any other friable attachments.

The released material is allowed to pass through holes within the wear liners as it is fed backwards inside a plenum chamber. The finer materials are then air transported by air to the bag house for collection. The remainder of the coarser materials are belt conveyed away from the process for recycling.

The interior design of the DIDION RT/ RS systems can allow for multiple sections accomplishing a variety of processing goals. The scrubbing or removal of foreign material from the base material is a standard application for DIDION rotary equipment. In the original foundry applications for the units, it was the removal of sand from the base casting.

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carbon from the thimbles, the RS Process leaves almost no carry over to the melting process. There is no shot contamination of the melt. The standard practice of shot blasting is inefficient and time consuming.

The steel shot is an expensive consumable that can be carried over into other aspects of the process. It is very important to remove essentially all of the sodium/bath contamination to the next phase of the process. These salt contaminants when cast into the thimble typically cause problems with the refractories in the carbon backing furnaces and in the thimble casting furnaces. The RS processing technique stops the majority of the bath and carbon carry over into the next part of the production process improving if not eliminating the furnace refractory issues.

Further to cleaning the thimbles before melting. It is easy to add the pig iron to the thimble cleaning cycle. Pig iron is often stored outside and can be severely oxidised. This not only causes more slag build up in the melting furnaces shortening the refractory life but also can cause pops if the material is damp. Processing through the RS System can completely stop these

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safety and slag generation issues with the pig iron.

The purpose of cleaning the thimbles is to have more efficiently operated pots in the potline. The pay back of the system outside of the operating cost and maintenance is due to a reduction in anode voltage drop.

The average anode voltage drop between the stubs on the anode rods and the carbon anode is approximately 120 mV. MetalTech of Iceland, with some smelters has made in situ tests by comparing the mV drops in stubs not cleaned with proper stub cleaning technology. The result was that stubs properly cleaned showed in average 10% reduction in this anode voltage drop or some 12 mV based on actual performance measurements at these smelters. MetalTech estimates that proper thimble cleaning with removal of carbon and electrolyte material from the cast iron before remelting in the induction furnaces will also reduce the anode voltage drop some 5% or 6 mV. It is estimated that proper thimble cleaning by the Rotary Carbon Separator will readily achieve an improvement of 6 mV, meaning power savings of 5% of the

anode voltage drop between the stubs on the anode rods and the carbon anode.

This is a significant energy savings and helps with a rapid project payback period of only one to two years.

Summary The flexibility of the design configurations of the DIDION rotary processing equipment has many potential applications in the primary aluminum smelter environment.

The RT and RS Systems are excellent candidates for retrofit as the process foot print is much smaller than the initial purchased systems with more product efficiency and a higher process quality.

These dynamic systems can lower overall processing cost by reducing manpower, maintenance, energy consumption as well as reducing the plant area required for the anode crushing or thimble cleaning. î ˛ References 1. David Roth and Brian Best, Recycling materials through rotary crushing and materials separation in the aluminum smelter, Paper Al 19–T, ISCOBA 2012, 29 October – 2 November 2, 2012; Belem, Brazil.

11.12.2015 15:48:19

Aluminium International Today

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Refinal fused fluxxes from MQP The Refinal range of environmentally friendly fused granular refining agents provides an effective alternative to chlorine fluxing in the furnace as a means of removing alkalis and inclusions.

It is supplied to smelter and remelt casthouses worldwide by MQP and the product range contains formulations which offer excellent and repeatable cost effective performance.

• Refinal 350 based on minimum 35% Magnesium Chloride has proved, over a number of years, to be an efficient remover of alkali metals and oxides from molten aluminium.

• Refinal 352XF, also based on minimum 35% Magnesium Chloride, but with the addition of fluoride, has further enhanced performance and increased efficiency by up to 25%.

• Refinal 555XF based on partial substitution of the potassium chloride content with up to 30% sodium chloride has proven to be an alternative, cost effective, remover of alkali metals and oxides from molten aluminium.

Considerable thought has been given to product packaging and ease of use in casthouses under production conditions.

Refinal is now available packed in 5kg bags in two 500kg boxes per 1 MT pallet.

MQP has established Refinal as a leading product range in fused flux technology as the result of development programmes carried out in academic institutions and production casthouses.

This work has also shown that the product has excellent synergy with the rotary flux injector (RFI) produced by STAS (Fig 1).

The RFI, used with Refinal fluxes, provides the ideal combination of impeller furnace stirring and fluxing.

A study of reaction kinetics reveals that the rate of removal of alkalis using different addition methods can be compared by the rate removal constant (k). The k value is much higher and therefore alkali removal greater when using the RFI and the k value is exceptionally high when using Refinal 352XF with added fluoride as is shown in the comparison in Fig 2.

Work by Hydro Aluminium Rolled Products(1) has also shown that flux treatments with the RFI impeller system generate 5070% less dross than other flux addition methods or with chlorine gas which obviously is a real advantage for casthouses.

The benefits of Refinal fused flux treatment can be summarised as: • Environmentally friendly, efficient removal of alkalis and inclusions from aluminium melts.

• Proven in casthouses worldwide to be cost effective and consistent.

• Used in conjunction with the rotary flux injector gives a reaction with a high kinetic index and exceptional alkali removal.

• Product packaging designed with the customer in mind.

• Manufactured and packaged entirely within the EU Reference 

(1) M. Badowski, Stephen Instone and M. Hagen,”Metallurgical performance of salt and chlorine fluxing technologies in casting furnaces,” Light Metals, 2014, 1031-103

Comparison of kinetic index for different mixing methods

0.06

Kinetic index

0.05

0.03

0.034

0.02 0.01 0

Fig 1. Rotary flux injector

0.054

0.04

0.012 0.004 Manual flux addition without stirring

Manual flux addition with EMS

0.013 Flux injection with lance Application

RFI standrd fused RFI refinal 352XF with active flux additive

Fig 2. Effect of flux addition method on kinetic index k

www.mqpltd.com info@mqpltd.com January/February 2016

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Innovative casthouse solutions

From the novel technology of Batchpilot furnace weight measurement to the unique methodology of Opticast grain refiner optimisation, from Premetz real time web based quality control to Optifilter state of art filtration and from Optifine high performance grain refiners to environmentally friendly Refinal fused refining fluxes, MQP is continuing to advance casthouse melt quality.

Innovative casthouse solutions t +44 (0) 1564 200 443

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DANIELI ALUMINIUM TECHNOLOGY FOR COMPETITIVE HOT AND COLD PLATE / STRIP AL PRODUCTION

Through in-house technology advanced equipment design and manufacturing, automation, Danieli Innoval production and process know-how, plant construction and service, Danieli offers fully integrated solutions to the Aluminium industry.

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22 Aluminium strip orders awarded during the last 2 years KUMZ RUSSIA Complete 1+1 hot rolling mill line.

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Flat product casting, rolling and processing

DALIAN HUICHENG CHINA 60-MN stretcher, to produce Al alloy plates (200 mm thick, 3800 mm wide) for applications ranging from aerospace to marine and commercial transportation.

Danieli Headquarters 33042 Buttrio (Udine) Italy Tel (39) 0432.1958111

ALERIS DUFFEL BELGIUM Complete cold rolling plant featuring a 6-high Diamond mill designed for EDT rolling for specific automotive applicatons. DAN_ECO2 fume cleaning and oil recovery systems together with DAN-purity filter system allow green production.

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Pagine 2013 A3 esecutivi 2013_08_08_qxd8_A3 esecutivi 25/09/13 11.55 Pagina 28

DANIELI ALUMINIUM TECHNOLOGY FOR COMPETITIVE HOT AND COLD PLATE / STRIP AL PRODUCTION

Through in-house technology advanced equipment design and manufacturing, automation, Danieli Innoval production and process know-how, plant construction and service, Danieli offers fully integrated solutions to the Aluminium industry.

> > > >

6-high Diamond mills Tailor made plate stretchers Slitting and trimming lines Environmental systems

22 Aluminium strip orders awarded during the last 2 years KUMZ RUSSIA Complete 1+1 hot rolling mill line.

Innovative finishing stand designed for the flexible production of both hot rolled coils and cold rolled plates.

Flat product casting, rolling and processing

DALIAN HUICHENG CHINA 60-MN stretcher, to produce Al alloy plates (200 mm thick, 3800 mm wide) for applications ranging from aerospace to marine and commercial transportation.

Danieli Headquarters 33042 Buttrio (Udine) Italy Tel (39) 0432.1958111

ALERIS DUFFEL BELGIUM Complete cold rolling plant featuring a 6-high Diamond mill designed for EDT rolling for specific automotive applicatons. DAN_ECO2 fume cleaning and oil recovery systems together with DAN-purity filter system allow green production.

1914 / 2014 DANIELI CENTURY

KUMZ RUSSIA Cold rolling mill plant featuring 6-high Diamond mill for the production of aluminium coils especially for the aereo space sector.

2800-mm-wide Al coil production: the widest worldwide.

DANIELI THE RELIABLE INNOVATIVE PARTNER TO BE FRONT RUNNERS

www.danieli.com

46 PACKAGING

www.aluminiumtoday.com

By Gary Yogan*

Over the past 50 years, growth of the aluminium flat rolled product (FRP) industry has been heavily fueled by the adoption of the aluminium beverage can. Major global and domestic brands have used the aluminium can as the packaging container of choice for several decades and that trend shows no signs of stopping.

With a steady global growth projection of four to five percent in 2016, aluminium beverage can sheet is still king in the FRP marketplace and remains a key strategic business for Novelis. As the only global producer and recycler of aluminium beverage can sheet with operations in Asia, Europe, South America and North America, Novelis is well positioned to capture the growing global demand from beverage brands and canmakers seeking highly recyclable, adaptable, lightweight and protective packaging options.

Aluminium offering a material difference Aluminium cans and bottles continue to be a competitive advantage for companies catering to consumers’ desires for an easy to use, convenient, lightweight and durable packaging. Compared to other packaging materials such as plastic and glass, aluminium allows beverages to stay fresher longer and be highly portable for consumers’ on-the-go occasions, including concerts, picnics, boating and other outdoor and water-related activities.

As an added benefit, aluminium cans are shatter proof, provide a superior barrier to light, cool faster, stay cold longer and are 100% recyclable.

Formability and adaptability enabling new designs Beyond aluminium’s inherent material qualities, advances in innovation and technology have enabled new packaging shapes and forms including “slim” or smaller serving can sizes, as well as the aluminium bottle.

Some beverage brands are seeing up to double-digit increases in the growth of their new, smaller serving sizes or alternatively shaped cans. Beyond spatial interest, new can and bottle shapes also allow for a larger canvas for beverage branding, with 360 degrees, top to bottom visuals. No other beverage packaging option meets all of these specifications for brands aiming to appeal

Looking to 2016: Beverage can sheet is b to an evolving consumer audience. The adaptability of aluminium is one of the many reasons why it remains a highly competitive packaging option despite decades of market change.

A real energy saving advantage The sustainability benefits of aluminium cans are also unmatched in the marketplace.

Recycling aluminium requires 95% less energy and produces 95% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than primary aluminium production.

Additionally, emissions savings from aluminium recycling have more than doubled since 1990 and are projected to increase by an additional 50% by 2020, *VP, Global Can Sales, Novelis www.novelis.com

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thus making can sheet from recycled material is better for the environment, better for business and better for customers. Continuing its commitment to sustainability, Novelis recycles more than 50 billion used beverage cans (UBCs) annually and turns them back into new beverage cans in a “can-to-can� cycle of approximately 60 days. This truly closedloop process reduces the carbon footprint of aluminium beverage packaging and makes it a more sustainable option for all stakeholders along the value chain.

sustainability has a real impact on the entire value chain - from suppliers, to can makers, to beverage brands.

Novelis, the first and only materials provider to offer certified high-recycled content beverage can sheet, now offers aluminium sheet that is guaranteed to contain at least 90% recycled content.

Available to customers globally, this beverage can sheet is certified by Scientific Certification Services, an independent leader in environmental auditing.

Strong demand for sustainable packaging As consumers increasingly look for sustainable products, certified highrecycled content becomes more of a requirement and less of an option for beverage makers considering new packaging options. According to a 2014 study conducted by Forum for the Future,

Looking ahead The aluminium beverage can is a highly engineered, premium product whose evolution continues to meet both consumer demands for portable, sustainable products, and canmaker and beverage brand demands for a highly marketable product.

As the global leader in beverage can recycling and beverage can sheet

82% of people surveyed agreed that companies should increase the amount of recycled material in their packaging. An additional 71% would feel better if their packaging was made of recycled material.

These findings indicate that consumers are placing an increasing importance on sustainability and high-recycled content.

With the recent introduction of certified high-recycled content aluminium to the marketplace, beverage brands and canmakers are now able to certify the amount of recycled material in their packaging, making aluminium cans a leading option in sustainable packaging.

Production of aluminium cans with certified high-recycled content sheet reduces the overall carbon footprint of can-making by 44% and proves that

production, Novelis has a deep history of collaboration with canmakers and beverage brands to develop the next wave of sustainable innovations in beverage can sheet. From product to process innovations, Novelis is continuing to make investments in its operations, supply chain and research and technology centers around the world to support the industry’s continued growth into 2016 and beyond.

Thanks to steady global demand, heightened consumer interest in products that reduce carbon footprint, and the unique value in versatility, sustainability and convenience that aluminium cans provides to both beverage brands and consumers alike, the future of aluminium can beverage sheet looks bright.

is bright

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48

Keep on truckin’ Combilift is Optima’s optimum handling solution. By Liz Townsend* From its manufacturing facility in a small town in rural Somerset, Optima’s range of office partitioning is sent around the world and used in projects by top international companies. Optima continues to expand globally, particularly in Australia and Singapore and products such as its Microflush aluminium door frames are the first choice for leading architects and specifiers wanting to provide commercial workspace that features design and installation.

Before Optima’s systems find their way to locations such as the Shard, the Gherkin or a new building in Dubai, the more mundane, but crucial issue of offloading, handling and storing packs and bundles of aluminium needs to be addressed. Keeping materials on the move is therefore a priority for Warehouse Manager Howard Paterson at the site in Radstock near Bath, UK, where upgraded warehouse, storage and despatch facilities were installed a few years ago due to ever increasing stock levels.

A key piece of equipment for Howard and his team is a Combilift multidirectional forklift, which is used continuously to offload incoming deliveries from suppliers such as ThyssenKrupp and Sapa, put them into racking, take unfinished products to the powder coating facility and return them to the warehouse when treated.

When goods are ready to be despatched the Combilift is again on hand to do this. It is a relatively small cog in a large operation, but a vital one as Howard explains: “Having just the one truck means that any down-time would cause massive problems and backlogs.”

Optima used a counterbalance forklift years ago when operations were on a smaller scale, but the company was an early convert to the advantages of Combilift’s four-way technology, which offers space saving storage and manoeuvring of loads and versatile operation. It leased its first

truck in 2000, followed by a replacement five years later and has recently purchased its present model outright. When the warehouse refurbishment was under way, the new racking was configured according to the capabilities of the Combilift then in place, ensuring best use of the space available.

As with the previous models, Combilift number three is a C3000 diesel powered truck with a 3t capacity, which copes easily with the loads weighing from just a few kilos up to 1.5t, and has a 7.5m mast to access the top beams of racking. Its fourway capability enables it to move sideways when manoeuvring the longest 7m packs of aluminium, to work in narrow aisles and to pass though the doorway to the yard.

Multidirectional travel also comes into its own when taking product to the powder coating facility at a separate site on the industrial estate, which necessitates using a public road. With extra lights, number plates and other features, the Combilift is road legal, and on average it undertakes this journey twice an hour. Warehouse Operative Steve Biggs comments: “If I had to carry 7m loads with a counterbalance truck I’d take up most of the road and would be very unpopular with the other local businesses!”

Steve and the other drivers had input into the finished specification of the new Combilift, with Howard pointing out that those who spend most time in the cab know best and that he was keen to provide what they wanted - hence diesel power rather than electric or LPG options due to the long runs around the site. A wiper on the top glass roof was also added at Steve’s request to aid visibility when putting loads into the higher racking when coming in out of the yard in wet weather.

The in-cab heater and fan for cold and hot conditions respectively also make for a more comfortable environment, and

Steve finds the seating and ergonomics more luxurious than in the first Combilift he operated. “When you are in the truck pretty much all day these things make a big difference,” he said. “The hydraulic fork positioners are also great, particularly in bad weather, as you don’t have to get out and manually adjust the forks to accord to the specific size of load.”

One of Combilift’s strengths as a manufacturer is its ability to customise its range to accord to specific customer requirements. The lift height that Optima required is not usually available on the compact C3000 model so Combilift design engineers redesigned and repositioned the mast mounting to allow the 7.5m mast to be fitted. They also shortened the platform to enable narrow aisle operation that is needed in parts of the warehouse.

Optima’s new truck was supplied by Westexe Forklifts Ltd., which also looks after the service and maintenance.

Combilift was established 16 years ago and in this time it has notched up an enviable record of growth, supplying around 27,000 units to customers in more than 75 countries. The company has a wide portfolio for handling not only long and bulky goods but also pallets, containers and oversized loads and has won numerous awards for its products.

The construction of Combilift’s new €40 million, 46,000m² manufacturing plant and global HQ recently got under way on a 40 hectare site in Monaghan, Ireland, and the facility is on course to be up and running by the first quarter of 2017. The expansion will position Combilift to double its current €150 million turnover by 2020 and will also create 200 jobs in the next five years, mainly for skilled technicians and design engineers.  Contact www.combilift.com www.optimasystems.com

*Avenue PR January/February 2016

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50 TRANSPORT & HANDLING

Investing in operations The solution to remaining profitable while aluminium prices tumble can be as simple, and inexpensive, as investing in non value-added operations for a change. By Frederic Beaulieu* Yes, aluminium is in the throes of a sharp price correction thanks to the market being over supplied. But while aluminium is piling up in warehouses everywhere, this might be a good time for producers to consider new ways of shoring up their bottom line performance.

A modest investment in mobile handling equipment can deliver ROIs of a very attractive order. There are significant efficiency gains to be made from making sure you use the right tools to load alloys or guide ingots. There are safety gains to be culled from ensuring the equipment operator’s visibility is not limited or obstructed while he’s dumping smelting charges. There are productivity gains to be enjoyed from organising your tools effectively and enhancing the multi-functionality of your equipment so you can quickly and nimbly switch from charging sows to furnace tending tasks in the time it takes to lay down a tool and hook another one. The best part is that all of these gains can be achieved with a fraction of what you would normally have to invest in costly value-added operations, which is what makes the returns on wellconsidered investments focused on mobile handling operations attractive and smart.

Using the right tools Understanding your mobile handling equipment and tweaking its behaviour accordingly can have a salutary effect on the economics of your operations.

Everyone knows that the variety of tasks performed in a smelting plant can almost rival the range of end uses of the aluminium it produces. Which is when matching the

right handling tool to the job can become such a crucial labour – and money – saving factor. Vallée, a Canadian provider of handling solutions for the aluminium sector, designs and manufactures more than 160 handling tools and accessories for aluminium industry applications.

Maximising operator visibility to improve productivity Sometimes the biggest variable you have to deal with when trying to control equipment operating costs without compromising productivity is the human factor. Countless studies have produced reams of data showing a link between fatigue, obstructions and distractions and an equipment operator’s health and productivity. Unaddressed, this issue can be a debilitating drain on a manufacturer’s human and financial resources. Which is a shame when you consider how little you sometimes need to invest to improve the safety and productivity of your handling operations. Especially when you have the vision to look for solutions outside the cab when endeavouring to add better visibility to the interaction between machine and operator. This is true for the Vallée Bucket for Light Materials, suited for dumping less bulky smelting charges for instance, which is actually equipped with builtin view holes to enhance the operator’s visibility without compromising the tool’s handling capacity.

Organising your tools and multiplying the operations your equipment can handle Equipment that can be used for multiple

tasks greatly reduces operating costs while dramatically improving efficiency. One of the positives of the 160+ handling tools and accessories Vallée manufactures and markets specifically for aluminium producers, is their proprietary hydraulic auto coupling system. It essentially avoids having the operator connect hydraulic hoses manually at each tool change, which not only renders tool-changing operations safer, but also minimises downtimes and standardises handling practices. Vallée also custom designs tool racks to specifications, complete with an alignment system to ease tool coupling and uncoupling.

Turning your mobile handling equipment into veritable ninjas in the plant With oversupply putting downward pressure on aluminium prices, and consequently pressuring producers to cut costs, leaving little or no money for major capital expenditures, focusing on improvements on a smaller scale to drive efficiency might prove the best chance of remaining profitable. There is value in investing in operations that are often widely perceived as non-value-adding, like handling activities, and by adding more versatility, agility, visibility, precision, safety and organisation to your mobile handling equipment, it will inevitably result in greater productivity, which will in turn spell handsome returns on the modest investments you will have made.  Contact www.vallee.ca

*President, Vallée January/February 2016

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Handling together Réel recently announced the acquisition of Alesa, a specialist in design, supply, installation and complex materials handling equipment mainly for the aluminium industry.

With a hundred employees located in Switzerland, Canada, and in France, Alesa, now known as ‘REEL ALESA’ will become a new entity within Group Réel and bring a high level of complementary technical strengths and sales strategies.

The realised transaction involves the acquisition of RTA Alesa AG holding company (Swiss company with headquarters in Zurich), which owns RTA Alesa Ltd (Canadian company based in Montreal), and Alesa Technologies SAS (French company with headquarters in Gardanne).

Réel, through its subsidiary NKM Noell Special Cranes, already offers lifting and

handling equipment and related services for aluminium production plants. The acquisition of Alesa increases the strength of the group in aluminium and gives it a greater visibility and focus to customers.

For more than 40 years, Alesa has designed, installed and maintained complex materials handling solutions and other customised equipment mainly for the aluminium industry, but also for sectors of energy, mining, cement, steel and fertilisers.

Known for its ability to design tailormade systems responding to complex constraints, Alesa is a major player in the market for equipment and services for the aluminium industry. In addition to its long experience in such projects, Alesa provides its customers a large portfolio of technologies proven in the aluminium world: Technologies specific to Alesa

including aluminium electrolytic cells power supply and exclusive rights to use technologies developed by Aluminium Pechiney.

Alesa has developed and owns technologies such as HDPS (Hyper Dense Phase System).

Alesa also has the exclusive right to provide services for systems developed

by Aluminium Pechiney, including such as ALPSYS, JIBS (Jet Induced Boosted Suction) for the next five years.

Réel and Alesa share several key success factors favouring the forthcoming integration: Similar cultures (large project management, strong engineering culture, decentralised activities management, etc.), knowledge of the same market environment, worldwide network for greater local proximity and responsiveness to client needs.

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Vallée specializes in developing innovative lifting and handling equipment and tools customized for specific aluminum industry applications and needs.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT LIFTING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY 1 800 267-0355 | 418 268-8955 ext. 104 | sales@vallee.ca | vallee.ca

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• Detailed investigation and testing • Product and process training courses • Aluminium industry expertise

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www.innovaltec.com January/February 2016

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SURFACE TREATMENT: ASSOCIATION PROFILE 53

Association Profile: ESTAL The European Association for Surface Treatment on Aluminium (ESTAL) works with its members to find solutions to technical, economic and ecological issues associated with surface treated aluminium.

Following a successful congress in 2015, Nadine Firth* spoke to Ivo Vermeeren about the challenges faced by this sector of the industry.

“The next time you walk into a high building, take a few minutes to admire the façade of the building. Maybe you will notice that the building shows a metallic surface with a bronze shade or the building has a very elegant coloured façade. Most of the time, people do not know what the surface is made of.

“In fact, the first façade with the bronze shade is probably made of anodised aluminium whereas the coloured façade is made of organic coated aluminium. Both processes are based on the treatment of the aluminium surface. Anodising and powder coating are the most widely used processes for aluminium surface treatment.”

Q. What was the reasoning behind the formation of ESTAL? A. ESTAL was officially founded in 1989, first as an umbrella organisation over two independent organisations: Euras and Eurocoat. These two European associations were set up in 1971 (Euras) and 1985 (Eurocoat) in order to promote the interests of the aluminium anodisers and coaters. Due to the fact that an increasing number of aluminium surface treatment plants had both anodising and coating facilities, it was decided to merge Euras and Eurocoat into one single organisation to represent both industries.

Today, ESTAL is a European federation of 13 national associations in 14 European countries, plus eight associate members, including coaters or anodisers located in countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Poland and Slovakia where there is no national association.

Q. What is the mission of ESTAL? A. The mission of ESTAL is basically to defend and promote the interests of its members at International level, and in particular at European level, to work in order to find solutions to technical, economical and ecological issues linked with aluminium surface treatment,

and finally to encourage the sharing of knowledge among members and the development of new technologies.

In our opinion, surface treatment on aluminium is not restricted to anodising and powder coating, but also includes non-galvanic, chemical and electrolytic methods.

ESTAL aims to become the platform for all treatments and applications on a European level, which means that the industry, the suppliers and the users of finished aluminium are invited to participate in our European Association.

Q. How does ESTAL work with the aluminium industry?

A. ESTAL anodisers and coaters work with aluminium. Up to now we have had regular, but not intensive contacts with the aluminium industry at European level through European Aluminium or at national level through the local aluminium producers’ associations. It is interesting to remark that in some national associations, the same staff deal with the national aluminium producers’ association and with the national aluminium finishers’ association.

In 2015 the Members of ESTAL decided that it would be an added value for the aluminium finishers to have a closer cooperation with the aluminium producers. For this reason, ESTAL has joined European Aluminium as a member from January 2016.

Q. In what way does ESTAL support its members?

A. Regulatory measures, especially European legislation, are one of the major challenges for the aluminium finishers, because they often have a technical and financial impact on the finishing plants, who are in their majority small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

ESTAL defends the interests of the aluminium finishing industry in Brussels and has hired a Technical Coordinator whose main role is to liaise between ESTAL

and the European authorities. European legislation projects, which may harm our industry, and information that our association wants to forward to Brussels are discussed at the meetings of the Joint Technical Committee (JTC), attended by representatives of finishers, suppliers of surface treatment and various quality label organisations.

Having a voice in Brussels is critical today for our industry given the many changes in European legislation (energy efficiency, IED). ESTAL is recognised at European level as the voice of the aluminium surface treatment sector and has been invited to discuss the issue of nanomaterials with the European Commission. Being present in Brussels makes it possible for ESTAL to pass on information and concerns from the finishing plants on to a higher level (European authorities, lobbying organisations) at the right time.

In addition to the information given to the members through various channels (website, information bulletins, working group meetings etc), ESTAL organises a congress every two years, with the aim to treat the subject of aluminium surface treatment in a neutral, independent and comprehensive manner from various perspectives. The ESTAL Congress not only offers updates on ESTAL’s European lobbying activities and developments within the association, but also presentations on geographical markets and different industries using aluminium surface treatment. The last ESTAL Congress took place in September 2015 in Porto (Portugal).

In this way, ESTAL provides fresh impetus for the aluminium finishing industry, with the aim of maintaining existing markets and opening up new opportunities and business areas for its members.

It is not only the aluminium surface treatment industry that is confronted with regulatory, technical and economic challenges. Other market actors who are situated upstream and downstream in the supply chain are faced with similar

*Editor, Aluminium International Today Aluminium International Today

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challenges, therefore it is important for ESTAL to join efforts with other organisations in order to work together for a better future for our members.

For this reason, ESTAL keeps contacts with European and non-European organisations who work on similar issues or who can support ESTAL in its lobbying activities (e.g. FAECF, CEPE CETS, Nickel institute, IHAA, JAPA etc.).

Establishing a relationship with the market players is not only beneficial for ESTAL as an association, but is also beneficial for the surface treatment plants at local level.

Q. What are the biggest challenges facing the industry?

A. In general, modern finishes are environmentally friendly.

However, modern European legislation tends to banish dangerous metals or substances from production. The requirements for an environmentally friendly production of aluminium surface treatment are constantly more demanding. Modern surface treatment plants place a larger accent on a production process that, first, does not generate any waste and, secondly, endeavours to recycle all the

energy produced in the factory.

The ability to treat the aluminium surface with always shorter delivery times and to produce the required colour shades in a few hours are some of the important requirements for anodisers and coaters, and critical success factors for a modern surface finisher.

Treating the surface of aluminium is a challenge. Our industry looks for new applications and new markets. Driving this search are the demands for cost effectiveness in the production process and the search for specialities to satisfy the design and fashion trends of architects. One of the critical success factors is to make aluminium more attractive to the final customers. This will ensure aluminium usage increases and, as a result, more applications for the aluminium surface treatment.

Q. Do you see continued research and development in the industry?

A. There is definitely continued research and development in the industry. On one side, research institutes such as VUB, the Free University in Brussels, TUD, the Technical Institute of the Delft University (Netherlands) or the University of Aveiro in Portugal currently work on ambitious

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projects together with various industry players to develop new coatings for various applications.

On the other side, the suppliers of the aluminium surface treatment constantly work on product development in order to make the aluminium surface treatment industry more sustainable.

This was clearly illustrated by the different presentations given at the ESTAL Congress in Porto on the research currently being done in the field of aluminium surface treatment.

Q. What does 2016 have in store for ESTAL? A. The year 2016 will mark a new development for our association as ESTAL is now part of European Aluminium. We are thrilled about the new opportunities that this membership will bring to our members. Together, we can promote the unique strength of aluminium for sustainability and recyclability of buildings and in this way promote aluminium and aluminium surface treatment. This new development brings nothing but benefits to both organisations and has a direct positive influence on the added value for the ESTAL members. 

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Surface preparation and cleaning

By Nigel Willcock* If the old adage ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’ is anything to go by, surface preparation and cleaning are the most important stages in surface engineering.

Essentially they ensure the success of every subsequent stage, whether it be adhesion, fabrication or protection in the metal process industry.

As with any metal process it is important to consider the circumstance of each application and what the desired outcome is. Here, I will outline a number of potential situations and important factors to take into consideration when selecting the best method to prepare or clean a surface.

Surface preparation for adhesive metal bonding When preparing a suface for adhesive metal bonding you need to create the correct conditions for ideal adhesion and this requires direct contact with the metal substrate. It is essential that this surface is kept free of contamination, whether it be chemical, millscale or any other coatings.

It must also be free of oxides and other contaminants such as fat, oil and grease which would also require chemical cleaning.

The perfect bond will only occur on a surface that is flat and even, which means there should be no machining lines or burrs with minimal shape deviation. This is imperative when the layer of adhesive in question is thinner as this means there is less room for deviation in form – depending on the type of adhesive used.

For example, with low viscosity adhesives such as cyanoacrylates (superglue) you will need a reasonably flat, smooth surface with a roughness average of below 1 micron, then with epoxy resins and high strength bonding tapes you need a deeper scratch to really key into that surface so a surface roughness of around 1 and 2 microns is more desirable.

can be used independent of the metal type but softer metals such as aluminium and zinc usually require a finer grade of product to achieve the surface roughness when compared to e.g. steels.

Mild Steel – A common application is the removal of any millscale formed on the outer surfaces of plates, sheets or profiles when they have been produced by rolling hot steel billets in rolling mills.

Even when welding the millscale will need to be removed. For very tough millscale you would typically need a grinding wheel in order to really get under the surface but there are products available in the market that can make these processes easier.

For example 3M has developed a system called Heavy Duty Roto Peen consisting of Tungsten Carbide shot particles attached to heavy duty material in the form of flaps that are mounted in a hub and used on a special machine which controls the height so only the scale is removed as the shot particles hit the surface.

Stainless steel – The hot rolled scale that you will find on stainless steel will generally be a little bit lighter than on mild steel, so medium grade coated abrasive fibre discs or belts or even surface conditioning discs or belts could be used here to remove the surface structure. The same products may be used on cold rolled stainless steel but this time, rather than removing the scale, they are needed to increase the surface roughness to make it suitable for bonding.

Aluminium/zinc/copper – As these are

softer metals which oxidise very quickly, surface preparation will need to be carried out immediately prior to adhesion to create an active surface. To treat nonferrous metals, you should be using the same abrasives as for stainless steel but one grade or so finer while working at 60% of the speed used. This will limit heat development and sticking of the metal on the abrasive.

Cleaning This is a much more common task than surface preparation and is used when removing unwanted layers from the substrate. Examples of these contaminants include; paint, corrosion, sealers, coatings, primers and oxidisation.

In the image below, you can see the top part of the contamination, (such as any of those listed above). Next to it you can then see the benefits of introducing a, e.g. Scotch-Brite NonWoven AbrasiveTechnology by 3M, which removes the contamination

Dirt (rust,paint, etc)

Wire brush

Scotch-briteTM

Coated abrasive

Which metal?

When using non-woven abrasive technology such as Scotch-Brite Abrasives by 3M, then the same types of products *Technical Specialist for abrasives at science-based company, 3M Aluminium International Today

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without significantly affecting the metal surface itself compared to wire brushes, which may only partially remove the contamination and coated abrasives which remove the metal as well and so affect the surface geometry of the part.

In metal fabrication, cleaning would normally be required when a component needs refurbishing or after welding if the weld is not removed. Other typical applications would be removal of rust, oxide, paint, lacquer or coatings.

So what are the pros and cons of each method?

Electrochemical cleaning This is a popular method because it is done with an electrode gun and does not create the waste acid that you get with a normal pickling process. Good

for getting right into corners and small tight access areas, it can be useful for removing embedded iron, heat tint and some other contaminants, usually with nitric-hydrofluoric acid mixture by electro polishing. These processes remove, in a controlled manner, the dark oxide film and a thin layer of metal under it from the affected areas, leaving a clean, defect-free surface. The protective film reforms after exposure to air.

Chemical cleaning Pickling pastes can be an unpleasant substance to work with as they release fumes from the nitric and hydrochloric acids used in the paste and can burn human skin. Chemical paste, however, removes all ferritic contamination left at the time of the welding process. This pickling process recreates the conditions needed to form the transparent Oxide film, which protects welded stainless steel from corroding.

Mechanical cleaning/wire brushes Wire brushes can be dangerous if they come into contact with skin as they are highly aggressive, and eye and body protection is required due to the risk of wires becoming loose. Consideration also

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One alternative to these methods is the Scotch-Brite Radial Bristle Brush by 3M. It is clean, dry and more efficient and does not damage the underlying surface as it conforms to contoured parts and can bend into narrow and hard to reach areas.

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PROFILE: SURFACE TREATMENT 57

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The finishing touch Tomburn offers clients access to the knowledge of a wide spectrum of finishing and accompanying services, accrued from more than four decades of industry experience. These customers are market leaders in their own right, coming from industries such as mobility, rail, ventilation, solar shading, street furniture, glazing, fencing and electronics.

In this profile, Carl Tomlinson, Operations Director, explains how the business is organised into three divisions and gives further details of their services.

“Tomburn Limited was formed in 1998

by John Tomlinson and David Hepburn when they acquired the UK business from Heywood Williams plc in a management buyout,” he begins. “The business now operates from two UK divisions – Birmingham Powder Coatings (BPC) and LBL Finishers (LBL) - and it has a Czech subsidiary called Tomburn CZ s.r.o.”

Now operating from a 45,000ft2 factory, situated in the south of Birmingham, BPC originally started as a powder coating company working on British Army barrack bed frames.

Today, BPC is widely acknowledged as one of the leading applicators of quality architectural powder coatings, with a growing reputation for added value activities such as the assembly of solar shading modules, taping of coated profiles and logistics. It is also the longest continuous holder of a Syntha Pulvin applicator’s licence, which enables it to offer warranties of up to 40 years.

The second division, LBL Finishers, was created from the merger of three other companies: Lofting Stoving and Engraving Ltd, Banstead Finishers Ltd and Lustre Stoving Enamels Ltd. and has built on the traditional industrial, rail and architectural markets of these businesses. The factory in Portsmouth now also serves the mobility, fencing and filtration markets.

Finally comes the newest addition, which was opened in August 2008.

“Tomburn CZ, located just north of Brno in the manufacturing heartland of the Czech Republic, coats and shotblasts both aluminium and steel.

As well as serving the mobility market, the business is growing its reputation

for coating large, complex fabrications for the agricultural, heating and industrial equipment markets. Tomburn CZ plans to expand into the European architectural aluminium market and install manufacturing and assembly operations,” says Carl.

“As active members of ALFED and CAB, we benefit from up-to-date insights into our markets and from contact with key players in the aluminium value chain.

For example, the construction market has been very busy over the summer period, but we are expecting to see that slow down as we enter autumn/winter.

Our other markets are showing a strong trading level,” continues Carl.

To give further details of what Tomburn can offer, Chris Mansfield, Commercial Director gave some specific examples of recent contracts: “We are currently supporting an aluminium systems business by coating approximately 30 tonnes of extrusions a week.”

“We are also involved in a project where we are cutting and preparing aluminium extruded solar shading items before painting them in a specially formulated, high durability powder coating and packing for transit to the Middle East.

“Furthermore, we have developed in conjunction with our customer and powder supplier - a bespoke coating solution that provides an aesthetically pleasing product with excellent abrasion resistance for the mobility market.”

It is clear from Chris’ comments that Tomburn values close working relationships with both clients and suppliers, and as he explains, the company’s offering is more than a simple service: “We are offering a coating system,” he emphasises. “We take our customers’ free issue materials, pre-treat these using speciality chemicals and apply the powder over the treated

aluminium. All stages of the process have to be in control for the system to work and our suppliers regularly test our process, and the work we produce to ensure we can all be confident of the market leading warranties we offer. We also work alongside paint suppliers to develop new finishes to keep our customers ahead of their markets.

“Our ability to service and exceed our clients’ expectations has accounted for solid partnerships lasting in excess of 30 years.”

This dedicated process is supported by a range of facilities that have been the recipient of investments and improvements in recent times. “Over the last five years Tomburn has been overhauling its plant to enable us to reduce energy consumption, improve quality and productivity and maintain service levels,” said Chris. “We are currently completing this process at BPC, and completing this investment in order to maximise our quality, and capitalising on the market opportunities this offers, are high priorities for the business going forward.”

With the ongoing investments and some highly impressive contracts under its belt including the National Assembly of Wales, Costa Coffee in Liverpool, The London Underground, The Pestana Hotel in London and The Wall in Utrecht in Holland, Tomburn’s next few years look set to be exciting.

Chris concluded with some further plans for the future: “As the founders of Tomburn start to plan their retirement we are building a new management team to grow the UK and CZ businesses.

“We have identified target markets, which will enable us to broaden our sales base, and we will be looking at new technologies to enable us to offer a broader suite of services.” 

www.tomburn.com Aluminium International Today

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Aluminium’s role in architecture With aluminium the metal of choice for the fenestration industry, Nadine Firth* spoke to Adrian Toon, President of the Federation of the European Window and Curtain Wall Manufacturer Associations (FAECF) about aluminium’s sustainability and durability in façade design.

As the President of FAECF, what is your background in the fenestration industry?

Since starting in the industry in 1980 at Glostal Systems in Tewkesbury, now Sapa Building Systems, I have worked for various aluminium and PVC fenestration companies in the UK and Europe. My early career was in sales, I then moved into product testing and training. After completing an MBA in the 1990’s and on leaving Glostal I took on some senior management roles with aluminium companies, culminating with the post of MD of Reynaers UK. In 2004 I set up a2n Management, which allowed me to indulge in my passion of architectural photography, marketing and façade consultancy. Based in Ross-on-Wye and Manchester, I now offer these services across the UK and Europe.

In 2000, whilst at Reynaers, who were already a member of the Council for Aluminium in Building, I was invited to stand as a Board member. During the difficult years of 2009/11, I was honoured to hold the post of President of the association. Whilst I respect all materials used today in fenestration systems, it has always been aluminium that I have preferred working with.

What is the objective of FAECF and how does it work with the aluminium industry in particular?

FAECF, the Federation of the European Window and Curtain Wall Manufacturer Associations, are made up of European country associations who work together to help harmonise existing and emerging standards that affect the European Community.

Working with the European Aluminium Association (EAA) and the Metals for Building (MfB) initiative, FAECF act as a voice for the industry. Many of the

“FAECF will continue to work to harmonise standards and ensure at the same time that architects and designers retain the design freedom that aluminium offers in the

”

construction industry.

members of FAECF sit on European technical committee meetings, such as the CEN/TC 33 committee for doors,

windows, shutters, building hardware and curtain walling.

FAECF represent, through their member

*Editor, Aluminium International Today Aluminium International Today

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associations, the widest cross section of supply chain companies involved in the European facade industry and ultimately are responsible for guiding standards development. When required, FAECF will compile and publish freely available guidance documents to help members and the wider industry understand and put into practice new legislation. These are found on the associations website at FAECF.eu What are the benefits of working with aluminium in such applications?

Since the turn of the 20th century, when aluminium first became a commercial proposition, it has been used in a wide range of applications. Today the martial is particularly active in packaging, transport and the largest sector, construction. Not only is aluminium strong and lightweight with excellent corrosion resistance, it has a high residual value. Used in construction, we know from research that over 95% of all aluminium in deconstruction of buildings is collected and recycled. Often the aluminium being recycled is worth much more in scrap than its original cost, making it an economic material to use. With the fact that aluminium can be manufactured into any conceivable shape using extrusion, casting or sheet forms, it is certainly one of our most modern and flexible metals.

Does aluminium bring any unique properties to buildings?

With aluminium’s high strength to weight ration, frames can be made very slim but still retain strength; this allows more natural light into buildings and at the same time actually improves thermal efficiency. High thermally efficient aluminium profiles today use a polyamide core, which is inherently stable whilst allowing aluminium profiles to retain their slim sight lines and optimal strength. With modern methods of bonding glass to aluminium, extruded aluminium can also act as an excellent structural subframe for fully glazed façades, windows and more recently doors. The result is even cleaner lines and the ability for architects to design simple, sustainable facades that will last the lifetime of the building itself.

Aluminium framed façade systems can now also offer high break-in security, ballistics resistance, blast resistance and fire resistance of more than two hours. These enhanced systems have been developed by some of the top systems companies across Europe and the development is continuing to find even more ways of offering efficient and effective facades.

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to promote the environmental enduse benefits of using aluminium in construction projects?

Aluminium has long been known for its almost 100% recyclability, other fenestration materials have also spent a great deal of time to look at their own recycling capabilities and have become a lot more recallable in recent years. I believe we need to continually drive the message home that aluminium used in construction has unique design properties and will always have a future value making it a perfect sustainable material to specify.

The high-embodied argument is slowly loosing ground as the world’s extruders continue to become more efficient in producing prime aluminium.

Do you think there has been an increase in the amount of scrap aluminium being re-used in buildings to form a closed-loop?

There are some initiatives in the industry such as the A/U/F in Germany where aluminium extrusions from windows is being recycled back into window extrusion.

In the Netherlands, sustainability and recycling is the major topic within AluEco, the Dutch variant of AUF. This keeps the integrity of the alloy more consistent and adds value to the scrap material, but I understand at the moment that there is little efficiency to add to the scheme at this time, but in time this will improve.

Currently all re-melters already grade material into sheet, extrusion and cast scrap, but I would like to see the A/U/F initiative set up in other countries as it certainly is the future to close the recycling loop more effectively.

In the future façade technology will be able to increase further the sustainability scores of buildings and helps to realise so called “ green buildings “. This is not only a theoretical perspective but it is already measurable within the sustainability ratings schemes such as LEED or BREEAM. Within these current frameworks the facade is already able to score about 1012% of all credit available.

In what ways can aluminium be used to highlight the finish of a project?

Aluminium can be used in anodised form in various finishes that highlight its use.

Once the only finish available, it is sadly not used enough in today’s construction.

The current trend is for architects is to specify aluminium on that basis of the vast colour range that is now available through powder coating. FAECF support the use of the Qualicoat standard for all coatings which include various formulations, known as powder coating ‘classes’, which extend both UV stability and gloss

retention on coated commercial facades offering a finish that can last a buildings lifetime.

The recent ESTAL congress highlighted sustainable surface treatment solutions.

How important is this?

‘Sustainability’ is the buzzword within the construction industry at the moment.

We know that aluminium cannot be questioned on its recyclability, we also know that with modern thermal breaks, high thermal efficiency is a given, but with the advent of improved finishes, discussed at the congress, the future for these applied finishes is very strong. The longer the finish on aluminium will last with minimal cleaning and maintenance, the longer the aluminium façade will last before replacement. It is crucial that the industry continues to develop new and efficient methods of applied and anodised finishes and to this extent we fully support the excellent work of ESTAL. How is the current aluminium market affecting the fenestration industry?

The commercial fenestration sector in the UK is quite active at the moment, not back quite yet to pre 2008 levels, but it continues to rise steadily. The rest of Europe is now seeing an upturn, so the outlook is good.

The big issue affecting our façade industry at the moment is the lack of experienced labour. On the aluminium supply front, traded aluminium prices continue to fall, as the energy needed to produce, in the form of oil, is also very low. This also affects the scrap costs of aluminium but the costs difference in percentage terms between new and recycled aluminium should remain about the same.

What challenges is the industry facing as we head into 2016?

The aluminium fenestration sector is challenged with offering higher frame efficiency. Over half the energy we consume is consumed in our current building stock, so we have to improve the thermal efficiency of our buildings in order to make huge savings in energy consumption. Improvement in aluminium frame thermal efficiencies and glazing is the route forward and with the Eco Design initiative being introduced in Europe is a challenge for the whole fenestration industry. We need to replace more inefficient windows in our building stock to realise long-term energy savings.

FAECF will continue to work to harmonise standards and ensure at the same time that architects and designers retain the design freedom that aluminium offers in the construction industry.  Aluminium International Today

1/20/16 2:51 PM

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62 SURFACE TREATMENT

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Making an impact

The bright lights of New York City usually get their shine from theatres, restaurants and bars. However, last year, aluminium had its moment in the spotlight, as one manufacturer showed off its creative side by taking on a project for world-renowned artist and architect, Santiago Calatrava.

While American Manufacturing & Engineering Co., (AMECO) is a fabricator, not an art studio, it didn’t stop the manufacturer from taking on a sculpture project, which was displayed along Park Avenue in New York City.

AMECO became involved with the Calatrava project in 2013 through the company’s industrial arts connections at Virginia Tech, where AMECO’s owner earned his Materials Engineering degree.

The task in hand With a tight time frame and the scale of the three largest sculptures - up to 20 feet high by 33 feet long, and very

complex shapes - AMECO rose to the task to deliver all three sculptures on time, and on budget.

“This project started from a sketch by the artist. This was AMECO’s first introduction to the project. From this, the sketch was transferred into a rendering, which then was transferred into a final drawing. We then completed all of the development to fabricate the sculptures,” said Dave Kloss, AMECO Sales and Marketing Director.

“More than 10,000lbs of aluminium alloy plate was produced by ALCOA. From the plates, all of the profiles were High Definition CNC Plasma Cut, Rolled, Weld Prepped, and Fit & Welded Complete. The

sculpture was assembled into individual sections, and then fit into sub-assemblies.

From the sub-assemblies, everything was then bolted together for a final assembly.

Once the assembly was completed, the surfaces were ground smooth and prepped for an epoxy coat paint,” he continued.

AMECO serves other commercial and industrial markets, including heat treating, chemicals, stay cable bridges, construction, mining, aerospace, oil and gas, military, commercial nuclear, and power generation.  www.ameco-usa.com

 These sculptures were designed by Santiago Calatrava. His artwork has been in exhibits and galleries including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of art and he is well known for designing the still-in-progress World Trade Center Transportation Hub.  There were seven total sculptures made. AMECO made the three largest.  The sculptures AMECO made were about 33 feet long by 14 feet wide by 20 feet high; 25 feet long by 10 feet wide by 12 feet high; and 30 feet long by 15 feet wide by 10 feet high.

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Aluminium International Today

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ALU SOLUTIONS

WORKING TOGETHER TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

10-11 May 2016, ADNEC, Abu Dhabi The global forum on sustainability in the aluminium industry

WHAT IS ALUSOLUTIONS? AluSolutions is a freeto-attend international exhibition and conference addressing the challenges and opportunities of sustainable aluminium use.

AluSolutions will demonstrate how the industry is making continuous improvements in the environmental efficiency of producing aluminium, as well as its sustainability benefits in end-use applications.

Maintaining a sustainable aluminium industry While the primary process of aluminium production is energy-intensive, the industry has recently been promoting aluminium’s use-phase benefits as outweighing these environmental disadvantages.

Alongside this ‘new look’ for aluminium, recent environmental legislations mean that the primary industry is monitoring the impacts of bauxite mining, how it reduces emissions, saves energy and affects the local environment.

WWW.ALUSOLUTIONS.COM

While further downstream, as the demand for aluminium grows, rolling companies, extrusion companies and casthouses are recycling aluminium to use it over and over again in a closed loop system.

The sustainability benefits of aluminium also continue into the end-use phase. In automotive and aerospace applications for example, lightweight technology has lead to a reduction in C02 emissions, while packaging made from increasing amounts of recycled aluminium is driving a closedloop circular economy.

AluSolutions will explore technology and challenges in the following areas: • Reducing energy and greenhouse gases • Waste management • Biodiversity and land management • Resource efficiency and recycling • Scrap recovery • Aluminium end-use environmental benefits • Diversification of downstream

Organised by:

Official media partner:

Find out more by contacting our team: Sales Ken Clark Sales Director Tel: +44 (0)1737 855117 Email: kenclark@quartzltd.com Anne Considine Area Sales Manager Tel: +44 (0)1737 855139 Email: anneconsidine@quartzltd.com Conference & editorial Nadine Firth Editor, Aluminium International Today Tel: +44 (0)1737 855115 Email: nadinefirth@quartzltd.com General enquiries Esme Horn Coordinator Tel: +44 (0)1737 855136 Email: esmehorn@quartzltd.com

Stay in touch:

Published by

Join the AluSolutions Group @AluSolutions

WHO WILL ATTEND?

WHY ABU DHABI? The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the world’s fourth largest aluminium producer, accounting for more than 50% of the Gulf’s aluminium production.

While the primary aluminium sector across the Gulf is growing year on year, significant focus is also being paid to the downstream products and services sector.

The region is known for its high quality aluminium and the plants are modern, with environmental protection regarded to be amongst the most advanced in the world.

The volume of aluminium production in the Gulf region is expected to increase to five million tonnes by the end of 2015, which accounts for 17.5% of the total global output, compared with 3.7 million tonnes in 2012 or 11% of the total world production.

Abu Dhabi is an international business hub and visitors will be able to explore all the area has to offer, as well as taking time to visit the local industry.

Aluminium industry professionals and decision-makers from around the world will attend this event to participate in the conference as delegates and attend the exhibition to source new solutions and network with existing suppliers. Visitors will be decision makers from across the aluminium value chain including: • • • • • • • • • •

Presidents / owners Technical / production directors Factory managers Plant engineers Technicians / engineers Production / R&D / test & inspection personnel Education & training personnel Consultants / researchers Sales & marketing managers Health, safety and environment personnel

CONFERENCE The conference theme will be

“The Sustainability Story” It will provide a platform to discuss the sustainability challenges faced when manufacturing and processing aluminium, as well as a look at the environmental benefits of end-use aluminium products.

The conference will include papers/case studies on: • • • • • • • • • •

ustainable mining solutions S Primary aluminium production Emissions reduction Energy saving Recycling aluminium Achieving a closed loop Life cycle assessment Plant case studies Sorting and collecting aluminium Environmental benefits of end-use aluminium

The conference will run alongside the exhibition and is free to attend for all visitors to the show. If you would like to present a paper please contact: Nadine Firth Tel: +44 (0)1737 855115 Email: nadinefirth@quartzltd.com

64 EVENT REVIEW

Arabal 2015 The theme for this year’s conference and exhibition was ‘The integration of upstream and downstream in the GCC.’ Aluminium International Today* was in attendance.

The 19th edition of ARABAL was hosted by the Saudi Arabian Mining Company - Ma’aden and took place from the 15 – 17 November 2015 at the Dhahran International Exhibitions Centre in the Eastern Province and welcomed an international selection of visitors to the Kingdom.

This is the first time the event has been held in Saudi Arabia and was under the

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patronage of and opened by H.R.H. Prince Saud Bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Governor of the Eastern Province.

Also in attendance was H.E. Eng. Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

The event comprised a strategic conference focussing on the integration of the aluminium upstream and downstream sectors in the GCC, a tour to

Ma’aden Aluminium’s Ras Al Khair plant and an international exhibition.

Over the three-day event, approximately 2,000 industry professionals from around the world visited to learn, network and conduct business.

The conference saw a 60% increase in attendees whilst the exhibition doubled the number of exhibitors from 2014.

Aluminium International Today

1/22/16 9:20 AM

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