May/June 2014
25 years
Promoting the aluminium industry for
Volume 26 No 3
THEJOURNAL JOURNALOF OFALUMINIUM ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING PROCESSING THE
TODAY
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ENVIRONMENT
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CONTENTS 1
www.aluminiumtoday.com
2
LEADER & NEWS UPDATES
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North America - Spring 2014: Aluminum Association roundtable
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Volume 26 No. 3 – May/June 2014 Editorial Editor: Nadine Firth Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855115 nadinefirth@quartzltd.com
India update - Moody’s downgrade threat: A wake up call for Hindalco Industries
COVER May/June 2014
MINING
25 years
Promoting the aluminium industry for
Volume 26 No 3
Consulting Editor: Tim Smith PhD, CEng, MIM
Europe - New president for ALFED
THEJOURNAL JOURNALOF OFALUMINIUM ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING PROCESSING THE
15
Production Editor: Annie Baker
Rio Tinto’s Mine of the FutureTM programme
TODAY
Sales International Sales Manager: Paul Rossage paulrossage@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0)1737 855116
Innovation in mining:
FURNACES/HEAT TREATMENT
Area Sales Manager: Anne Considine anneconsidine@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0)1737 855139
25
Forced circulation can improve furnace performance and efficiency
Sales Director: Ken Clark kenclark@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0)1737 855117
28
New burner technology: Turning low-grade scrap metal into high-efficiency savings
Advertisement Production Production Executive: Martin Lawrence
Circulation/subscriptions Elizabeth Barford Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034 email subscriptions@quartzltd.com Annual subscription: UK £211, all other countries £230. For two year subscription: UK £380, all other countries £414. Airmail prices on request. Single copies £39
NEWS
CASTHOUSE
CASTHOUSE
ENVIRONMENT
Cover picture courtesy of EGA
33
Aiming to change the casthouse game
40
EGA: Casthouse investments to support regional downstream industry
Supporters of Aluminium International Today
42
MMM Ultrasonic Metallurgy
46
Dynamic Concept provides engineering solutions
15
ENVIRONMENT
28
48
LCA study bolsters aluminium’s sustainability advantage
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 Aluminium International Today (USO No; 022-344) is published bi-monthly by Quartz Business Ltd and distributed in the US by DSW, 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Aluminium International c/o PO Box 437, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437. Printed in the UK by: Pensord, Tram Road, Pontlanfraith, Blackwood, Gwent, NP12 2YA, UK © Quartz Business Media Ltd 2014
33
51
Keeping aluminium in the closed-loop
52
Fives Eco-Design programme
55
Sustainability in aluminium foundries
51
HEALTH & SAFETY 57
60
Health and safety in the aluminium industry
EVENT 59
11th Australasian Aluminium Smelting Technology Conference
PERSPECTIVES ISSN 1475-455X
Aluminium International Today
@AluminiumToday
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Analysing the aluminium industry May/June 2014
2 COMMENT
INDUSTRY NEWS
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EGA: Official incorporation Nadine Firth Editor Game changing There is a definite theme across the first couple of news pages. It also seems to sum up my recent flight path, as I was lucky enough to visit both the Dubal and Emal smelters in the UAE, before paying a visit to Alba in Bahrain. Both companies were busy with upcoming developments. Emal and Dubal were in the final stages of announcing the official incorporation of Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), while Alba was beginning preparation for the next ARABAL conference in November 2014. Despite tight schedules, I enjoyed guided tours of each of the smelters and readers will hopefully see the fruits of this labour with a ‘Focus on the Middle East’ feature in the July/August issue. As always, this issue of Aluminium International Today is full of interesting and topical articles, beginning with a look at the challenges facing the mining industry and Rio Tinto’s Mine of the FutureTM Programme (page 15). A dedicated ‘Furnaces/Heat Treatment’ feature focuses on how forced circulation can improve furnace performance and efficiency (page 25). While a casthouse feature includes an article from Hycast AS about its game changing technologies (page 33) and EGA highlights how its recent casthouse investments are designed to support the regional downstream industry (page 40). nadinefirth@quartzltd.com May/June 2014
Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai has announced the official incorporation of Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), formed by integrating the two shareholders’ respective aluminium interests. The company will be managed by a board of directors that will be chaired by H.E. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, while H.E. Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al Tayer will become its vice chair. The board will also include H.E. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber; Abdulla Kalban; Khaled Al Qubaisi; Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi; Abdul Wahed Mohammad Al Fahim; and Khalid Al Bakhit. EGA’s core operating entities are
Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Emirates Aluminium (Emal), whose combined annual production currently accounts for 50% of the total primary aluminium produced within the Gulf Cooperation Council region. With EGA’s primary aluminium production set to reach 2.4 million tons per annum by mid-2014, the company will join the ranks of world’s top aluminium producers. EGA also owns Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC), a strategic bauxite mining and alumina refining development project in the Republic of Guinea. The company plans to continue expanding along the aluminium value chain, from smelting to alumina refining and
bauxite mining; and will also support the continued growth of the aluminium cluster in the UAE. Abdulla Kalban, CEO and Managing Director of EGA said: “I would like to extend our gratitude to the shareholders for their support in establishing this global business. “This is a proud day for EGA’s highly skilled employees, who represent a company led by UAE Nationals using technology that is unique to our company and the industry. Combining the strengths of Dubal and Emal creates a national champion for technological innovation and business performance excellence.”
Alba to host ARABAL 2014 Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) will host the 18th International Arab Aluminium (ARABAL) Conference in November 2014 under the theme: “GCC: An aluminium power house”. ARABAL is being hosted for the fourth time by the Kingdom of Bahrain, and this year, it is expected to attract more than 700 delegates
including key decision makers and industry leaders from all sectors of the aluminium industry in the region and across the world. Alba’s chief executive officer, Tim Murray said: “As one of the major aluminium smelters in the Gulf region and the Middle East, Alba is proud to host ARABAL, an event of international prominence for the
aluminium industry. The event is also a testimony to the cooperation shared between the region’s primary aluminium producers, thus emphasising our support for the sector.” A Press Conference with more details will be held in due course to announce further details of the event.
Qatalum meets key targets Qatalum stepped into 2013 with the goal of becoming one of the world’s top ten smelters, by surpassing a number of targets set out in the Qatalum Improvement Programme (QIP). The Programme aims to improve the cash cost of aluminium production over the next five years. By the end of 2013 the company surpassed its improvement target by 50% overall. The increase in efficiency was done without compromising safety as part of its ongoing mission towards zero harm.
According to Deon Earle, Qatalum’s HSE Manager, a Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) of 0.69 per million working hours, including directly supervised contractors, was achieved for the year 2012 amounting to a considerably better performance than the year’s target of 0.85. “This indicates how serious Qatalum Management is about HSE and shows their continued commitment to safety,” he said. Total recordable injuries at Qatalum are at 12.5% of the total recordable injury rate published
by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) for 2012. In regard to the QIP, Tom Petter Johansen, chief executive officer of Qatalum, urged employees to build upon the 2013 results and set new industry-leading standards in operational excellence, innovation and sustainability. He stressed that the Qatalum Production System is instrumental in reaching the objectives and values, which represent a solid platform for leadership at Qatalum.
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INDUSTRY NEWS 3
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Project to boost Sohar Aluminium output Sohar Aluminium (SA), has approved plans for the implementation of a productivity optimisation project that will boost output by 28,000 tonnes of primary aluminium annually. The so-called ‘Amperage Creep’ project is one of two initiatives launched by the company with the aim of optimising energy efficiency and productivity at its smelter. The other initiative concerns a revamp of the potline designed to achieve a reduction in energy consumption. “During the last two years, SA initiated an upgrade of the pot lining, thereby opening new
avenues in terms of current efficiency and operating amperage. The full deployment of these new state-of-the-art pots will be achieved by the end of the year. This will lead to new production levels for SA,” said Said Mohammed al Masoudi, CEO. “The SA team will also optimise and improve the specific energy consumption of the potline to reduce our aluminium cost per tonne. Meanwhile, we will continue to explore all opportunities for growth, including asset expansion scenarios,” he added.
Last December, shareholders of SA approved an investment to support an amperage creep project to reach an operating level of 400kA in the coming years and boost production of primary aluminium by an approximately 28,000 tonnes planned to be completed by 2019, Al Masoudi stated. Both projects are in line with SA’s efforts to maintain its position as a benchmark for aluminium smelting operations around the world. The Oman plant's Aluminium Pechiney technology (AP3X) is globally acclaimed as environmentally friendly and energy-efficient.
IN BRIEF Alba awarded British Safety Council award Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) is the proud winner of the International Safety Award for 2013 performance by the British Safety Council. Competing with more than 500 organisations spanning all sectors from the United Kingdom, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the West Indies, Alba won the much-coveted honour for its commitment and determination to prevent workplace injuries and maintaining health and well being of its workforce during 2013. The award was received by Alba’s chief operations officer, Isa Al Ansari on April 25, 2014 at the Gala Dinner ceremony held in the UK (pictured below).
ALUNOOR: First shipment Abdulnoor Aluminium Extrusion Factory (ALUNOOR), a newly established company specialised in fabricating aluminium profiles, announced the export of its first shipment of 100% Qatari-made aluminium products to Oman and
the UAE. The shipment was inaugurated by Jassim Abdul Noor, general manager of ALUNOOR, in less than two years from the establishment of the factory located in Mesaieed Industrial City. Abdul Noor said:
“This shipment of aluminium profiles to GCC countries is the starting point of more to world markets, which will create added value to aluminium export process, and will reinforce the presence of Qatari products worldwide.”
$32m coil coating project HLG, operating as Leighton Middle East LLC in the Sultanate of Oman, has secured a contract with the Oman Aluminium Rolling Company LLC (OARC) valued at $32 million for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) of a Coil Coating Plant. The Coil Coating Plant is part of the overall OARC’s new rolling facilities that began commercial operations in 2014, with the plant hitting its full 160,000-ton production capacity by 2019.
HLG’s CEO and managing director, José Antonio LópezMonís, said the plant project is an important milestone for the Group as it is the first EPC project that HLG has been awarded in Sohar. “Oman is an important market for HLG and we are grateful to have been selected by Oman Aluminium Rolling Company to build their plant facility. This project award acknowledges that we have the local skills and experience that our clients require delivering a best-in-class project,” he said. The Coil Coating Plant facility is being developed as a downstream unit to OARC’s rolling mill, with a capacity of 25,000 tonne per annum. The Coil Coating Plant will be located directly across the road from the existing Rolling Mill Plant in the Sohar Industrial Estate (SEI) on its own plot of approximately 100,000 square metres. Trucks from the existing Rolling Aluminium International Today
Mill Plant will deliver coils to this plant for further processing. Ron Marchbanks, OARC’s CEO, said: “HLG continues to develop a strong and credible reputation in Oman and we are pleased to partner with them to deliver the Coil Coating Plant.” He added that with this project, OARC will expand its portfolio of added value of products ranges. Don Wrenn, OARC’s Coil Coating Plant Operations Director, added: “We are satisfied that the partnership that we have developed with HLG will help assure the success of our project.” In addition to the Coil Coating Process Building, the facility will encompass a Waste Water Treatment Plant, Natural Gas Reducing Station, Scrap Yard, Solid Waste Yard, Hazardous Waste Area, Pond, Admin Building, Canteen, Change Room, Warehouse, Guard House and other site amenities.
Bridgnorth to expand lithosheet capacity UK-based Bridgnorth Aluminium plans to spend £41 million ($68 million) expanding its lithosheet rolling and finishing capacity and enhancing its research and development facilities.
The new lithosheet capacity consists of the installation of an additional cold rolling mill and a new litho finishing line. The capacity of the new production processes is around 75,000 mt/year, more than doubling the company's current capacity, Bridgnorth said. The scheduled start-up of the new processes is late 2015. The research and development laboratory, a newly constructed unit which is in addition to the company's current development facilities, was expected to come into operation in early May 2014. For up-to-date news & views www.aluminiumtoday.com May/June 2014
4 INDUSTRY NEWS
IN BRIEF House built entirely of aluminium Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori has crafted a private home clad entirely with a soft metallic coat. Situated in a small provincial town near tokyo, the property, entitled ‘soft-hard aluminium house’, is flanked by two typical residential structures, allowing it to catch the eye. The gabled end of the dwelling is cantilevered, providing space for parking at ground level, while a small garden is found at the rear of the design.
Hydro agrees to sell aluminium casthouse Hydro has entered into a binding agreement to sell its special alloy aluminium casthouse in Hannover to IQ Industrial Holding S.à r.l. (Luxembourg), a private industrial holding group with operations across Europe. The Hannover casthouse is focused on special aluminium alloys, mainly hard alloys for the aerospace industry. Through the agreement, IQ Industrial Holding will acquire 100% of the shares in Hydro Giesserei Hannover GmbH. The Hannover casthouse was taken over by Hydro through the acquisition of VAW aluminium AG in 2002 and is considered non-core business. The casthouse supplies its hard alloy products mainly to a customer located wall-to-wall. The Hannover casthouse has around 30 employees and produced approximately 12,000 tonnes of aluminium products in 2013. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2014.
For up-to-date News & Views www.aluminiumtoday.com
May/June 2014
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Alcoa to curtail smelting capacity in Brazil Alcoa will curtail 147,000 metric tons of smelting capacity at its São Luís (Alumar) and Poços de Caldas smelters in Brazil. The curtailments are expected to be complete by the end of May 2014. In 2013, the company curtailed 34,000 metric tons at Poços and 97,000 metric tons at São Luís. The new curtailments will include the remaining 62,000 metric tons of capacity from the Poços smelter, resulting in a full curtailment of its three potlines. Another 85,000 metric tons will be curtailed at São Luís. “Across the globe, we are taking measures to curtail high-cost
smelting capacity that is not competitive and reshape our cost profile,” said Bob Wilt, President of Alcoa Global Primary Products. “These are difficult but necessary actions in support of Alcoa’s strategy to lower the cost base of our upstream businesses.” As a result of the smelter curtailment, the Poços refinery will also reduce production accordingly. The mine, aluminium powder plant and casthouse at Poços will continue normal operations, as will the refinery at São Luís. Other Alcoa operations in Brazil are not affected. “We know how deeply this decision affects our employees, our contractors and our communities,”
said Aquilino Paolucci, President of Alcoa Latin America and the Caribbean. In May 2013, Alcoa placed 460,000 metric tons of smelting capacity under review. Once all announced curtailments and closures are complete, Alcoa will have approximately 800,000 metric tons, or 21%, of smelting capacity offline. Total restructuring-related charges associated with the Brazil curtailments in the first quarter are expected to be between $40 million and $50 million after-tax, or $0.04 to $0.05 per share, of which approximately 30% would be noncash.
UC Rusal: red mud products UC Rusal has announced the trial production of red mud-based flux additives at the Urals aluminium smelter (UAZ). In 2014, the company plans to produce its first scandium concentrate. Both new products will be produced at a large output rate. In 2013 Rusal’s R&D proposed a new technology, and a pilot production area was launched to test the red mud recycling process at UAZ that later resulted in quite a
successful flux additives production initiative that supplied 1,000 mt of flux to MMK (Magnitogorsk), Tulachermet (Tula), Uralskaya Stal and Severstal Scandium concentrate will be used in production of scandium and aliminium alloys. In March 2014 UAZ started building its own scandium concentrate capacities (two tonnes a year) that are scheduled to be commissioned and also to be put into operation immediately.
In 2014 the total investments on both projects will be RUR 74 mln. “At this moment the project is at its most challenging stage because the company has completed the lab tests and wants to start largescale operations. And the trial production has shown brilliant results, this is why we all believe that the project is really promising,” said Victor Mann, RUSAL’s Head of R&D and Technology.
Novelis marks evercan debut Novelis has announced that Red Hare Brewing Company will launch the world’s first commercial use of evercan, the company's independently certified highrecycled content aluminium sheet for beverage cans. Red Hare craft beer packaged exclusively in cans made of Novelis' evercan aluminum sheet, which is made of a guaranteed minimum 90% recycled content, is expected to be on store shelves beginning in May 2014 in key markets throughout the south-eastern USA. “This introduction marks the commercial availability of the world's first certified high-recycled
content aluminium beverage can,” said Phil Martens, president and chief executive officer for Novelis. “Working with Red Hare, we have developed a proven supply chain to deliver this industry-first offering to consumers, setting an example that other beverage companies are sure to follow.” “Novelis’ evercan is a perfect fit for Red Hare,” noted Roger Davis, founder and CEO of Red Hare Brewing Company. “The independent certification of the closed-loop recycling process behind evercan strengthens our commitment to employing the best in sustainable business prac-
tices, making evercan a natural extension of the Red Hare brand.”
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6 INDUSTRY NEWS
IN BRIEF Sapa: Educational seminars The Sapa Profile Academy provides an overview of various opportunities with aluminium, from inception to production. These training sessions are geared toward designers and engineers, as well as plant, project, production and purchasing managers. Conducted over two days by Sapa experts, specific topics include: Metallurgy and Alloys Design and Production Surface Treatment and Corrosion Bending and Hydroforming Joining and Welding Tolerances The dates and locations for the 2014 Profile Academy sessions are: May 14-15 Toronto, Ontario August 6-7 Portland, Oregon (Building & Construction focus) September 10-11 South Bend, Indiana November 12-13 City of Industry, California For more information, contact: Jessica Emery, Buchanan Public Relations for Sapa Extrusions North America T: (610) 649-9292 E: Jessica@buchananpr.com Alcoa signs agreement with Spirit AeroSystems Alcoa has signed a long-term agreement to supply aluminium sheet to Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. in a contract valued at approximately $290 million over five years. On April 8, Alcoa increased its 2014 global aerospace growth expectation by one percentage point from 8% to 9%, on strong demand for both large commercial aircraft and regional jets and continued growth in the business jet market. Alcoa will provide Spirit with aluminium sheet products for fuselage skins from its Davenport (Iowa) facility, which houses the world’s largest and most advanced aluminium rolling mill. For up-to-date News & Views www.aluminiumtoday.com May/June 2014
EU Waste policy review In light of the upcoming review of EU waste legislation, the European Aluminium Association (EAA) calls for higher recycling targets and a phase out of landfilling of end-use recyclable goods. The European aluminium industry strongly supports more ambitious recycling targets and a gradual phasing out of landfilling. Together with better collection schemes and innovative sorting technologies, these are the
preconditions for an effective and successful circular economy. EAA director general Gerd Götz states: “Bold policy measures are needed to secure the availability of aluminium scrap in Europe, a key resource for increasing recycling rates and one of Europe’s energy security components. We are calling for investment and innovation in the fields of collection and sorting, as well as greater consistency in reporting
procedures, clearer definitions of recycling and the recognition of aluminium as a ‘permanent material’. “Stopping illegal scrap exports and reducing scrap leakage is also essential to reduce Europe’s dependency to resource and energy imports. The first and minimum step would be to set up credible metal scrap export monitoring systems.”
Constellium to build two casthouses Constellium has announced that it will increase the industrial capacity of its Issoire (France) plant to meet accelerating demand for its AIRWARE technology. Building on the experience of Constellium’s first casthouse inaugurated in March 2013, which is already producing AIRWARE at industrial scale, the two new casthouses are expected to start and ramp-up production in 2015 and 2016 respectively. These two additional casthouses will allow Constellium to nearly triple its production of advanced solutions based on its AIRWARE technology, which was selected to
be part of major new aerospace programmes including Airbus’ A350 XWB, Bombardier’s CSeries and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Launcher. “This strategic move demonstrates our ability to not only be the leading innovator in our field but also scale up the production of AIRWARE, our patented range of aluminiumlithium alloys,” stated JeanChristophe Figueroa, President of Constellium’s Aerospace and Transportation Business Unit. “Our investment, which will allow us to meet greater demand than anticipated under contract, clearly illustrates our long-term
Constellium 34 metre wing panels
commitment to strengthen our leading position in the aerospace market. And we intend to continue to expand our industrial platform in the future to accompany customer’s needs,” Figueroa added.
Alumina Rondon development The State Environmental Council (COEMA), an agency linked to the State of Pará Department of the Environment (SEMA), northern Brazil, approved the granting of the Preliminary License (PL) to the Alumina Rondon project, a Votorantim Metais development to be built in the city of Rondon do Pará, southeastern Pará. The project comprises the construction of an alumina refinery integrated to the bauxite mine, and will require investments in the order of R$6.6 billion. With COEMA'S approval, Votorantim Metais completes the first stage of the environmental licensing process, as required to kick off project operations. “The approval of the Preliminary
License represents the society’s trust in Votorantim Metais and Alumina Rondon, especially with regard to the company's environmental responsibility and the world class standard of the enterprise,” said Sergio Carvalho, the coordinator for Sustainability for Alumina Rondon. COEMA ratified the Technical Report issued by SEMA, which assessed the project positively, considering its environmental feasibility and relevance to the development of the State of Pará. The completion of the first stage frees Votorantim Metais to secure the Installation License (IL), the next-to-last stage of the licensing process, which will be completed when the Operating License (OL) is Aluminium International Today
secured. Alumina Rondon is the company’s largest project in the mining area, and is expected to start operating by 2017. In the initial phase, Alumina Rondon will produce 7.7 million tonnes of washed bauxite and three million tons of alumina, which will rank the refinery as the second largest in the world.
INDUSTRY NEWS 7
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2014 DIARY June 11-13 METEF An international metals exhibition covering extrusions, diecasting, foundry, rolling, finishing, machining, fabricating and recycling. www.metef.com/ENG/home.asp
Novelis: Can sheet capacity Novelis has announced the commissioning of a new aluminium slitting and packing line at Aluminium Norf GmbH (Alunorf), its joint-venture facility in Neuss, Germany. With an investment of approximately €15 million, it will
increase the plant’s finishing capacity for beverage can sheet. “This investment reflects the solid growth of the aluminium beverage can market in Europe, which has resulted in significantly increased can sheet sales,” said Pierre Labat, vice president and
23-28 “Aluminium21/Extrusion” Conference programme will cover status and main trends of the extrusion market. www.eng.alusil.ru
general manager, Can for Novelis Europe. “Novelis Europe is continuously investing to strengthen its market leadership by increasing can sheet production and used beverage can recycling capacity to meet customers’ requirements.”
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July 9-11 Aluminium China Exhibition and conference covering all aspects of the global industry. www.aluminiumchina.com/en/ October 7-9 Aluminium 2014 Exhibition and conference covering all aspects of the global industry. www.aluminium-messe.com November 11-14 Metal Expo 2014 Exhibition showcasing whole range of ferrous and nonferrous products www.metal-expo.ru/en/ 17-21 Aluminium Rolling Technology Course From Innoval Technology, the course covers all the key aspects of hot and cold rolling of aluminium flat products, and is aimed at engineers and managers in the aluminium production and processing industry. www.innovaltec.com/rolling_t ech.htm December 6-11 11th Australasian Aluminium Smelting Technology Conference A week filled with up-to-date technical information, research findings and panel discussions on technical issues of concern to the industry. www.11aastc.com For a full listing visit www.aluminiumtoday.com and click on Events Diary
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8 NORTH AMERICA UPDATE
Spring 2014: Aluminum Association roundtable
The Ford F-150
Myra Pinkham* provides an overview of the current state of the US aluminium industry. “It has been an exciting few months for the aluminium industry; from the announcement of the aluminium-intensive Ford F-150 to the establishment of the U.S. Department of Defence-led American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALMMII) – a publicprivate partnership based in Detroit whose mission is the development of lightweight materials for use in everything from new hulls in Navy ships to lighter and safer automobiles,” Layle “Kip” Smith, president of Noranda Aluminum, said during a press briefing at the Aluminum Association’s spring meeting in San Antonio, Texas. “In both cases this news underscores how aluminium is well positioned to provide solutions to modern manufacturing challenges as the USA and the rest of the world strive for a more fuel and energy efficient future,” he continues. While there is no question that the marketplace in general has been and continues to be very volatile, Heidi Brock, president and chief executive officer of the Aluminum Association, states that the industry has demonstrated that it is looking toward the long-term in finding a place for its metal on the demand side. “We are really encouraged by the industry’s position in North America,” she says, noting that the industry shipped more than 24 billion pounds of aluminium last year, which was its highest volume since 2007, with demand increasing by about 30% in the past four years. This, she says, includes 14% year-over-year growth in the transportation sector, eight percent growth in the electric wire and cabling market and six percent growth in both building and construction and consumer durable goods. The Aluminum Association officers voiced optimism that the Ford F-150 will be one in a long line of high volume light vehicles that will see significant increases in aluminium content. Marco Palmieri, president, North America for Atlanta-based Novelis Inc., observes that while the average gasoline mileage for North American cars and light trucks is now about 29 miles per gallon (mpg), by 2025 that number will have to go up to 54.5 mpg. “That is a big increase and aluminium is a great material to help
the automotive industry achieve that,” he says. “All the automotive OEMs have expressed interest in aluminium and we are working with them to develop ways to use it in next generation cars and light trucks.” It is in recognition of the importance of developing and commercialising advanced lightweight materials and manufacturing technologies and of educating and training the manufacturing supply chain on how to work with this material, that late in February the Obama administration announced the formation of ALMMII, which is one of the 45 or so planned public-private manufacturing innovation hubs that the U.S. government intends to set up as part of its National Network for Manufacturing Initiative. According to Alan Taub, who, in addition to being a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan, is the ALMMII’s chief technology officer, the mission of the institute is to ensure that the USA is a leader in the application of innovative lightweight metal production and component/subsystem manufacturing technologies. He says ALMMII is to serve as an essential bridge between basic research and final product commercialisation for various lightweight metals, including aluminium, advanced high strength steels, titanium and magnesium, for not only a variety of transportation applications – everything from new hulls in Navy ships to airplanes, heavy duty trucks, rail and lighter and safer automobiles – but for energy, medical and consumer applications as well. “ALMMII’s facilities and technology development capabilities provide the right solutions to promote American competitiveness, energy-efficiency, defence readiness and economic growth,” he says. The ALMMII founding members include 34 manufacturing companies, including Alcoa Inc., NanoSteel Co., Luvata, Materion Corp., RTI International Metals, TIMET, Steel Warehouse Co., Boeing Inc., General Electric, and Lockheed Martin. Brock could not say what impact the institute is likely to have upon the aluminium industry. “There are a lot of companies and associations that are now just coming to the table and looking at the
research agenda they have put together,” she explains. “But aluminium is definitely one of that materials that is represented and we are interested in growing that presence.” Smith says the aluminium industry has also taken moves to become more energyefficient, as is evidenced by a new lifecycle assessment report released by the association in January, which showed a nearly 40% drop in the carbon footprint to produce each tonne of primary aluminium. One way that it has done this is by increasing recycled content, which Palmieri says has been a big focus for Novelis. The company is looking to raise the recycled content in its products to 80% by 2020, partly through increased closed loop manufacturing. He says that the company has already increased its recycled content to 43% from 35% and is now on its way to meet its intermediate target of 50% recycled content by 2015. This begs the question whether there will be enough aluminium scrap available as aluminium demand grows and the recycled content of that aluminium increases. “There is never enough aluminium scrap. It is a highly sought after item. It is a source material for all of the secondaries,” Garney B. Scott, president of Scepter Inc., admits. However, on the up side, he observes that the recycling rate for used beverage cans has increased to 67% in 2012 (the latest year that such statistics are available) and, according to the latest Aluminum Association statistics, aluminium scrap exports are down 350 million lbs year-on-year. As a result there hasn’t been a drastic decrease in supply – at least not yet, he says. “But many companies are seeking out this scrap and more and more companies are looking to consume scrap as an input.” “We are very excited about the modern metal image of aluminium and to be part of the U.S. manufacturing renaissance,” Brock says. “We believe the demand fundamentals are very positive for our industry.” Palmieri agrees. “What we are seeing now is the kind of growth rates we haven’t seen in about 30 years, when aluminium replaced steel in beverage cans.”
*North American correspondent May/June 2014
Aluminium International Today
EUROPE UPDATE 9
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New president for ALFED Mark Binnersley* introduces Simon MacVicker, managing director of Bridgnorth Aluminium, and his work in the UK industry. Standing at the helm of one of Shropshire’s leading manufacturing businesses, Simon MacVicker is a man undaunted by big challenges. But attributing to Simon a “steely resolve” would perhaps be inappropriate, given that he’s the managing director of Bridgnorth Aluminium. Over the next two years he will be helping to further the interests of the aluminium sector as president of the Aluminium Federation (ALFED). “It’s a real privilege to represent the industry in this way and I’m very excited about tackling some of the challenges our members face,” Simon said. “One of the biggest issues we need to take on is the significant tax and regulatory burden holding the sector back. I met with Business Minister Michael Fallon in mid-January and he was very supportive of our messages about the need to cut energy taxation and red tape. But we need to keep delivering that message to Government to help ensure
action is taken.” Simon added: “We’ve all heard over the past year how the automotive industry is embracing aluminium to make cars more fuel efficient and cut carbon emissions; that’s just one way the metal is providing a solution. But it’s also used in most solar panels, so is vital to the generation of clean energy. “As an industry we really need to communicate these environmental benefits to our policymakers who, whilst having the best intentions, have created legislation that has stood in the way of aluminium providing technological solutions to reduce mankind’s impact on the planet.” Driven largely by environmental taxes, spiralling energy costs have contributed to the closure of two of Britain’s three primary aluminium smelter production plants. Since 2010, Britain’s primary *Account manager, Clark Associates
aluminium output has dropped by 87% from 361,000 tonnes per year to just 47,000 tonnes. That said, 20,000 people remain employed in aluminium manufacturing and supply in the UK, generating an annual turnover of £3.2 billion. “Frankly, I can’t envisage a time when lost primary aluminium production “reshores” to the UK, but what we can do is protect and grow the manufacturing and supply industry that remains here. “From a global perspective, the UK is an incredibly attractive proposition because it comprises a close-knit cluster of aluminium businesses providing manufacturing supply chain solutions including primary and secondary production, rolling and extrusions, finishing, shaping and forming, and of course the whole recycling loop. We need all these elements to be strong, because if one weakens that could affect the entire sector.”
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Aluminium International Today
May/June 2014
10 INDIA UPDATE
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Moody’s downgrade threat: A wake up call for Hindalco Industries
One of India’s largest private sector aluminium producers, Hindalco Industries Ltd, is currently under pressure to protect its operating margins due to lower realisation than the cost of production, following a sustained fall in global prices of aluminium and its key raw materials. By Dilip Kumar Jha* While the Aditya Birla Group behemoth has taken all possible steps to address problematic issues, external and internal factors beyond its control have hit the company’s operating margins severely, resulting into lower income estimates this financial year. Analysts, however, forecast a turnaround in Hindalco’s net profit in the financial year 2014-15 with an estimated jump in the company’s consolidated annual revenue. Squeezed between higher cost of production and lower realisation due to global oversupply, Hindalco’s profitability will improve with the recovery in aluminium prices at least to the level of the cost of production. Also, Hindalco’s overseas subsidiary Novelis has been a cause of worry due to its extremely over leveraged debt.
downgrade to a probable default rating. This was because of the company’s subdued operational performance in the recent past. Moody’s said many challenges were facing the aluminium industry, despite an improving shipment profile. These include weakness in the North American beverage can market and an increased competitiveness in the Asian markets, which continue to exert pressure on earnings and margins of the company. Novelis is facing a relatively high capital expenditure, as it continues its strategic investments in automotive sheet finishing capacity to meet increasing demand for aluminium from the automotive industry. The review of downgrade was due to contraction in the earnings before interest and tax (EBIT)/interest ratio to 1.7 for the year ended December 2013, and an
increasing leveraged position, as seen by the debt/EBIDTA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ratio falling to 6.9 from 5.6 for the financial year ended March 31, 2013. This reflects a lower EBIDTA level and increased debt due. The concerns raised by Moody’s can be addressed if aluminium prices and premia improve. Goutam Chakraborty at the brokerage Emkay Global, therefore, is concerned about the sustainability of a burgeoning aluminium premia (the excess over the metal’s LME price). The Aditya Birla Group has, however, said both Novelis and Hindalco are “rock solid companies”, adding there is no question of a default by Novelis. The impact of a possible downgrade of Novelis, however, would be insignificant
Moody’s downgrade threat
Novelis’ business model is unique in itself. The company exports most of its products to the electronics and high-end speciality and automotive makers. Novelis, which was taken over by Hindalco in 2007 for $6 billion, is the world’s largest producer of rolled aluminium products. But, a substantial loan on its books has threatened investors of Hindalco Industries for future recovery. In March 2013, Novelis reported total debt at $5.4 billion, which is likely to moderate marginally to $5.23 billion by March 2016. Global rating agency Moody’s has placed the debt of Novelis under review for a possible downgrade on concerns of debt. Moody's has placed the debt of Novelis, the Aditya Birla group’s aluminium can maker arm, under review for
Particulars
FY13
FY14
FY15
FY16
Revenue
801.93
871.55
985.68
1046.59
Net income
29.39
21.86
22.00
24.90
Earning per share (INR)
15.4
11.4
11.5
13.0
FY14
FY15
FY16 11069
Disclosure : FY = Financial Year ending with March 31
Hindalco Industries’ business guidance (INR bn)
Particulars
FY13
Net sales
9739
9821
10821
Total shipment (‘000 MT)
2964
3151
3451
3511
EBITDA
937
842
987
1042
Total debt
5427
5527
5327
5227
Interest expenses
298
305
325
285
Disclosure: FY = Financial Year ending with March 31
Novelis’ business guidance ($ mn)
*Correspondent May/June 2014
Aluminium International Today
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12 INDIA UPDATE
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on Hindalco, as analysts believe. “Novelis has an EBIDTA generation of $1 billion a year and accounts for 60% of Hindalco's consolidated EBIDTA. Financially, Novelis is in a comfortable position,” said Centrum Broking’s Abhisar Jain. Moody's feared that the future of Novelis' debt would be based on the outlook for shipments and conversion premiums within the company's geographic operating regions and its ability to reduce costs and planned capital expenditure levels. “In case, the current debt level continues, a downgrade would follow,” Moody said and added that it would review with focus on the time horizon over improved performance in terms of high realisation (due to the benefit of higher value-added automotive business). During the 12 months to December 31, 2013, Novelis generated $9.8 billion in revenues and shipped 2.8 million MT of rolled aluminium. In fact, the net profit of Hindalco continuously declined over the last three years and analysts forecast it to marginally recover in the FY 2014 - 15 after falling around 20% in the previous FY 2013 - 14. After stagnation in FY 2013 - 14, the company’s revenue is set to decline by around six percent in FY 2014 - 15.
to remain subdued. Also, looking at the US automotive aluminium demand scenario, incremental investments into the upstream will be hard to come by. The demand scenario in Europe looks much better placed. This shows that Novelis’ capex can delay dividend repatriation to the parent. The decline in consolidated net profit is likely to get partly offset through increase sales from two of Hindalco’s domestic projects – Mahan and Aditya Smelter – the two ambitious projects of the company scheduled to commence commercial production in 2014. Hindalco’s domestic earnings may rise a bit, increase utilisation for Utkal Alumina and Mahan and Aditya smelters for FY15 and FY16, which will help increase EBITDA. “We are extremely disinclined to increase the earnings of Novelis on the back of the auto theme, which takes out the last ray of hope for earnings bottoming out or giving any impetus to us to take a favourable view on the company’s profit. The estimated decline in consolidated profit will take into consideration higher depreciation and interest. The standalone profit, however, is going to witness slightly up, as the company incrementally commissions Mahan and Aditya smelter projects in FY15,” the report said.
Fear intensifies
Capacity expansion: Coal concerns
ICICI Securities in its latest report said that as dust over domestic earnings settles and significant flak in consensus estimates becomes apparent, mainly driven by a recovery in aluminium price and low cost assumptions in the stand-alone business, one wonders what can help save earnings downgrade cycle for Hindalco Industries and limit underperformance of the stock. One such theme is the increasing shipment of automotive body sheets from Novelis, which is expected as the next volume and margin trigger for Hindalco. “Our analysis of automotive aluminium penetration in the US market makes us cautious/skeptical on volumes. Given the spate of capacities that have been announced in the US (above 1 million MT) by suppliers including Alcoa/Novelis/Constellium, we feel demand will under perform, making the absolute EBITDA increase coming out of the segment a very slow process,” the report said. Muted demand visibility also implies limited investments will go into US automotive hot rolling lines, taking out a major capex risk and perhaps opening room for dividends. Following Ford’s F-150 launch, demand/supply for automotive aluminium in the US looks unfavourable considering the requirement on trucks to drive aluminium demand till 2020. Given the capacities that have been announced in the US (over 1 million MT) by Alcoa/Novelis/Constellium, demand is likely
Alumina and aluminium capacity additions being carried out by Hindalco, especially at Utkal Alumina, are steps in the right direction. Hindalco’s domestic aluminium annual capacity is being expanded from the current 560,000 MT to 1.28 million MT by FY16 (through the Mahan and Aditya projects). The company’s alumina project is among production units that have the lowest costs globally. The company started alumina production in December 2013. Considering that Edelweiss has increased their sales volume assumptions to 0.85 million MT and 1.3 million MT from 0.75 million MT and 1.1 million MT earlier for FY 2015 and FY 2016 respectively. They have also raised their FY16 consolidated EBIDTA by two percent. However, the company’s medium-term profitability depends on coal. In a recent report, Antique Stock Broking said: “The planned capacity expansion is integrated with respect to alumina by the Utkal refinery (1.5 million MT/year) and captive bauxite linkage. However, captive coal availability for the Mahan project is still about 18-24 months away (post the stageII forest clearance) and uncertainty over the Talabira coal block for the Aditya smelter raises concern on the profitability of these projects.” Power is an important cost element in the production of aluminium. The return ratios for the Mahan and Aditya smelters would be suppressed and the projects
May/June 2014
would lose value until there was an improvement in aluminium prices and captive coal was available for the projects. Sustained lower aluminium price: A worry
Debu Bhattacharya, managing director of Hindalco Industries recently said that the cost of aluminium production works out to $1900/MT. Realisation below this level is loss-making for aluminium producers, resulting in pressure on margins and cost and production cuts. By contrast, the aluminium price fell to $1680/MT, more than a month ago. This means, aluminium producers incurred a loss of $220/MT at this price level. While the aluminium price has recovered a bit to trade currently at $1815 on the London Metal Exchange (LME), the metal is still traded below the level of cost of production. Global majors have already initiated production cuts to protect their long term business interests. Indian producers are awaiting a revival in global prices and are meanwhile, adopting strategies to reduce manpower and energy to cut overall cost of aluminium production. Girirraj Daga at Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities feels considering the slowdown in China, the upside to aluminium prices remains limited on supplies still exceeding demand. JM Financial says global aluminium markets were oversupplied by 1.57 million MT in 2013. Another two million MT of additional capacity is being ramped up, of which 1.2 million MT is scheduled for 2014. This will offset any production cut (by other players). Despite the recent runup in aluminium premia to $450/MT, any cut in waiting time for physical deliveries, with the implementation of new LME norms across warehouses, could lead to correction in premia from the current record levels. Aluminium inventories on the LME currently stands at 5.4 million MT, remaining near record highs, which would restrict the possibility of an upsurge in aluminium prices. Total global inventories are estimated at about 12 million MT. Chakraborty at Emkay Global, too, is concerned about the sustainability of premia at these levels. Further, increase in interest rates, as the US Fed continues its tapering programme could make financing deals infeasible. JM continues to remain underweight on aluminium majors such as Hindalco. Rising hopes
Following some key capacity closures (globally) and curtailments, rally in aluminium prices since mid-February led to a smart 25% rise in the Hindalco stock. Analysts expect good growth in volumes, driven by satisfactory progress at Hindalco’s Utkal project. Aluminium International Today
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MINING 15
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Innovation in mining: Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future programme TM
At the recent TMS 2014 conference, Geoff Bearne* discussed the challenges facing the mining industry and the emerging technologies designed to tackle them. He presents his ideas here, exclusively for Aluminium International Today. Rio Tinto is a major mining company and a world leader in the supply of metals and minerals. Its key products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, industrial minerals (i.e. borax, titanium dioxide and salt), energy products (which are coal and uranium), gold, and iron ore. Exploration and Technology & Innovation (T&I) groups support its operations. The company is strongly represented in Australia and North America, and also has significant businesses in Asia, Europe, Africa and South America, employing around 66,000 people in more than 40 countries. Rio Tinto has a clear and consistent strategy, which is the pursuit of greater value for its shareholders. Although mining is not known as a technology focussed business, the company believes that there is good commercial reason to invest in emerging technologies. Research and development is playing a key role in ensuring it remains a global leader in the resources sector. The research and development group within T&I is called Rio Tinto Innovation. This group was formed in 2007 and focuses primarily on the development and deployment of step-change technologies to address the challenges of the mining business. As you will probably know, Rio Tinto Alcan has a technology group that supports the aluminium business and they are well qualified in this respect. Rio Tinto Innovation is the custodian of the Mine of the FutureTM programme and uses a networked technology development model, allowing them to leverage a large resource of world-class experts. Innovation hubs
There has been much discussion on how to maintain a long-term R&D focus in a volatile global economic environment and an industry that is consolidating. Rio Tinto
Innovation believes that the solution is to build partnerships and networks. There are small Innovation teams close to Rio Tinto operations in Brisbane, Perth, Salt Lake City and Montreal. These teams of specialists manage and support step change improvement projects but have no laboratories, as such. A strong Intellectual Property management team, absolutely essential to the network model, is based in Montreal. Network model
Rio Tinto Innovation has created a wide network of both formal long-term R&D alliances with world-class institutions and strategic technology partnerships with leading companies, to develop and ultimately commercialise its Mine of the Future™ technologies. This approach recognises that many of the new tools, techniques and technologies required to capture fundamental shifts in performance will come from outside the business. Our
partnerships are shown in Fig 1. There are five global Centres of Excellence based at leading universities and colleges in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Along with these alliances, there is also the Rio Tinto Innovation Centre, a partnership in India, which will build on the work of the Centres of Excellence to deliver the technologies to Rio Tinto operations across the globe. The Centre provides industrial automation and control, design, software and general engineering services. The technology partnerships link Rio Tinto with key Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to deliver new technologies. You may also have seen in the media announcement of the recent Memorandum of Understanding with Chinalco. This will see the companies investigating the possibility of jointly developing next-generation mining technologies.
Rio Tinto centres Formal long term alliances with world class institutions provide access to stable research resources to pursue targeted Rio Tinto programmes. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Centre for Mine Automation Centre for Advanced Mineral Sorting Centre for Underground Mine Construction Centre for Advanced Mineral Recovery Centre for Emergent Technologies Rio Tinto Innovation Centre
Technology parterships Strategic partnerships and MoUs with leading global organisations to help develop technology to commercial outcomes 7 University of Western Australia 10 Tomra 8 Komatsu 11 Herrenknecht 9 e2v
Rio Tinto innovation hubs
Fig 1. Rio Tinto innovation network
*General Manager, Technology Delivery Systems, Rio Tinto Technology & Innovation Aluminium International Today
May/June 2014
16 MINING
2011 population distribution World average income per capita India 2025 2011
30%
www.aluminiumtoday.com
Expenditure per capitaUS$ (2011 terms) 50
Fig 3
45
China
25%
Fig 3
40
20%
35
15%
25
30 20 10%
15
5%
10
0%
0 40,000 50,000
5 10,000
0
20,000
Copper Iron ore
30,000 GDP per capita (in 2011 US$) Aluminium Hard coking coal
Fig 2. Mineral consumption and polulation distribution (left) 1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00 Initial production of world class copper mines Escondida and Grasberg
Forecast
Energy per ton of copper, kwh/t
80% Trend in decline in head grade for existing global copper mine production
Head grade Cu%
Fig 3. Shenzhen (above) in 1982 and 2007
30000 90% 70% recovery 100%
20000 Total energy (including milling) 10000
Smelting Refining
0
0.80 1978 1982
1986
1990
1994 1998
2002
2010
2006
2014
0
2018
Fig 4. Ore grade decline
0.5
1.5 1.0 Ore grade, % copper
2.0
2.5
Fig 5. Copper production energy
Challenges
Mineral supply
The mining industry faces many challenges and opportunities. I have chosen to categorise these as either societal or geological. From a societal perspective, on the one hand there is the extraordinary demand for minerals and metals driven largely by urbanisation and lifestyle improvement in the developing world. For us, this is a good thing. But we mine and exploit from the earth, which is owned by communities and has many stakeholders. Their expectations are increasing. Clearly we must be good neighbours, meet our corporate social responsibilities and ensure the health and wellbeing of our employees. At the same time, from a geological perspective, much of the low hanging fruit has been picked and ore grades have fallen. The search for high quality mineral deposits is driving miners to more remote areas and deeper into the ground. Both of these directions increase risks and costs and force the need for larger scale operations with their associated investments. You will be aware that the situation is similar in the aluminium industry, except that it is low emissions electrical energy that is the scare resource. In summary, miners have to continue to meet the demand, mitigate the cost and productivity challenges, and survive the volatility of the commodities business. We believe that innovation will be the key to rising to these challenges.
To illustrate the minerals demand story, Fig 2 shows expenditure on copper, aluminium, iron ore and coal as a function of Gross Domestic Product per capita, as well at the population distribution associated with different levels of GDP per capita. As one might expect, the expenditure on these products increases (at different rates) as the standard of living increases and the population is shifting to the right, dominated by changes in China and India. The increased demand associated with urbanisation is putting pressure on the
May/June 2014
Comminution energy is 72% of milling energy
Improve recovery - existing resources Recover from difficult ore bodies Find new ore bodies
Remove process waste Improve capital productivity Improve labour productivity
Lower energy consumption – existing New processes – step change energy
supply of minerals. Figure 3, which shows Shenzhen’s growth over 25 years to 2007 provides a dramatic example of the rate of urbanisation. Mining products are being used to build infrastructure and meet the growing demands arising from the greater prosperity in markets like this. Geological challenges
Copper is a good example of the declining ore grade issue. At the start of the industrial revolution, 200 years ago, mined concentrations of copper were around 17%. Fig 4 shows the recent trend in
ore body
process
Energy
Fig 6. Value drivers
Aluminium International Today
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Driving progress
18 MINING
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VK1 inside the plane measures the varying gravitational fields as it flies over diffferent materials and calculates the gravity gradients. Buried orebodies become visible
orebody More dense = higher gravitational field
Fig 7. Cave tracker
Host rock Less dense = Lower gravitational field
Fig 8. Gravity gradiometer
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Fig 9. Mine visualisation
the mine to improve production planning and increase ore body knowledge is of interest as are many other applications. I believe that we will see a revolution in visualisation, simulation and predictive mine control. Benefiting from access to this new data and knowledge will be new ways of working through remote operations and support centres (or Processing Excellence Centres in Rio Tinto terminology). For example, Fig 7 shows an underground mine block cave with Cave Tracker sensors, which enable live monitoring of the ore flow. The sensors were invented by the CRC Mining and developed by Elexon. Secondly, Rio Tinto’s airborne gravity gradiometer (Fig 8) being developed for remote exploration. Fig 9 shows Rio Tinto’s three dimensional mine visualisation user interface. Mine of the FutureTM
Fig 10. Mining automation examples
average head grade for copper mine production. It can be seen that by the end of this decade copper grades will fall below one per cent. Therefore nowadays one has to crush and grind 100 tonnes of rock to liberate one tonne of copper. Not only does this generate a massive quantity of waste, or gangue, but the energy usage is very high. Energy consumption increases rapidly as the grade falls, as shown by Fig 5, which shows the total energy requirement in kWh per tonne of copper, plotted against the ore grade. You can see that it is the comminution or grinding energy that is impacted by the ore grade, not the smelting or refining energies, which are constant. Important value drivers
Fig 6 shows the important value drivers that are the targets for improvement in mining. With respect to the ore body, value comes from improving the recovery for existing resources, the ability to recover May/June 2014
metal from difficult ore and from discovering new ore bodies. Within the process the drivers are removing or minimising waste and improving both capital and labour productivity. Labour productivity is particularly important for remote operations where employee related costs are inflated. Reducing the energy consumption is another key value driver and new processes provide the opportunity for step changes here. Emerging technologies
So what are the innovative technologies that are emerging in mining? Automation and robotics feature very strongly in current research and development, also mechanised rock cutting for underground mining, novel mineral recovery and grinding technology and enhanced solution mining or leaching. New and more cost effective sensors will be essential to creating the Mine of the Future™. On-line sampling and analysis in
Launched in 2008, the Mine of the Future™programme is Rio Tinto’s approach to generating future value by finding better ways to mine through new technologies. The programme covers many of the aspects described previously, but the key themes are achieving massive productivity gains in surface mining, recovering more efficiently from complex resources and technologies to access very deep ore bodies faster. Autonomy
Our iron ore mining operation is very large. Pilbara Iron capacity has expanded to 290 million tonnes per year and is aiming for 360. Understandably then, the most advanced part of the Mine of the Future™programme is in surface mining. The aim is to develop ways to automate the mining process and you can see four surface mining automation examples in Fig 10. We have sought to improve the occupational health and safety of our workers, improve the mining process and reduce the environmental footprint. Automation enables improved accuracy Aluminium International Today
ZALCO Aluminium (Vlissingen - The Netherlands)
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20 MINING
and consistency of mining processes and the optimisation of operations. The benefits from these are stronger drivers than cost savings through labour reduction. Rio Tinto Iron Ore is commercially deploying a Komatsu 290 tonne autonomous haul truck fleet across its mines in Western Australia and they have moved about 130 million tonnes of material so far. Our autonomous blast-hole drills are being rolled out at the West Angelas iron ore mine, in the Pilbara, as we speak, and they have just drilled one million metres of blast holes. AutoHaul™, the world's first automated long-distance heavy-haul rail network will be launched this year. One a smaller scale, we are also jointly developing, with Lewis Australia, a robot to change the wheels on haul trucks and hence eliminate a serious health and safety risk. Automating discrete pieces of equipment creates value but the real benefit will come from integration of these autonomous systems and a holistic approach to mine management. Operations Centre
As mentioned, Rio Tinto Iron Ore has an operations centre. In a purpose-built building at Perth Airport, it is “Mission Control” for the entire Pilbara network. We run a complex operation consisting of 14 mines, up to 1500km of rail network and three port terminals, as well as power and other infrastructure. Synchronising and aligning each element is extremely difficult – but crucial. The Operations Centre features more than 200 controllers and schedulers and more than 230 technical planning and support staff, who have endto-end visibility of our value chain, including mobile equipment dispatch, crushing and screening, train loading and rail operations, all in real time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Processing Excellence Centres
A related, but different concept that we are calling the Processing Excellence Centre, is also exciting us at Rio Tinto. Not to be confused with our R&D Centres of Excellence, these will focus on the support of globally located operations that have similar processes. The advances in communication, collaboration, analytical tools and models allows collocated groups of experts to work with operations personnel to optimise mining and processing outcomes. The first such Processing Excellence Centre, located in Brisbane, supports copper and coal processing. This innovation will also help mitigate the problem of attracting and retaining technical experts in remote locations. May/June 2014
Fig 11. Copper NuWave pilot plant
Minerals sorting and underground mining
Rio Tinto is also developing and testing innovative sorting and underground mining equipment to dramatically improve these processes. For example, Fig 11 shows the Copper NuWave pilot plant at Kennecott Utah Copper. Technology relevance
I have aluminium industry experience and can reflect upon the applicability of mining innovations and compare progress. While bauxite mining can benefit from many of the new developments, the Bayer and HallHéroult processes are very mature and have some unique challenges. So referring to my earlier list, is there any relevance? The answer is yes, in general. Mechanised rock cutting is an obvious exception. Grinding and leaching advances may have application in alumina production and the treatment of waste materials, such as red mud remediation. I’d argue that the other areas are relevant to aluminium production and indeed are already the subjects of research and development. Robotics
Clearly in aluminium, opportunities for autonomous vehicles exist. Anode and ingot stacking are already automated, but anode setting, metal tapping, rodded anode and hot metal transport are obvious candidates. Perhaps the reason for the lack of commercial application in these areas is that the payback is insufficient based on reducing operator numbers alone. But there are also HSE benefits from reducing operator exposure, particularly to heat. In fact the greatest benefits will (and must) come from improved accuracy and repeatability through eliminating manual operations and from the ability to create more streamlined, well-coordinated and efficient operations through integration. These benefits are difficult to value. However, work is going on. Autonomous anode setting has been trialled and we are seeing the first applications in smelters. For example, Rio Tinto Alcan with the strong support of ECL, has an autonomous anode setting development programme called Best Anode Change at the Jonquiere AP60 plant and one can expect more news about this in the future. Autonomous hot metal transporters have been developed and trialled, for example by CSIRO. Sensors
New and more cost effective sensors are also fruitful areas. We know that the
reduction process in particular is poorly monitored and it resists the application of new sensors because of the highly aggressive environment and the huge number that would be required, for relatively low production intensity. There would appear to be many opportunities for innovative low cost continuous or semicontinuous sensors, for measurements of key process variables such as bath and metal composition and properties, anode and cathode currents, reduction cell liquid heights, alumina flow rate and composition, gas analysis for PFC emissions, and thermal imaging and analysis. Operations and processing excellence centres for aluminium production
The availability of large volumes of data, increasing computer power and the visualisation, simulation and control possibilities that they create, are highly applicable and will facilitate operations centres and processing excellence centres. And these are developing. For example, Rio Tinto Alcan is pursuing both the concepts of Smelter Operations Centres and Remote Centralised Process Control Centres. The former will use the MESAL IT platform to allow the integrated management of multiple processes or even several smelters from one location. The latter aims at creating regional Alpsys Operations Centres, or AOCs, to host the expert process teams supporting smelters that have ALPSYS controlled potlines, ALPSYS being the Rio Tinto Alcan proprietary reduction process control system. So while I cannot offer any earth shattering solutions for the aluminium industry, there are similarities between some mining and aluminium innovations and obvious benefits in sharing and collaboration. Conclusion
Mining understands the need to adopt step change technologies. I believe that mines of the future will be far more measured, automated, integrated, and remotely managed and supported than now. This will greatly contribute to improvements in safety, environmental performance, productivity and energy efficiency. People will still be essential to mining but many of the traditional roles will change as a result of new ways of working. This will create opportunities. The ongoing pursuit and support of innovation is essential to achieving this vision. Aluminium International Today
Deep Bed Filter Liner ...precast shapes
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- Comprehensive installation services from steel housing to full relining for any size - Very short lead time for relining services with existing shapes, including grid plates and sink plates as an option - Fully assembled and customized deep bed filter housings including refractories
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EXTRUSION - ADVERTORIAL
Reiter & Crippa S.r.l., part of the PE Group based in Vimercate (Milano, Italy) last January 2014 has signed a contract with INDINVEST LT of Cisterna di Latina for the supply of engineering, construction, delivery and commissioning of a Double chamber Static Melting Furnace, with capacity 70t, to be dedicated to the production of aluminium alloy billets, having the best melting performance in terms of dross formation and fuel consumption. The furnace features a couple of regenerative burners in the hot chamber and a dual-type oxy-fuel system in the cold chamber. The melt circulation between the two chambers will be performed by an electromagnetic stirred.
The metal will be poured to the holding furnace by a melt transfer pump. After entering into production in January 2015, the Double Chamber Static Melting Furnace will allow the Customer to improve its flexibility in the charges to to be molten, while keeping the safest standards in terms of health of the workplace and emissions to the environment.
The group recently commissioned equipment in the aluminium field with full success, like the holding furnace and billets casting machine at SAPA Tibshelf (England), or the annealing furnace at Framiva Metalli (Italy).
Reiter & Crippa S.r.l. started up in business in the 60’s dealing in machines and plants for production of aggregates. Reiter & Crippa S.r.l. started its activity in the aluminium field 6 years ago when it became part of the group Presezzi Extrusion S.p.A..
info@reiter-crippa.it www.reiter-crippa.it Aluminium International Today
May/June 2014
22 TRANSPORT & HANDLING - ADVERTORIAL
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HMR’s automated stud repair line By Italo Dal Porto* The consumption of yoke studs is huge in aluminium production. Today in most plants, the repair process is carried out manually. This traditional manual repair cannot be cost effective and cannot grant high quality standard, since it implicates handling and transportation of the anode yoke and it relays on the ability of human operator both on welding and the cut, which is usually performed with flame cutting. Flame cutting results in damage to the surface, which is used afterwards for welding, while reduction of the electrical resistance of the welded joint is of major importance. This eventually affects the total current efficiency of the electrolytic process and the cost of the same. HMR’s ASRL brings the studs distinctively to the same condition as on the new anode yoke.
The Automated Stud Repair Line The Automated Stud Repair Line (ASRL) from HMR repairs anode yokes by replacing worn-out studs with the new studs whilst anode yoke and rod is on the powered and free conveyor in the rodding shop. HMR’s repair line is fully automatic and requires only one operator.
During the process of cleaning of studs for bath, rust, oxide scale, etc. some dust is released. Also during the welding process, welding gas appears. In order to effectively contain these impurities, a special cyclone filter has been installed on ASRL.
station. While one robot handles the new stud, checks and prepares it for a correct replacement and welding, the other two robots execute welding operation simultaneously from both sides. Ready repaired anode yoke and rod is returned into the system for rodding.
Advantages of HMR’s ASRL Description of the operations The operation starts by testing of every anode stud on the anode yoke in accordance with the wear and tear specification set up by the customer. Anode studs with wear and tear above the acceptable limits are processed on the ASRL for replacing. Powered and free conveyor brings anode rod forward, first to the cleaning station, then to the cutting station, where a saw cuts the exhausted stud from the yoke, and finally into the welding station, where fully programmable welding robots perform a perfect welding. After the replacement of worn anode studs the anode yoke with rod is returned to the rodding shop. The specimens show the homogeneous welding attainable and how tight the two parts are pressed together. This improves the electric conductivity and transfers heat better then than other joints available on the market today
The line is completely automated and requires just one supervising operator. The process is efficient and very safe for the floor personnel. It reduces repair downtime to the minimum. There is no need for removal of anode rods out of the conveyor during replacement. Fewer anode rods are used in the plant (estimation 2 - 4%). Studs are replaced exactly according to the procedure set up by the customer.
Measuring station All complete anode yokes and rods are transported on power and free conveyer to HMR’s ASRL measuring station. Each anode stud is checked against wear and tear limit set up by the Customer. Anode studs with the acceptable wear and tear level are returned to the plant operation. The measurement station collects historical data, which later can be used for statistical purposes.
Cleaning station The HMR’s ASRL system sends a signal to the robot operated cleaning device and indicates which stud is to be cleaned. The robot with chain centrifugal blast cleaning device starts to clean saw cutting/welding area.
Saw Thereafter the anode yoke and rod is transported to the automatic saw station. Data from the measuring station is transferred to the cutting station, which performs cutting according to the obtained information.
Welding station After removal of a stud or studs, the anode yoke and rod is directed to the automatic welding May/June 2014
Safety system The whole of HMR’s ASRL is surrounded by a safety fence. Each robots station has additional safety fence. In case of door opening, the system stops robot movements momentarily.
Performance, capacity and quality HMR’s ASRL brings the studs distinctively to the same condition as on the new anode yoke. The operation provided by ASRL results in a low electrical resistance of the joint owing to optimized cutting and welding procedures developed by HMR and executed repeatedly by the automated robotic line. The system has a repeatability of < 0,1 mm (NB. depending of anode rod condition) and a productive capacity of ) 6 min. (NB. depends of groove welds design, number of studs per anode rod and a conveyor speed). The welding time is about 4 min per stud. It’s quite important that the cutting and welding area is clean for bath, rust and iron scale. That is why a chain centrifugal blast cleaning is a part of the ASRL system. This device prevents bath, rust and iron scale to interfere with welding and it elongates lifetime of saw blades (40% alumina contents in bath is very destructive to saw blades). It effects in up to 800 - 1000 studs cut obtained from recommended saw blades. However one must bear on mind that quality of weld provided by ASRL depends also upon external conditions. The most important for example is that joint surfaces are clean and machined. The studs cut by saw have a bright steel surface, which is preferred for welding.
*Senior Engineer in HMR Hydeq AS Aluminium International Today
www www.hmr.no .hmr.no
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been This line Thi line has h s bbe een developed deeve velo op ped by by HMR. HM H MR HMR’s HMR HM MR’’ss technology tecchn hnolo no ology gy for ffo or or the th he smelters sme mellteerrs has been been the he reference reefe fereen nce in the nc he primary pr primar ma y aluminium aalumini um n nium um ssince sinc ncee 1956. 1956. HM H HMR MR R is ssituat tua eed d in n Norway, No orw rwa way ayy,, with with the customers cus custo om merrs al me aalll situated o vveer the th he w h wor orld. ld d d. over world. To st To sstay tay ta ay tuned tu tune uned to to the world w worl orld d of of modern modeern mo rn solution ssol ou uttio ion for fo orr tthe he rrodding od o ddin d ng n sho sh hop p, me m eeett HMR HM H MR at 6th 6th h International Int n eerna rnattio ona nall Conference Co Conf nfeeerrenc n e on on shop, meet E Ele leccttrod des es for ffo orr P o Pr rimar imaryy A lumini um min niu um Sm um SSmelters meltteers in Reykjav me R eykjav avik, k, Electrodes Primary Aluminium Reykjavik, IIceland, ccelan eland, nd 13-15 3 15 May May ay 2014. 20 4.
HMR HMR RG Group roup AS, AS P Prestnesvegen rest estnesvegen nesvvegen 68 68, N-5460 H Husnes, u nes N usn usnes, Norw Norway, orwa waayy, e-mail: e ma l hmr@ hmr@hmr.no, @hmr.no no,, w website website: ebsit b e: www ww www.hmr.no ww.hmr hm mr.n no no
FURNACES/HEAT TREATMENT 25
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Forced circulation can improve furnace performance and efficiency By Jim Grayson* Forced circulation in an aluminium melting furnace can markedly improve furnace performance. The advantages that a circulation system will provide, depending on the furnace and process type, include: Reduced furnace energy consumption (10–20%) Improved melt rate/productivity (10–50%) Reduced melt loss Improved furnace temperature homogeneity Improved furnace chemical homogeneity Even with modern furnaces, only approximately 40% of the heat energy is transferred to the aluminium bath; heat loss through the flue can range from 3550% with the remaining heat loss being conductive. Radiant heat transfer from the combustion system and hot refractory walls provide 80-90% of the heat transferred to the bath surface. The
remaining heat is transferred through less efficient conductive and convective heat transfer. Molten aluminium has a thermal conductivity about 50% lower than solid aluminium; the bath surface becomes even less thermally conductive as it becomes hotter. When melting solid aluminium at ambient temperature to about 749°C (1380°F), 55% of the energy is absorbed before the melting point. An additional 30% of the energy is absorbed as the aluminium changes phase from a solid to a liquid (latent heat of fusion). This means 85-90% of the energy is transferred to the metal while it is still in solid form and potentially submerged beneath the bath. Without forced circulation
If not circulated, energy movement from the bath surface to the submerged solids is reduced; the melt rate becomes dependent on less efficient conductive heat transfer from the bath surface to submerged solid
charge material. Bath temperature variation top to bottom can vary by approximately 6070°C (140-160°F) in a typical furnace. With proper forced circulation
Bath circulation ensures that the region of the bath surface that receives high intensity heat flux constantly moves, making sure the molten bath does not get exposed to excessive heat for prolonged periods of time. The lower depths of the molten bath constantly move, which aid in the dissipation of the heat, preventing excessive heat accumulation at the bath surface and more efficient heat transfer throughout bath depth and to the submerged solids. If a 100% energy transfer were possible, it would take 1128 kilojoules per kilogram (485 British thermal units per pound) to melt 454 grams (1 pound) of aluminium. For a hypothetical furnace that is only 32% efficient, the energy consumption would
*MCR Systems Sales Manager, Pyrotek Inc Aluminium International Today
May/June 2014
26 FURNACES/HEAT TREATMENT
be 2326-3489 kilojoules per kilogram (1000-1500 British thermal units per pound). Optimum circulation includes turning over the molten metal 7-10 times an hour. Turnover is defined as the number of times each kilogram or pound of aluminium in the furnace passes through the pump each hour. Pyrotek offers a molten-metal circulation system for almost any type of furnace, including dry hearth, which typically drains completely each heat, twin-chamber or open side well, which normally operate with a molten metal heel. Furnace designs include both stationary and tilting furnaces. Pyrotek’s Metaullics operations in the USA and Europe provide state-of-the-art mechanical circulation and transfer pumps in conjunction with the LOTUSS vortex. In addition, the Metaullics systems can offer a variety of options, including gas injection, metal transfer and smart-pump technology. The Pyrotek electromagnetic pumping (EMP) system provides an effective solution for circulating the furnace bath while allowing scrap and other additions to be charged into the LOTUSS vortex for efficient delivery and optimum yield of light-gauge scrap and alloying elements. The EMP can also provide an effective molten metal transfer option. The EMP
system can be applied to most furnace types and is easily attached to most existing furnace types. EMP’s new under floor stirring system (UFS) with a unique patent-pending coil design provides consistent circulation for a range of aluminium furnace sizes. This new addition to the product line was developed by the EMP engineering team at Burton on Trent, UK. This system is positioned underneath the furnace, which requires suitable access by either a tilting design or a basement. A partial replacement of the furnace steel floor shell to stainless steel is required. The UFS can also be supplied with a shuttle system to enable multiple furnaces to be treated by a single UFS unit. By using a modified low-frequency electromagnetic current, we are able to transfer the electromagnetic current
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through the furnace floor refractory and move the molten aluminium in the furnace. For example, the UFS 300 can move 300 tonnes of molten metal per hour to provide a 35-tonne furnace a turnover of 8.5 times per hour. The company’s new developmental, patent-pending heated launder pump (HLP), combines the effectiveness of EMP circulation with Pyrotek’s heated launder system. This system was specifically designed for those customers who do not need a LOTUSS system for scrap submergence. When operated in furnace circulation mode, the system pulls the metal from the bath through the launder system, minimizing turbulence and dross build up while providing optimum mass flow and velocity. It features a series of dross dams and the ability to measure the temperature and bath level in the launder. This system will also provide metal transfer options, as well as gas injection and the addition of refining agents such as PROMAG. Pyrotek’s global network of technical specialists work with customers to determine which circulation system will best suit their applications and ensure optimum furnace efficiency and maximum return on investment. Contact www.pyrotek.info/emp
Question & Answer LOTUSS: Low Turbulence Scrap Submersion System Q. Is refractory wear accelerated by the ‘whirlpool’ motion?
A. There is very little erosion in the LOTUSS. The bottom shape can be replaced and with normal operation the bottom shape is replaced each 2-3 years, depending on the type of operation.
Mn, Fe, etc. This is beneficial; as the alloys can be added to the furnace while the door to the main chamber is closed and the furnace is melting, the alloying elements are dissolved quickly and element yield is improved. In addition, the chemical samples can be taken from the EMP LOTUSS, due to the powerful circulation these samples are representative of the entire furnace bath.
Q. What is a typical feed rate?
A. This depends on the density of scrap being charged and the melt rate of the furnace - on light gauge scrap types such as UBC with densities of approx. 15 lbs per cubic ft. (240 kg/m3), the submersion rate is 10 metric tonnes per hour. Heavier gauge scrap can be charged at rates typically up to 15 metric tonnes per hour. Q. Is it suitable for adding additions of volatile or reactive (eg Mg) alloys?
A. Our customers do charge Mg in the EMP LOTUSS – care must be taken that the material is dry and the ingot size does not damage the refractory shape in the bottom – other volatile or reactive elements would need further evaluation depending on the specific element and process. Our customers do alloy elements such as Cu, SI, May/June 2014
Q. How does maintenance compare with a mechanical pump?
A. There is very little maintenance for UFS. This is not a fair comparison as the process for a UFS and a mechanical pump are completely different. Q. Can it be fitted as a retrofit?
A. The UFS can be a retro fit as long as there is access underneath the furnace, i.e. a tilting furnace or basement.
Under Floor Stirring System Q. What is the power requirement (in kWh)?
A. Nominal 80-90 KwH Q. How does that compare with a mechanical pump system?
A. The UFS mounts under the furnace floor. The mechanical pump systems are mostly on furnaces without access underneath and dual chamber furnaces. These furnaces have an open side well. Hot metal is pumped from the main furnace chamber and circulates through the side charging well and back into the main furnace chamber. Scrap is charged into the open side well. These furnace types are excellent for charging light gauge scrap types.
Q. Typical cost of modifying a furnace to install the stainless steel ‘window’?
A. (This has to be an austenitic [nonmagnetic] panel of steel in the bottom of the furnace. The furnace would then be lined with refractory in the normal way.) This would depend on many things: Furnace type, refractory age, process type, etc. Q. Is there any potential to use the EMS principal in the DC caster mould to reduce segregation when casting alloys?
A. No, they are two completely different processes. Aluminium International Today
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28 FURNACES/HEAT TREATMENT
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New burner technology: Turning low-grade scrap metal into high-efficiency savings Petr Tlamicha* explores how aluminium processors can overcome some of the issues associated with low quality secondary material. Faced with today’s tough economic conditions, aluminium plants across Europe are looking for better ways to process low-grade scrap metal. It makes good financial sense, but it also presents many challenges. Low-grade scrap metal is often contaminated with oil, paint and plastic and this is where the problems emerge. Heavy fumes, flames and post-combustion outside of the furnace cause high temperatures in the ducting system and influence baghouse operation, efficiency and emissions. Air Products has developed a new generation oxy-fuel melting technology, which consists of two main features – a High Yield Oxy-Fuel Burner and an Advanced Low Emission Melting control system (ALEM), which can be tailored to specific melting requirements for increased flexibility. The aim is to enable the processing of highly contaminated scrap, minimise melt losses, and flux usage whilst also increasing productivity by reducing costs and total emissions. The ALEM system measures the degree of contamination, automatically controlling the oxygen flow to ensure more efficient combustion. As a result, combustion is contained within the furnace where the extra heat generated can be used for melting, reducing energy costs and shortening the cycle time.
The High-Yield Oxy-Fuel Burner is designed to provide the same benefits as conventional oxy-fuel technology – fuel savings, increased production and reduced baghouse temperatures and loadings. Additionally, comparable testing with conventional oxy-fuel burners has proven that, with the high-yield burner, flux is reduced by 10-15% and yield is further increased by 1-2%. The new melting technology also provides savings through reduced melt times and excess air, protective furnace flow patterns and a more consistent operation, when compared to air-fuel systems. An added advantage is that the technology can easily be retro-fitted to existing air and oxy-fuel operations with minimal interruption to production schedules. Case study
For many years Air Products has worked with REMET Spol s.r.o., one of the largest producers of aluminium casting alloys in the Czech Republic, to help improve its melting technologies on rotary and reverb furnaces. The company has been using Air Products’ new melting technology since early 2012 and production manager Mr Ludek Septun is pleased with the results: “We’ve measured a positive impact to yield and, with the combination of further
melting control optimisation such as with the ALEM technology, we’ve achieved great results in production, yield and lower maintenance on the ducting and baghouse system.” REMET has experience in processing lowgrade scrap. “In the last few years we have started to improve our operations in terms of controlling the combustion process. The new ALEM advanced control system designed by Air Products has brought many hard and soft advantages – one of which being an enhanced ability to process a higher percentage of contaminated scrap material than before,” continued Mr Septun. “The installation and implementation was initially carried out by Air Products’ trained experts, including training of our own operators. Following the successful installation, the system needed to be tuned to our specific operating conditions - a very important part of the set-up process. The initial settings were set by Air Products and then, working together over the following weeks, we optimised the system functionality with online data and hands on experience from our facility operators. With the results we’ve experienced, we now operate this new burner and advanced control system on two of our rotary furnaces, where we continue to realise real financial and operational benefits.”
*Industry Manager for Primary Metals and Minerals, Air Products. May/June 2014
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By Arild Håkonsen* At Sunndal in Norway, Hycast, a fullyowned subsidiary of Hydro Aluminium, has been developing casthouse technology solutions for Hydro since 1990. Recently, the company started offering its products to external customers. The LPC technology for extrusion billet casting is one of several game changing technologies launched by Hycast. The last few years have been tough on the casthouse technology business, with relatively few new investments to compete for. The difficult environment made it necessary for Hycast to reduce manning by nearly 25% and to re-think the value proposition of Hycast. But things are looking up and Hycast are now receiving more and more external orders. Also Rio Tinto’s ISAL smelter in Iceland is currently on Hycast’s customer list, having ordered a full casthouse equipment setup from the company, excluding melting and homogenisation furnaces. Further projects in China have been signed in recent months where Hycast will provide complete casting lines including launder system, inline melt treatment, vertical DC casting machines with moulds tables and control system. Instead of having to install several filters between the melting furnace and the casting table, the SIR filter refines impurities and hydrogen from the metal in one fully automated operation. Thus the benefits for the producers include shorter time for resetting a cast, fewer filters to clean and maintain, as well as benchmark environmental performance. There are two more key technologies from Hycast: The Low Pressure Casting (LPC) technology, which will be installed shortly in two casting lines in China. The Adjustable Flexible Molds (AFM) casting tables, currently being installed at Hydro’s sheet ingot casthouse in Høyanger, Norway. With the AFM technology, the producers are able to reduce the needed cut-off at the end of the slab because the technology enables casting of slabs with virtually no convexity. In addition, the casting tables are adjustable so that instead of having to purchase a casting table for each dimension, producers only need one table. That reduces their investment and maintenance cost significantly. LPC technology is based on the gas cushion, direct chill, casting technology, which Hydro has been utilising in its casthouses for more than two decades. LPC gives a more consistent surface quality
Aiming to change the casthouse game
Fig 1. Ø405mm (16”) LPC billets just after casting, AA6060 alloy
and improved extrudability, ideal for production of larger diameters and hard alloys. This technology is the topic of this article and will be explained below. LPC technology When surface quality matters
In 1977 Showa Denko filed a patent on a new hot-top casting technology for extrusion billets where gas (air) was introduced into the mould, [Mitamura 1977] [Mitamura 1978]. This new casting system produced billets with a reduced segregation zone and an improved surface quality compared to the traditional spout and float system based on open moulds or the hot-top moulds used in the casthouses at that time. In 1984 Wagstaff published a variant of this technology where the gas was introduced through a graphite ring,
giving further improvements in surface quality, [Faunce 1984]. Some years later Hydro filed a patent based on the Showa concept but here oil and gas was introduced in separate graphite rings. This technology is named Gas-Cushion (GC), [Steen 1997]. After the innovations mentioned above no real step change in surface quality has been published on extrusion billet casting. This article describes a new casting technology developed to give a smoother surface with less surface segregation compared to the air (gas) assisted moulds with graphite mould wall. This technology is named Low Pressure Casting (LPC); see Fig 1 for an example of billets produced with this technology. The surface segregation zone including the depleted zone normally found just
*Head of Technology Management, Hycast AS Aluminium International Today
May/June 2014
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Vacuum
Lid seal
Ejector
Casting unit lid
Distribution launder
Distribution basin Venting Casting table cabinet Fig 2. The basic principle of LPC casting
Thermocouples
Ejector Fig 3. A typical layout of an industrial LPC casting table
Fig 6. (left) The effect of diameter and casting technology on the width of the inverse segregation zone for AA6060 type alloys
Inverse segregation zone, ISZ (μm)
1200 1000 Conventional hot-top
800 600 400
Gas assisted mould GC
200 0 0
LPC 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 Diameter (mm)
inside of the enriched zone at the surface may cause problems in the downstream homogenisation and extrusion process of the extrusion billets. This may be related to local melting of the enriched layer or aesthetic effects on the finished product due to chemistry differences [Reiso 2012]. For hard alloys the common practice is to machine off the outer surface of the billets prior to extrusion by turning or peeling. This is because these billets normally have very severe surface segregation due to the casting technology used for these alloys (normally hot-top mould with no gas). Technology
The basic idea of the Low Pressure Catstin (LPC) technology is to avoid metallostatic pressure in the mould cavity, and thus May/June 2014
Fig 7. (right) A comparison between the surface quality between a GC and LPC billet. The diameter was Ø203mm (8”) and the alloy was AA6082
Low pressure Hot-top/Gas-cushion casting technology technology
Fig 5. (right) The relationship between the metallostatic pressure in the mould cavity and the width of the inverse segregation zone. Diameter Ø203mm (8”), alloy AA6060
Thickness of surface segregation zone (μm)
120
Fig 4. (left) LPC table in production
100 80 60
40 20
0 0 5 New technology (LPC)
Ingot surface
eliminating the driving force for exudation. Extrusion billets are today produced in a semi-continuous DC casting process with casting tables with up to 160 moulds, [Steen 2011]. It is vital to have an even and controlled feeding to all moulds and to have a controlled process. The LPC process ensures an accurate metal level control in all moulds utilising only one control dam and one laser. Fig 2 shows the LPC principle. To ensure feeding to each mould the LPC technology utilises siphon filling to each mould by applying a under-pressure in the basin above the moulds. An ejector is used to generate and control the under-pressure so that the position of the metal in the basin is stable during casting. The mould is ventilated towards the
10
15
20
25
30
Pressure in melt (mbar)
35
40 45 50 Conventional Technology (CG)
Microstructure - surface
casthouse atmosphere. This ensures that the pressure above the metal in the mould cavity is the same as the pressure on the outer surface of the billet below the air gap position – the point at which the billet moves away from the mould wall and an air gap forms between the billet and the mould. In this way there is no driving force for exudation since the pressure in the residual melt between the grains just below the air gap is virtually the same as the air pressure outside the billet surface. In addition the LPC concept with ventilated moulds will give a stable meniscus in the mould without any pulsation. The mould height is defined by the metal level in the distribution launder, which is controlled within ±1mm using a laser and a control dam. The LPC principle thus Aluminium International Today
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LPC not homogenised
3,50
3,50
2,50
Mg
2,00
Si
1,50
Mn
1,00
Fe
Alloy content [wt%]
3,00
3,00 Alloy content [wt%]
GC not homogenised
4,00
4,00
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Distance from billet surface [μm]
Fig 8. A comparison between the surface segregation pattern for a LPC billet (left) and a GC billet (right). Both billets were of diameter Ø203mm (8”) and alloy AA6060
ISZ-profile of ch77096 AA2024
8 7 6
Weight %
5 Cu 4
Mg Mn
3
Fe Si
2 1 0 0
200
400 600 Distance from surface [μm]
800
1000
Fig 11. The surface segregation pattern in a AA2024 billet
Fig 10. AA2024 billet sub surface micro structure
Results 6xxx alloys
Fig 9. AA2024 billets cast with the LPC casting technology
makes it possible to use different mould height for different alloys in the same casting mould. It is also possible to change mould height during casting at different stages of casting. Fig 3 shows a typical industrial setup with 48 moulds. The lids on the casting table are there to be able to apply an under-pressure in the basin during casting. The casting table and the starter block and moulds are based on the well-proven Hycast GC Billet Casting System but some modifications have been made to be able to use the LPC principle. Fig 4 shows a LPC table in production. The LPC technology is protected by two patents, [Ånesbug 2003] [Fagerlie 2007]. May/June 2014
Fig 5 is a presentation of several experiments where the metallostatic pressure is varied and the resulting width of the inverse segregation zone (ISZ) is measured. The dimension is Ø203mm (8”) and the alloy is AA6060. These results are partly from GC and partly LPC billets. The width of the ISZ is increasing with the metallostatic pressure. For zero metallostatic pressure in the mould cavity, corresponding to LPC, the width of the ISZ is only ¼ of the width for conventional cast billets which typically has a metal head of ~150mm (35mbar). Fig 6 is a comparison between the width of the inverse segregation zone in LPC billets for varying diameters compared to results for conventional gas assisted moulds and hot-top moulds. The width of the ISZ was measured using a light microscope. An average thickness of the zone for several measurements in the casting direction were used. Fig 7 is a comparison between the cast surface quality of a billet cast and the GC and the LPC technology respectively. For the GC billet we can clearly see exudated material and clear ring formation. The width of the zone with surface segregation is also clearly visible in the sub surface
Fig 12. AA707 billets cast with the LPC casting technology
micrograph in Fig 7. For the LPC billet the rings are almost eliminated due to the lack of pulsation of the gas pocket, and no exudation can be seen. The surface segregation was also quantified using multiple line scans in SEM. Fig 8 shows results for two billets, GC and LPC of diameter Ø203mm and AA6060. These results show not only a thinner ISZ for the LPC billet than the GC, but also a much leaner zone, with a chemical composition much closer to the bulk material compared to the GC billet. Hard alloys
Several trial castings with LPC and hard alloys were performed in a Ø152mm (6”) Aluminium International Today
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ISZ-profile of ch77227 AA7075 8 7
Weight %
6 5
Zn
4
Mg
3
Cu Fe
2
Cr
1 0 0
200
400
600
800
1000
Distance from surface [μm]
Fig 13. AA7075 billet sub surface micro structure
casting table. Fig 9 shows the very smooth as cast surface of the AA2024 billets. Fig 10 shows the sub surface structure of the same alloy. No surface segregation could be seen in light microscope for this alloy. The segregation pattern were investigated in the SEM, see Fig 11. Based on these results the width of the ISZ was less than 100μm and the chemical variations were very limited. Fig 12 shows some billets of alloy AA7075 cast with LPC. The same smooth surface as for AA2024 can be seen in these billets. Fig 13 and 14 shows the sub surface micro structure and segregation pattern respectively.
Fig 14. The surface segregation pattern in a AA7075 billet
segregation may make it possible to extrude more of the billet until back flow of the segregated layer into the profile. This may reduce the necessary butt end length. If inflow of segregated material is limiting the extrusion in any other way a thinner and less enriched zone may give increased extrusion speed and/or less scrap in the extrusion plant. The common practice for extrusion billets made from hard alloy is to machine off the outer surface prior to extrusion. If the thickness of the segregated layer could be reduced for these alloys this will give a potential of less scraped material, or even eliminate the need for machining of the billets completely.
Verification/validation
The LPC technology is verified for a wide range of alloys (both soft and hard alloys) and for diameters ranging from Ø150mm (6”) up to Ø735mm (29”) (Fig 15). Operational experience is gained from regular operation in two casthouses. The achieved pit-recovery and cycle time was comparable with typical values for the Hycast GC Billet Casting System. Discussion
For soft alloys the reduction in surface
Conclusions
A new DC casting technology has been developed for extrusion billets. This new technology is named Low Pressure Casting (LPC) and is characterized by siphon filling to all moulds, zero metallostatic pressure in the mould cavity and a ventilated mould to the casthouse atmosphere. The surface quality of the billets produced with the LPC technology is superior to conventional technologies. LPC gives a smoother surface and less enriched
Fig 15. A Ø735mm (29”) billet produced with the LPC technology
Aluminium International Today
and thinner surface segregation than other available casting technologies. Unlike gas assisted moulds used today the LPC technology seems to be well suited for producing hard alloys. Excellent surface quality is demonstrated for alloys such as AA2024 and AA7075 with inverse segregation zones less than 100μm. The LPC technology is verified for a wide range of alloys and diameters, and validated in regular operation. Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge all the skilled people that during the last decade have been involved in the development of the LPC technology. Bjarne Heggset, Geir Ånesbug, Torstein Sæther, Bjørn Vaagland, Sverre Hanaset, Idar Steen, Steinar Benum, John Olav Fagerlie, Daniel Sjølset the Hydro Reference Centre crew and many more. References [Emely 1976] E. E. Emily, “Continuous casting of aluminium”, International Metals Reviews, Review 206, 1976, pp. 75-115. [Fagerlie 2007] Patent US8413711 [Faunce 1984] J. P. Faunce, F. E. Wagstaff and H. Shaw, "New casting method for improving billett quality", Light Metals, 1984, pp.1145-1158 [Mitamura 1977] Patent US 4157728, “Process for direct chill casting of metals” [Mitamura 1978] R. Mitamura et. Al, "New Hot-top Continuous Casting Method Featuring Application of Air Pressure to Mold", Light Metals, 1978, pp.281-292. [Mo 1993] A. Mo et al., "Mathematical modelling of surface segregation in aluminium DC casting caused by exudation", International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol 36(18), 1993, pp. 4335-4340 [Reiso 2012] O. Reiso, "Flow of Billet Surface Material during Extrusion of Al Alloys; Effect of Billet Quality and Process Conditions", International Extrusion Technology Seminar & Exposition", 2012, pp.33-47. [Steen 1997] Patent US 5678623, “Casting Equipment” [Steen 2011] I. Steen and A. Håkonsen, “Hycast TM Gas Cushion (GC) Billet Casting System”, Light Metals 2011, pp [Ånesbug 2003] Patent US20060219378
May/June 2014
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EGA: Casthouse investments to support regional downstream industry Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) – the jointly-held, equal-ownership company formed by Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai, is built on the legacy of EGA’s core operating entities – Dubai Aluminium PJSC (DUBAL) and Emirates Aluminium PJSC (EMAL) – which have consciously nurtured excellence-based partnerships with customers across the world and been rewarded with loyal, long-standing trading relationships. Together, DUBAL (Jebel Ali Operations) and EMAL (Al Taweelah Operations) have more than 40 years’ experience in the primary aluminium sector. The two sites’ combined production in 2013 amounted to 1.86 million tonnes of metal (2012: 1.84 million tonnes), representing 50% of the total primary aluminium production capacity of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). With the completion of EMAL’s Phase II expansion project scheduled for the second half of 2014, the total annual production capacity will reach 2.4 million tonnes (increasing through creep to 2.5
million tonnes from 2015 onwards) – which will make EGA one of the top five aluminium producers by volume in the world (outside China). Since inception, at least 88% of DUBAL and EMAL’s production has been exported each year, destined largely for markets worldwide that are short on primary aluminium production, but long on downstream production capacity. The entire annual production is pre-sold the prior year, primarily to end-users, such that the UAE primary aluminium industry has avoided supplying material into LME warehouses. More than 350 customers are served in more than 64 countries worldwide, predominantly in Asia, Europe, the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region and the Americas. Reflecting the inherent flexibility of DUBAL and EMAL’s casting facilities, the mix has changed on occasions to suit both changing market demands and global economic dynamics. By strategic design, more than 90% of EGA’s annual production comprises valueadded products – specifically billet (twothirds) and foundry alloy (one-third). This
100% 80% 60%
mix has been sustained despite the recent global recession, mainly due to investments in a range of product capabilities at the Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah sites that has provided the flexibility needed to sustain order volumes. For example, the portfolio of extrusion billets has evolved from a smaller range of products into a more extensive range that includes larger diameters, and more sophisticated alloys to cater for evolving market developments in the transport, construction and engineering industries. Moreover, the absolute volume of valueadded products and market-share has increased steadily over time. Continuous investments in technology, together with ever-increasing knowledge and expertise, have contributed to strong and enduring partnership-based relationships with customers – which in turn have reinforced the positive trends. The product portfolio of DUBAL and EMAL is shown in Table 1. Both operations produce high added value purity metal for use in industries such as electronics and aerospace, extrusion billet
DUBAL (Jebel Ali Operations)
EMAL (Al Taweelah Operations)
High purity sow and ingot
High purity sow and ingot
Billet
Billet
Foundry alloy
Foundry alloy
Busbar and anode bar Sheet ingot
40% Fig 1 (left) Proportional production, UAE vs. global aluminium industry (2014)
20%
Table 1 Product mix at DUBAL and EMAL
Source of global information: CRU
0% UAE
World ex China
Remelt ingot
Foundry alloy
Total Fig 2a and b (below) Proportional downstream aluminium production in the GCC (2012 vs. 2015). Source: Special report by McKinsey & Company
Extrusion billet
500
2012
700
2015
600
400 Cast
300
Extruded
200 100
500 400
Rolled
300
Wire rod
200 100 0
0 Bahrain
May/June 2014
UAE
Saudi Arabia
Oman
Kuwait
Qatar
Fig 2a
Bahrain
UAE
Saudi Arabia
Oman Kuwait
Qatar
Fig 2b
Aluminium International Today
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and foundry alloy. Billets are produced in a wide range of diameters and alloys; while foundry and high purity products are made in different shapes and sizes according to market needs. The key differences between the two sites are that only DUBAL produces busbar and anode bars, while EMAL produces sheet ingot for the leading aluminium rolling companies of the world. EMAL will also deliver molten metal to nearby customers in the emerging aluminium hub at Al Taweelah. The proportional production of EGA’s main product types compared to the rest of the industry is shown in Fig 1. In the latter, remelt ingot accounts for over 70%, with extrusion billet below 20% and foundry alloy even less. At EGA, however, billets account for about 60% of annual production, with foundry alloys at approximately 30% and re-melt ingots around 10%. This reflect the UAE’s position as one of the world’s leading producers of both billet and foundry alloy. The predominance of billet in DUBAL and EMAL’s production mix also reflects the trends in the local and GCC region, where the downstream industry has been largely extrusion focused – in turn a reflection of the prevalence of infrastructure development activities. Most regional downstream companies’ products have remained at the lower-end of the technology spectrum. Today, however, this is changing. A small number of GCC extruders have moved up the added value chain and now supply a range of sophisticated products into major markets. There is great potential for this trend to continue growing, but technology transfer will be required along with increased investment in R&D facilities. Recent investment in high volume rolling mills as part of the region’s economic diversification initiatives is significantly changing the GCC downstream product mix. Naturally, the growth in the downstream industry will be accompanied by substantial job creation. Bahrain was the first to invest in rolling with Garmco and has been a significant exporter of rolled products for many years. As shown in Fig 2, Saudi Arabia is set to become the largest downstream player in the GCC within the next few years, with a forecast capacity of 695,000 tonnes per year in 2015 – the major growth contributor being a 400,000 tonne rolling mill. Saudi Arabia has the largest market in the GCC and the majority of the rolling capacity will offset imports into the region. EGA, through DUBAL and EMAL, is equipped to meet the specific and changing demands of the growing GCC downstream industry, as indicated in the product mix forecast from 2015 onwards illustrated in Fig 3. This follows the above-mentioned investments in the casthouse facilities at both sites, including the capacity to transport liquid metal to downstream operations in the vicinity of the EMAL smelter.
Fig 3. Proportional product mix at EGA, 2015 onwards
3,000,000 2,500,000
2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000
1,100,000 780,000
500,000 0
380,000
240,000 2015+
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Foundry
Aluminium International Today
Billet
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May/June 2014
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MMM Ultrasonic Metallurgy The quality and competitiveness of casting strongly depends on the quality of molten alloy and the technology used to produce it. With regards to quality, the casting of aluminium alloys is not easy, since alloys are prone to dendritic and heterogeneous structures, as well as the absorption of hydrogen during melting, which requires a specific melt processing operation in order to reduce and control the level of porosity in a microstructure after solidification. By H. Puga*, M. Prokic**, N. van Dongen*** Aluminium alloys have been gaining increased acceptance as structural materials in the automotive and aeronautical industries, mainly due to their lightweight, good formability and corrosion resistance. However, improvement of mechanical properties is constant in research activities, either by the development of new alloys or by microstructure manipulation. The aluminium foundry industry have acquired know-how to supply mentioned demanding markets, and it is able to produce high structural quality aluminium based components, by sand, ceramic, die casting or DC casting processes. However, the strict environmental protection regulations, and the increasing costs of raw materials and energy, associated to the increasing advances of emergent countries, expose aluminium industrial activity to enormous risks and strong competitiveness[1]. Thus, the current challenges that the aluminium foundry industry is facing, requires the development of new manufacturing techniques with high-tech alloys processing parts in order to fulfil the needs of the markets at competitive cost. The development of casting techniques will surely have a positive impact over the lifecycle cost, both in what concerns final products, manufacturing tools and equipment[1]. Moreover, techniques must focus on decreasing the environmental impact of the activity itself, either by reducing the quantity of raw materials, or
increasing the process yield and reducing energy costs. High intensity ultrasound applied to non-ferrous alloys melt processing
Ultrasonic degassing/refinement/modification focus on an effective dynamic methodology for degassing metallic melts and to perform microstructural refinement and modification of light alloys, namely aluminium alloys, by applying ultrasonic vibrations after melting and during solidification. This technique improves the mechanical properties of those alloys, avoiding the use of traditional chemical based degassing and refining methodologies, which are less effective and present environmental impact. Ultrasonic vibrations are proven to be effective in degassing, controlling columnar dendritic structure, reducing the size of equiaxed grains and, under some conditions, producing globular nondendritic grains, and modifying the eutectic silicon cells in Al-Si alloys. The influence of high intensity ultrasonic vibrations on the microstructural refinement is based on the physical phenomena â&#x20AC;&#x201C; cavitation, arising out of high-intensity ultrasound propagation through a liquid[2].
cavities in a liquid metal, promoting two effects: (1) Degassing effect: The cavitation achieved by application of ultrasonic vibrations intensifies mass transfer processes and accelerates the diffusion of hydrogen from the melt to the developed bubbles. As acoustic cavitation progresses with time, adjacent bubbles touch and coalesce, growing to a size that allows them to rise up through the liquid, against gravity, until reaching the surface. (2) Microstructure refinement and modification effect: The alternating pressure achieved by application of ultrasonic vibrations above the cavitation threshold generates low pressure (almost vacuum) bubbles in a liquid metal, which start growing, pulsing with a continuous expansion/compression regime and finally collapse. During expansion, bubbles absorb energy in the melt, under cooling the liquid at the bubble-liquid interface, resulting in nucleation on the bubble surface. When bubbles collapse, acoustic streaming develops in the melt, distributing the nuclei into the surrounding liquid and producing a significant number of nuclei in the molten alloy, thus promoting heterogeneous nucleation.
Cavitation
Practical problems
When a liquid metal is submitted to high intensity ultrasonic vibrations, the alternating pressure above the cavitation threshold creates numerous low-pressure
Current ultrasonic applications are based on fixed-frequency, well tuned ultrasonic sources, whereby a number of design and matching parameters must be respected,
Fig 1. Windows compatible software developed by MPI
*CT2M â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Centre for Mechanical and Materials Technologies, University of Minho, Portugal **MP Interconsulting, Switzerland ***Alupro-MPI Ultrasonics Inc., Germany May/June 2014
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CASTHOUSE 43
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presenting practical and ultrasonic efficiency problems. These basic requirements limit large scale and practical applications in laboratory scale testing. Tests have demonstrated that in order to achieve a high efficiency treatment, ultrasonic systems must be well tuned to the load. Since most ultrasound units work inherently in non-stationary conditions, they must, in theory, continuously adapt themselves to a load to maximise efficiency, which is difficult to achieve with fixed-frequency units. To meet this challenge, Multi-frequency, Multimode, Modulated (MMM) signal processing techniques have been developed by MP Interconsulting[3]. As a result, MMM technology has become the first to achieve – Widebandfrequency, uniformly spatially distributed, High-power Ultrasonic agitation – in existing metallurgical equipment, regardless of its mass, load size, and particular operating conditions. Moreover, the application of the new signal processing techniques in existing systems does not involve significant design modifications. MMM technology applied in metallurgy
MMM technology is characterised by synchronously exciting many vibration modes through coupled harmonics and Aluminium International Today
sub-harmonics in solids and in containers with liquids. This technology produces high intensity multimode vibrations that are spatially uniform and repeatable, this way avoiding creation of stationary and standing waves, so that the whole vibrating system is fully and uniformly agitated, improving the refinement/modification process. The ultrasonic power supply unit is fully controlled by Windows compatible software developed by MPI (Fig 1). Optimal ultrasonic processing parameters as: Frequency sweeping interval, sweeping repetition rate, and fswm (frequency shift with modulation) for the selected carrier, resonance frequency and electric power are adjusted in order to produce the highest acoustic amplitude and the wide frequency spectrum in the melt, which is monitored with specifically implemented feedback loops[4]. Thus MMM technology applied to non-ferrous alloys melt treatment can produce metals purification, microstructure refinement, structure modification and degassing, based on the specifically created acoustic field introduced in a molten metal in order to create spatially and uniformly well distributed and wideband multi-frequency cavitation. During recent years, the technique for melt treatment was developed and applied in non-ferrous alloys[5,6]. Based on the
results achieved from laboratorial research, a generalised ultrasonic treatment process was extrapolated to be applied on industrial scale. By applying a different mechanical design and signal processing approach in ultrasonic, laboratorial scale metal processing equipment, it has created refined ultrasonic methodology, whose main advantages are high degassing rate, uniform sonocrystallisation and micro grain refinement; consequently reducing porosity, as shown in Fig 2. On the other hand, this technique doesn’t require metal stirring, as the alternative processes, thus it doesn’t destroy the protective aluminium oxide present at the surface of the melt, avoiding its introduction in liquid aluminium and keeping its protecting effect against atmospheric contaminants. Moreover, the cavitation effect promotes the wetting and removal of non-metallic inclusions from the melt, playing a major contribution to obtain high sanity castings. Additionally, the generated dross is reduced allowing negligible environmental impact. Beside ultrasonic vibrations to improve castings quality, by promoting melt degassing and the formation of nondendritic and globular -Al grains, it has also been reported that ultrasonic treatment modified the morphology of intermetallic compounds. Recent results obtained in hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys using MMM technology proved that it is possible to convert the plates of -phase to a fine polyhedral morphology, or to change the morphology of -phase needles to refined Chinese script shaped compounds. Fig 3(a) and 3(b) show the microstructure of the sample without ultrasonic treatment, and ultrasonically treated by MMM technology, respectively. In samples that were ultrasonically treated by MMM technology the intermetallic particles appear as hexagonal crystals, of which the chemical composition and EDS spectrum were found to be similar to those of the intermetallic -phase present in the non-US treated sample. Results suggest that the application of May/June 2014
44 CASTHOUSE
c
Fig 4. Integration of CAD and CAE systems: (a) CAD; (b) CAE; (c) final product
acoustic energy changes the morphology of the -phase from a Chinese script shape to polyhedral crystals. Moreover, the formation of -phase is suppressed, which can be explained by the theory proposed by Narayanan et al.[7], i.e. if almost all iron is used in the crystallisation of -phase, when the solidification range of -phase is finalised, there is no iron available to form this phase, and its formation doesn’t occur. In conclusion, the experimental results suggest that ultrasonic processing has the potential for a more energy efficient scaleup for production of critical and advanced metal compounds, leading to cost reductions, energy savings, and many other benefits. Stepping from the laboratorial experiment to an industrial environment
A comprehensive experimental study on the aluminium melt treatment through ultrasonic system based on MMM technology has been developed and discussed during the last several years. The main objective is to provide an experimental verification and validation of the theoretical mechanisms, as well as to verify the resistance and reliability of MMM technology components. This experimental procedure complements the theoretical and laboratorial studies in the literature, and provides an appropriate knowledge for continuous innovation in relevant industrial activities including design, construction and applications of ultrasonic vibration equipment based on MMM technology. has been MP Interconsulting[8] developing ultrasound equipment for use in the metal processing industry. The company is promoting an integration of CAD and CAE systems (Fig 4) in the search for optimal ultrasonic processor performances from design to manufacturing. According to different criteria, laboratorial pre-established May/June 2014
Conclusions
The ultrasonic processing technique for melt treatment was developed and applied in different non-ferrous alloys. Based on the results achieved for different alloys, the main conclusions that can be drawn are: (1) Ultrasonic degassing can be an efficient process to degas molten nonferrous alloys in industrial scale. (2) When compared with the traditional, fixed-frequency ultrasonic processors, MMM ultrasonic technique seems to improve the ultrasonic degassing process by increasing the final alloy density and degassing rate. (3) Ultrasonic processing by MMM technology is an external supply of energy – presenting physical process environmentally clean and efficient that promotes uniform refinement of primary grains, modifications of intermetallic phases and eutectic Si, and decrease of porosity in non-ferrous alloys. (4) Ultrasonic treatment clearly improves final mechanical properties and fluidity of treated alloys.
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Fig 5. Different design options applied in industrial environment during Continuous casting: (a) degassing system; (b) refinement system
References [1] European Commission. Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control: Best Available Techniques in the Smitheries and Foundries Industry. (2005). [2] Eskin, G. I. Cavitation mechanism of ultrasonic melt degassing. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 2, S137S141, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/13504177(95)00020-7 (1995). [3] Prokic, M. (European Patent Application, 2001). [4] Prokic, M. Wideband Multi-Frequency, Multimode, and Modulated (MMM) Ultrasonic Technology. 125-140, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-74723_5 (2011). [5] Puga, H., Barbosa, J., Seabra, E., Ribeiro, S. & Prokic, M. The influence of processing parameters on the ultrasonic degassing of molten AlSi9Cu3 aluminium alloy. Materials Letters 63, 806-808 (2009). [6] Puga, H., Costa, S., Barbosa, J., Ribeiro, S. & Prokic, M. Influence of ultrasonic melt treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSi9Cu3 alloy. Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211, 1729-1735 (2011). [7] Narayanan, L. A., Samuel, F. H. & Gruzleski, J. E. Crystallization behavior of iron-containing intermetallic compounds in 319 aluminum alloy. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A 25, 1761-1773, doi:10.1007/BF02668540 (1994). [8] http://www.ultrasonicmetallurgy.com/
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methodologies, mathematical concepts, and a number of successfully realised applications, the process of creating and delivering ultrasonic vibrations to liquid metals is optimised. Fig 5 shows an example of modern design methods and ultrasonic equipment applied in industrial environment. Fig 6 shows the variation of hydrogen content in the melt of alloy of the series 3xxx along of time in Continuous casting with a maximum flow rate of 1.1m/minute. The hydrogen content was measured with the “Alu Speed Tester” equipment based on the first gas bubble principle. The results show that the use of the innovative and sophisticated ultrasonic equipment based in MMM technology and with ceramic sonotrode radiator (according Fig 5(a)) is possible to remove 45-50% of hydrogen under the following parameters: f=20.3±0.1kHz (stable in time), A=50% and T=700±5ºC.
H2 [cm3/100g]
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Fig 6 Hydrogen content in the melt of alloy of the series 3xxx along of time in Continuous casting
20 Efficiency of degassing with US based in MMT technology Without US
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Aluminium International Today
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46 CASTHOUSE
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Dynamic Concept provides engineering solutions MQP, a UK based company, has recently entered into an agreement with a Canadian company, Dynamic Concept, to represent it in Europe. The two companies see this collaboration as an ideal means to bring engineering expertise to European casthouses and smelters. By Michael Bryant* Dynamic Concept focuses on improving and updating already installed production line and facilities using the latest technologies. The company looks for ways to improve and customise the existing equipment rather than trying to supply offthe-shelf solutions. A major resource at Dynamic’s plant in Saguenay is the well equipped assembling and testing shop. Here the R&D projects currently being carried out use advanced techniques such as 3D simulation and thermal analysis. The company also has access to an experimental casting facility able to cast DC slabs where improved mould designs can be evaluated. Casting pit technology
Prominent amongst Dynamic Concept’s activities is their programme of work focussing on providing upgrades and solutions for DC casting. The benefits in this area are: Full automation using laser technology here the objective is an operator free process bringing major benefits from improvement of operation safety, recovery improvement and slab or ingot product quality. Automated and programmable mould lubrication - now often manual and not programmable. Table mould densification thereby increasing the number of moulds on a pit allowing increased production capacity. Adding two moulds to a 14 strand T bar table brings a 15% increase in capacity, as at Alcoa Deschambault, Quebec. New moulds - state-of-art technology Newly designed mould table at Usine Laterrière
Thermal analysis during DC slab casting
and improved designs.
Unitised tooling- allows preparation to
be carried out remote from the casting pit to achieve increased casting pit utilisation. It also gives precise alignment of the casting table assembly and bottom block eliminating operator adjustment. Overall the above upgrades together can result in up to +25% increased production. Examples of projects completed in DC casting at two plants in North America: Alcoa, Deschambault
The plant wished to raise its production capacity by 15% without major investment in a new casting line and asked Dynamic Concept to evaluate the options. After an extensive analysis, covering all aspects that might be impacted by two possible schemes envisaged, it was decided to proceed with a project which involved keeping the same mould dimensions and increasing the number of moulds on the Alcoa Deschambault 16 mould casting table preassembled in Dynamic Concept workshop
Design of new densified 16 mould Alcoa Deschambault casting table
casting table. One significant advantage of the table densification option was that no training of employees nor operational adjustments to the existing equipment, such as the sawing system, would be needed. The next stage of the project involved on-site collection of data and measurements, conception & design, and detailed engineering work. This was followed by manufacturing, assembling and dry testing. Finally, the new densified casting table was supplied to the Deschambault casthouse and installed with an experienced Dynamic Concept team overseeing its installation. The commissioning programme went smoothly from the first cast; a huge compliment to all involved in the project. The Deschambault plant now has one of the few casthouses in the world capable of casting vertically. Alcoa plans to install a second densified table at Deschambault; identical to the first. This will allow more flexibility to its operations, particularly in regards to the goal of increasing the number of alloys produced at the site. Usine Laterrière, Quebec
Dynamic Concept carried out a major casting pit refurbishment project at Usine Laterrière in Canada that resulted in the production of their largest ever DC cast slabs measuring 584mm thick, 2,518mm width, 807mm length.
* Marketing manager, MQP Ltd, UK May/June 2014
Contact www.dynamic-concept.ca www.mqpltd.com
Aluminium International Today
VI Inter International rnational Congress s and Exhibition Exhi NON-FERROUS TALS A & METALS MET MINERALS
NON-FERROUS N ON N FERROU N-FERR US METALS MET AL S MINERALSS M MINERAL &
Krasnoyarsk Russia
15-18 15-18 September 2014
The Congress program includes: XX Conference “Aluminium of Siberia” X Symposium “Gold of Siberia” Non-Ferrous VIII Conference “Metallurgy of Non-Fer rous and Rare Metals” Mining and Geology Conference
Congr Congress ess Sections
Exhibition Subjects
• Mineral and raw materials sour ces of non-ferr ous and p recious metals sources non-ferrous precious • Current Current technologies of mineral raw materials extraction • Alumina and bauxite production production raree metals p production • Non-ferrous Non-ferrous and rar roduction • Aluminum rreduction eduction technology production • Silicon p roduction • Precious Precious metals production production • Carbon and carbon materials non-ferrous metals and alloys • Casting of non-ferrous alloys • Thermal and pressure treatment pressure metal tr eatment projects • Ecology, Ecologyy, economics, finances, finan projects in mining and metallurgy metallurgy
Sponsor Sponsorss
Official PR-partner
Organizing committee: +7(391) 269-56-47 nfmsib@nfmsib.com www.nfmsib.com www.nfmsib.com
Informational partner partnerss
• • • • • •
Raw and other materials ools TTools oo o and equipment Automated process systems process control control sy stems Equipment maintenance and rrepair epair TTransport ra r ransport and logistics Ecology,, w wastes processing protection, Ecology astes p rocessing and disposal, labor p rotection, operational safety investment projects • Consulting, engineering, inv estment p rojects investigations innovative projects • Scientific inv estigations and innov ative R&D p rojects
48 ENVIRONMENT
LCA study bolsters aluminium’s sustainability advantage The aluminium industry has long been on the leading edge of sustainability for manufacturing in North America. Lightweight, strong and infinitely recyclable, aluminium is a material ideally suited to drive energy efficiency in applications ranging from fuel-efficient transportation to green building to sustainable beverage packaging. In the early 1990s, the industry entered a voluntary partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit its greenhouse gas emissions. This effort was recognised by the Agency with the 2001 Climate Change Protection Award. Aluminium also has unique benefits once it is put into use. Infinitely recyclable, the metal has the smallest life cycle carbon footprint of all materials in the transportation market. Aluminium contributes unique energy benefits to green buildings and around 95% of aluminium used in buildings today is recycled. Aluminium beverage containers are the most recycled – and recyclable – of all containers in the marketplace. As a result of these benefits, several major aluminium companies are recognised on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The list goes on. One key element of the industry’s sustainability approach is ongoing research to track and monitor environmental stewardship. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study released in January 2014 by the Aluminum Association is the latest in a body of research bolstering the industry’s environmental claims. Energy demand and GHG emissions in decline
The Aluminum Association began using the LCA approach to track the environmental impact of the industry nearly 20 years ago, when the practice was in its infancy. A LCA is a technique that tracks the environmental impact of a product in all stages of its life, from raw material extraction to production and use to disposal or recycling. May/June 2014
“Back when we began conducting LCA research, very few companies – let alone trade associations – were doing this type of work,” said Charles Johnson, vice president for policy at the Aluminum Association. “Even today, relatively few industries provide the type of detailed, transparent information that we do about the impact of our product.” The Aluminum Association has released four LCA reports to date – in 1993, 1998, 2010 and most recently at the beginning of this year. The latest report shows several significant improvements for the industry. According to the latest data, the energy needed to produce a single metric ton of primary aluminium by plants in the USA and Canada has declined 11% since 2005 and 26% since 1995. The industry’s carbon footprint has fallen even more dramatically, declining 19% since 2005 and 37% since 1995. A variety of factors appear to be driving this change. First, in 1992, the aluminium industry entered into a voluntary partnership with the EPA to reduce emissions of perfluorocarbons (PFC), a greenhouse gas. These efforts were extremely successful and by the 2010 production year, PFC emissions were down fully 85% from the 1990 baseline. Secondly, the industry itself is changing. Many smelters relying on older production technologies including the Söderberg method, have come offline in recent years, replaced with cleaner-running plants. Smelters also rely increasingly on computerised controls to limit the energy wasted in the production process. And finally, more and more primary smelting plants in the USA and Canada rely on renewable hydroelectric power to run their operations. The share of hydropower consumption for aluminium production has risen from 63% in 1991 to 75% today. At the same time, less than a quarter of all production capacity today relies on coal-fired power versus 35% in 1991. Aluminium International Today
ENVIRONMENT 49
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A Vital Research Tool
The full LCA report, which is available at www.aluminum.org/LCAReport, contains more than 120-pages of detailed background and data on every aspect of primary and secondary aluminium production as well as semi-fabrication. The report tracks aluminium from “cradle to gate” meaning that the use phase of aluminium products are outside the study boundaries. The industry is working on product-specific LCA reports to complement this work. The study reviewed the 2010 production year and incorporates information from 25 companies, representing 95% of primary metal production and the majority of the industry in the USA and Canada. “Ultimately, this study was developed for the research community so it was important that we take a complete transparency approach in developing the data,” said Marshall Wang, Aluminum Association sustainability specialist and primary author of the report. “Aluminium competes very favourably against competitor materials which means we are very comfortable being open about the impact of our product.” A third-party expert on LCA reviewed the
report to ensure conformance with International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards. The report is now being widely distributed to the research community for use in future life cycle comparison studies tracking aluminium versus competing materials. More progress to be made
While there is still room for the industry to improve its environmental impact through advances on the production side, most future progress will rely on substituting aluminium for heavier, less energy efficient materials. “It’s encouraging to see how aluminium producers continue to innovate to make aluminium even more sustainable,” said Heidi Brock, president & CEO of the Aluminum Association. “We can also achieve significant environmental gains by substituting aluminium in more products and by increasing end-of-life recycling.” Aluminium can increase the fuel efficiency of vehicles through lightweighting, improve energy efficiency in buildings and limit carbon footprint of consumer goods like beverage containers. A 2009 study showed that lightweighting
passenger vehicles with aluminium in North America saved the equivalent of 108 million barrels of crude oil and offset fully 92% of the industry’s overall carbon footprint. Aluminium roofs, meanwhile, reflect up to 95% of sunlight, dramatically lowering air conditioning costs. Another area for industry improvement is increased recycling. Aluminium is a material ideally suited for this purpose because it can be recycled over and over again without any loss in its usability. And making recycled aluminium requires just 8% of the energy compared to new aluminium. This means that a 10% increase in end-of-life recycling rates decreases primary energy demand and carbon footprint by 15%. As energy becomes an increasingly precious commodity in the coming years, aluminium is uniquely well suited to respond to this global challenge. Increasingly, the world is looking for innovative solutions to operate more effectively and efficiently. And aluminium can be a major part of the answer. Contact www.aluminum.org
4
ALUMINIUM 2014 7 – 9 Oct 2014 | Messe Düsseldorf 10th World Trade Fair & Conference www.aluminium-messe.com
Organised by
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Partners
May/June 2014
ENVIRONMENT 51
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Keeping aluminium in the closed-loop In the UK, Novelis Recycling is at the forefront of driving the development of the infrastructure for aluminium can recycling. Nadine Firth* visited the Latchford recycling plant to see first-hand how the company is developing closed-loop recycling to help reach its 2020 sustainability goals. Novelis’ recycling plant, located in Warrington, UK, was opened in 1991, although aluminium has been processed at the site since the Second World War. The plant produces ingots for the beverage can manufacturing industry and has the capacity to recycle around 130,000 tonnes of used beverage cans (UBCs) per annum – more than every aluminium drink can sold in the UK. The UK can market is approximately 110,000 tonnes per year, which is equivalent to more than seven billion cans. “We produce large ingots that go into Novelis’ rolling stream for the production of can and automotive sheet,” says Steve Hedar, plant manager. “Aluminium holds a very positive message when it comes to recycling, as it is well-known for not losing any of its qualities even when recycled infinite times.” Cans into cans
The majority of the cans to be recycled arrive at the Latchford plant from management waste companies. “We have contracts for supply and we also buy from smaller traders,” says Kate Ravenscroft, communications manager. “Quite a lot of the material used to come from community groups. It was always well sorted and clean, but a lot of these have now lost funding.” As the sources for material have changed over the years, so has the volume being produced. “With a production rate of 200,000 tonnes per year, a lot of aluminium needs to be brought on site, sorted and then processed, so we try to deal with larger organisations who can guarantee the volumes required,” says Kate. The can sheet produced on site is suitable for the ‘evercan’ product, which is
the world’s first certified high recycled content material for beverage cans. Made of a minimum 90% recycled aluminium, evercan sheet is certified by Scientific Certification Services (SCS), an independent leader in environmental auditing. Proving that used beverage cans are a valuable resource, evercan sheet aims to close the loop between consumer recycling and new cans. Sorting
Increasing the levels of recycled content has lead to significant investment in sorting equipment at the plant. “The enemy of recycling is mixing,” says Steve. “Co-mingled material will always prove harder to sort and so we have invested in new sorting equipment at the plant to tackle this and to reach the levels of recycled content required for evercan sheet.” Automotive investment
Towards the end of 2013, the plant received a €13.6 million (£6 million) investment to increase its capacity by over a third and become Europe’s largest closed-loop recycling operation for automotive aluminium rolled products. “With the commissioning in Latchford, we are expanding our recycling capabilities and developing efficient manufacturing systems along our automotive supply chain,” Erwin Mayr, senior vice president and president, Novelis Europe, said in a statement. “Responding to the realities of our increasingly resource constrained world and demands for a more sustainable economy, Novelis is transforming its business model to be largely based on closed-loop recycling.” Much of the additional capacity will be
directed to support the industry’s growing demand for automotive aluminium sheet, particularly from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), one of Novelis’ long-standing customers. The investment in new equipment for recycling automotive aluminium scrap includes a dedicated furnace, upgraded casting system, magnetic separation and handling equipment, as well as environmental controls. During the recycling process, the scrap is re-melted and cast into 10-12 tonne ingots, each saving approximately 100 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions when compared to ingots produced from primary aluminium. The ingots are then subsequently rolled back into automotive sheet at Novelis’ specialised facilities in Europe. This emerging closed-loop model reduces the environmental footprint of Novelis’ operations and that of its customers, such as JLR. This expansion will result in nearly 530,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas savings over the total aluminium value chain compared to using primary aluminium. Furthermore, the closed-loop model strengthens cooperative, long-term relationships with major global customers, driving the development of innovative, sustainable products and processes. This project is the latest in a series of recycling expansion projects launched by Novelis over the past two years totalling approximately €680 million. These projects are designed to increase Novelis’ recycling capacity to 2.1 million tonnes by 2015 and help the company achieve its aggressive goal of increasing the recycled content of its products to 80% by 2020. Contact www.novelisrecycling.co.uk
*Editor, Aluminium International Today Aluminium International Today
May/June 2014
52 ENVIRONMENT
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Fives Eco-Design programme Fives Solios decided to embed eco-design in its innovation process and presents a new process filter module, Ozeos, which features high environmental performance. By Pauline Plisson*, Bassam Hureiki**, and Chin Lim*** As attention is drawn towards the sectors of renewable energies, buildings and transportation, to fight climate change, energy-intensive industries shall not be left aside as they are also part of the solution. Aluminium is a striking example, as an increase in demand for aluminium is expected in the future[1] in order to lighten vehicles and aircrafts and reduce their fuel consumption. However, the environmental footprint of aluminium is higher than that of other structural materials[2]. Consequently, a transfer of impacts from the transport sector to the industry may occur if no effort is made at the same time to reduce the environmental footprint of aluminium production. Today, aluminium makes up 4% of greenhouse gases emissions from industry[3]. Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions related to aluminium production are mainly due to intrinsic CO2 emissions generated by alumina reduction, electricity for electrolysis (indirect emissions), and use of fossil fuels for mining and electrodes fabrication. Other environmental impacts include gases emitted by electrolysis pots (perfluorocarbon, hydrogen fluoride (HF), SO2), PAH emissions from green anode plants, NOX and particles from anodebaking furnaces and casthouse furnaces. Significant progress has been achieved by the industry to reduce perfluorocarbon
emissions from anode effects, to lower electricity required in electrolysis pots (now down to 13.5 kWh/t alu instead of 16) and to increase recycling rates of aluminium and dross. As a result, the potential for significant reduction in smelter direct and indirect GHG emissions has already been widely and successfully exploited. To go further in reducing their environmental footprint and their electricity bill, aluminium producers need to investigate new areas of improvement such as: • Energy efficiency in other parts of the process than electrolysis pots (anodes fabrication, gas treatment centres, casthouse furnaces), • Recovery and use of energy from pot gases cooling, • Reduction of HF and SO2 emissions from pot gases, • Modulation of pots amperage to be flexible towards electricity price variations, • Synergies with nearby industries to valorise waste streams. Several technologies from Fives Solios (green anode plants, gas treatment centres, melting & holding furnaces) are key to address these challenges. For this reason, these technologies have been selected to be part of a corporate ecodesign programme.
100% Compressed Air -Air Electricity Fluidization air
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A company-wide eco-design programme
A leader in many energy-intensive industries such as aluminium, steel, cement or glass, Fives Group strives to minimise environmental impacts of its technologies. Fives decided that its innovation efforts would focus in priority on environmental performance, not only in its activities that are directly related to environment protection (e.g. Gas Treatment Centres for the aluminium industry) but also for any kind of industrial equipment supplied by the Group. This strategy has been implemented within the product development process with a programme called Engineered Sustainability. This programme is both an internal quality process and a brand: • A process for systematically reviewing impacts and continuously improving Fives technologies, and for providing customers with quantified data and resources to achieve the best-possible performance in operation. • A brand for Fives best-in-class products in terms of environmental performance. The Engineered Sustainability(R) programme follows ISO 14062 recommendations and has been reviewed by Ernst&Young, an independent audit firm.
100%
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Fig 1 Life Cycle Assessment of TGT-RI (exploitation phase only) performed with Quantis SUITE 2.0
Climate change
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Scarce Water stress Impact on ecosystems resources indicator
Fig 2 Life Cycle Assessment of TGT-RI versus Ozeos, performed with Quantis SUITE 2.0
*Innovation and Sustainability Program Manager, Fives Group **Key Account Manager, Fives Solios ***Innovation Manager, Fives Solios May/June 2014
Aluminium International Today
ENVIRONMENT 53
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Gas Treatment Centres’ main sources of impacts
The Gas Treatment Centre (GTC) is critical on various aspects for the aluminium production process. First of all, it supplies fluorinated alumina, which is capital to optimise aluminium production at electrolysis phase. Also, it maintains a safe environment for operators and in the vicinity of aluminium plants as it eliminates pollutants (hydrogen fluoride (HF), dust) contained in gases emitted by electrolysis pots. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a GTC has been performed by Fives Solios. The LCA method allows estimating the environmental impacts generated by a technology over its life cycle (manufacturing, transport, exploitation, end of life). It takes into account both direct impacts (e.g. electricity consumption for fans, compressed air supply, etc.) and indirect impacts (e.g. CO2 emitted for manufacturing the filter bags). Results are aggregated under the form of five main indicators: • Climate change (includes mainly greenhouse gases emissions)
Summary of Ozeos benefits compared to the Benchmark
-20% HF emissions
2.4 2.2 2 HF increase ratio
The programme involves technical and sales teams from the early stages of design and relies on an eco-design toolkit. A range of aspects are assessed, such as environmental (energy consumption and emissions but also noise, consumables, floor space, etc.), economic (lifecycle cost, production flexibility, etc.) and human impacts (e.g. training operators in the most effective and safe use of technology). Opportunities to reduce the main impacts are systematically listed, studied and implemented when they are successful; and their benefits are proven. As of January 2014, four eco-design projects have been completed, 10 projects are on-going, and about 100 people from Fives have been trained to eco-design.
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• Human health • Ecosystems • Scarce resources, when the product implies depletion of non-renewable resources • Water stress, when the product implies use of water in water-stressed areas. The assessment was conducted for one typical GTC of 16 filter modules treating 2 000 000 Nm3/h of pot gases, corresponding to an annual aluminium production of 185,000 tons, equipped with TGT-RI filter modules designed by Fives Solios. All components of filter modules have been assumed to be manufactured in Europe and shipped to the Gulf area except steel, assumed to be produced locally. A GTC lifetime of 30 years was considered, as well as a bags lifetime of five years. The results led to a clear first conclusion: only the exploitation phase has a significant environmental impact. A deeper look into this phase highlights that environmental impacts are primarily related to electricity and compressed air consumption (Fig 1). As the main function of a GTC is to cut HF emissions down to the lowest possible, the overall impact of residual pollutants remaining in gases after filtration is minimal. It is displayed in the "Impact on Ecosystems" indicator (Fig 1). However, due to increasingly stringent regulatory standards, this matter
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Gas temperature inside GTC filters
remains a key challenge for aluminium industry and must be a field of continuous improvement for GTC suppliers. Filter bags, which are consumables as they must be replaced every five years, appear as a minor priority but are still worth efforts to reduce the GTC’s overall environmental impact. As explained earlier, the Engineered Sustainability programme tackles more topics than those covered by the LCA, such as maintenance requirements, footprint, weight, noise, etc. An analysis of Fives’s GTCs performance and of aluminium producers’ sensitivity to those aspects has therefore been performed. By combining the results of the LCA and of the other analyses performed, several areas have been listed by Fives Solios to improve the environmental footprint of a GTC, including: • HF emissions • Pressure drop in filter modules, including reactor (related to electricity consumption) • Compressed air consumption • Maintenance requirements • Footprint and weight • Bags lifetime. Ozeos, an eco-designed process filter module for GTCs
A new generation of GTC process filter modules has been developed by Fives Solios over the last few years. It is called Ozeos and has been tested since 2005 in Saint-Jean-deMaurienne, France. It has been implemented in 2013 for the first time at industrial scale in Jonquiere (Canada), in a plant operated by Rio Tinto Alcan on new AP60 pots. Ozeos main innovations include the following improvements on the filter: • Lower ground footprint • Easier maintenance • Lower electricity consumption • Optimised alumina injection and circulation A complete sustainability assessment, May/June 2014
54 ENVIRONMENT
covering the topics listed above, has been performed in order to: • Check that design improvements did not generate a transfer of impacts, i.e. that Ozeos scores better than other benchmark filter modules on all sustainability indicators. This was achieved through a comparative LCA and additional calculations. • Quantify Ozeos’s environmental performance, by analysing site data from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne pilot and Jonquiere plant. After performing an entire LCA on the Ozeos, the comparison of Ozeos and TGTRI assessments led to the conclusion that no transfer of impact occurred while designing Ozeos, as shown on Fig 2. The lower overall environmental impact of Ozeos can be explained by multiple design improvements. First of all, the amount of materials (plastic, polyester, steel) has been reduced, thus leading to a lower filter module weight and a reduction of indirect impacts (transportation and erection costs, etc.). The other resulting benefit is an optimised ground footprint, as the Ozeos is 55% more compact than Fives Solios’s former benchmark for an equivalent filtering surface. Fives Solios estimates that it has
May/June 2014
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now reached an optimum balance between compact design and performance. Also, electricity consumption has been decreased thanks to low speed gas gradient in the new design of the reactorfilter couple. The reduced pressure drop generates 5% savings on GTC’s electrical consumption compared to the benchmark, corresponding to an annual $300,000 electricity savings for a 740,000 T/year aluminium smelter. In terms of environmental performance, analysis of various site data led to the conclusion that Ozeos reduces HF emissions by at least 20% compared to the formers state-of-the-art technologies, and that HF emission performance is less sensitive to gas temperature (Fig 3). This performance results principally of an improved mixing of alumina and gas, and an optimum gas velocity gradient in the filter module. Thanks to all these benefits, Ozeos has obtained the Fives Engineered Sustainability brand, thus classifying it as a best-in-class product in terms of environmental performance. In addition to the Ozeos, another product developed by Fives Solios has just been distinguished by the Engineered
Sustainability brand: Genios, an electromagnetic stirring and casting solution for the casthouse. References
[1] International Energy Agency, Energy technology transitions for Industry, 2009
[2] Cooperation and competition among structural materials, J-P Birat et al, Revue de Metallurgie, 2013 [3] World Resources Institute, 2005 “Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Solios Environnement”, El Hani BOUHABILA Aluminium International Today – May, 2011 Emissions processing at Qatalum smelter by Bassam Hureiki, Alu Solutions conference (Montreal, 2013) Eco Design implementation within Fives Group and application to a Gas Treatment Center by Pauline Plisson, Alu Solutions conference (Montreal, 2013) Centralised gas treatment centres by Antoine de Gromard and Kevin Tarion – Aluminium Today November 2012 ISO TR 14062: Environmental management Integrating environmental aspects into product design and development Contact www.engineered-sustainability.com www.fivesgroup.com
Aluminium International Today
ENVIRONMENT 55
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Sustainability in aluminium foundries Increasing requirements are driven by the ever more stringent standards for reducing emissions and optimising quality management (ISO-TS 16949). This also affects the foundries and their suppliers. Manufacturers are expecting suppliers to provide evidence of sustainable production, due to growing pressure to produce in an efficient way. By Andrea Ferkinghoff* and Verena Skelnik** These challenges are faced every day at the MGG Netherlands B.V. foundry (hereafter MGG) in Tegelen, Netherlands. With an annual production of more than 12,000 metric tons of cast aluminium, the company operates one of the largest aluminium sandcasting foundries in Western Europe (Fig 1). More than 400 employees, in an area of 29,000m2, produce series production cast parts for customers worldwide. The commercial vehicle, passenger car and boiler industries in particular rely on cast parts produced in the Netherlands. Foundry chemicals such as coatings and binders for the casting process may seem insignificant at first glance, but far from it. They play a crucial role in the production process. This is why the Dutch coremoulding plant (Fig 2), which produces 15,000 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 20,000 shots per week and uses 400 metric tons of sand, has been working
with ASK Chemicals, a foundry supplier, for years and uses its cold box binders. Binder technology
In 2011, MGG began testing the ECOCURE solvent less binder technology (SL technology). Always pursuing the aim of reducing BTX and odour emissions, improving the physical and thermal properties of the cores and, ultimately, reducing the use of binders and amines, with this new technology (Fig 3). After an approximately one-year testing phase, series production finally started with the new generation of ECOCURE solvent less binder technology from ASK Chemicals. Cooperation
A conventional cold box system can be described as a three-part system: Component 1 is comprised of around 55% phenolic resin and 45% solvents.
Component 2 is mainly comprised of polyisocyanate derivatives and 15% to 30% solvents. Finally, the tertiary amine catalyst, which initiates the reaction, forms component 3. Both component 1 and component 2 of the binding agent can contain additives that are used to optimise special features or casting properties. The polyurethane reaction consists of phenolic hydroxyl groups in component 1, which react with the NCO groups (isocyanate groups) in component 2. In the solvent less system, component 2 has been designed to be just as effective as a normal 2-component system, but without using solvents. The solvent-free formulation for component 2 contains a special polyisocyanate component. Additives that interact exactly with the adapted component 1 were added. With this combination, the total amount of binding agents can be reduced by 20%.
Fig 1. The site of MGG Netherlands B.V. is surrounded by housing areas. The company therefore places great importance on keeping production as emission-free and smoke-free as possible. Fig 2. Inside MGGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core shop in Tegelen. Fig 3. As part of the leak test, the cast parts are tested for possible gas defects and porosities caused by shrinkage. In the area of boiler production in particular, the rejection rate due to gas defects was reduced by more than 5% with ECOCURE SL. Fig 4. ECOCURE SL meets the highest requirements to deliver superior quality of appearance and dimensional accuracy. Fig 5. John Huskes, Senior Production Engineer at MGG, is delighted about the excellent quality of the produced cores.
*ProTEC Marketing **ASK Chemicals
Fig 1
Fig 3
Fig 4
Fig 2
Fig 5
ENVIRONMENT
56
Fig 6
Fig 7
Fig 6. The quantity of part 2 that needs to be added can be reduced by more than 20 % with the new ECOCURE SL system. Dosing quantities of the rival product: 0.52 % of part 1 and 0.52 % of part 2; dosing quantities of the ECOCURE SL system: 0.53 % of part 1 and 0.40 % of part 2. Fig 7. Generation of visible smoke is a thing of the past in the Dutch foundry.
The SL technology contains VOC-free solvents. In the formulations, the known plant esters are replaced by these solvents to offer users the option of reducing a part of the emissions. The physical properties of the cores that were produced using the new technology were able to convince MGG. John Huskes, Senior Production Engineer at MGG, was impressed by the dimensional accuracy and thermal load capacity of the cores that were shot in Tegelen (Figs 4 and 5). The good core removal capability is a result of using less organic material while maintaining the same amount of oxygen during casting. This means a reduced build up of deposits and therefore less need for tool cleaning. By using the new generation of binders, MGG achieved a reduction of
emissions during the casting, cooling and shake-out processes, while maintaining dimensional accuracy at the same time. As revealed by the example formulation (Fig 6), the dosing ratio is more favourable with the new technology. In addition, MGG discovered that the sand used reduces the absorption of moisture by 60%. The rejection rate of the produced sand cores us currently at 2%. Especially in boiler production, where foundries rely on particularly high-quality cores, the rejection rate caused by gas defects was reduced by more than 5%. The environment
Environmental friendliness and sustainability play an important part today when it comes to selecting suppliers and
foundry aids. For this reason, MGG commissioned the Institut für Gießereitechnik (IFG) in Düsseldorf to examine the BTX emissions and odour produced by the ECOCURE SL system and by its rival products used to date. Here, too, the new development from ASK Chemicals displayed its strengths. While the odour generated was 20% lower (Fig 7), the BTX emissions were reduced by 60% (as compared to the other two cold box binders) with the ECOCURE SL technology. In addition, visible smoke development is a thing of the past in this foundry. For the foundry and not least for its employees and the people living nearby in Tegelen, results like these are a signal that the company is doing its best to support environmentally friendly technologies. The best practice example highlights the importance of the contribution made by suppliers of foundry consumables to the foundries’ added value. The use of efficient, low-emission binder systems shows that the basis for quality improvements and emissions reductions can be created at the component production stage by carefully selecting the components and consumables for the relevant casting process.
RECRUITMENT: SALES MANAGER
ASMP GmbH - Sales Manager We are the exclusive marketing company for Aluminium semi-finished products from a worldwide acting Russian producer. Our sales area covers Europe as well as Asia and North- and South America. We sell our rolled products, extrusions and forgings in all commercial and special alloys to metal distributors as well as to end users in the aeronautic and transportation industry. To cover our ambitious goals for further growth we are looking for a
SALES MANAGER The ideal candidate would have at least 10 years professional experience in a similar position in our industry. You are in daily close contact with international customers worldwide, the production plant in Russia, our sales team and other inside departments. A highly interesting task with further potential for development is waiting for you. If qualified, you will become responsible for your own customers or for certain countries worldwide. If you are a team-oriented personality bringing along experience in Aluminium downstream industry and international customer service, knowledge of letters of credit, logistics, EDP systems such as SAP as well as a flair for marketing and interest in technical product applications, then please send us your detailed CV. Our office language is English and German. Knowledge in other foreign languages like French, Spanish, or especially Russian would be of advantage. Readiness for worldwide travelling is required. Our office is located in the center of Zug. We offer attractive compensation and exemplary social security. Please send your application to Job@asmillproducts.ch
ASMP GmbH - Aluminium Silicon Mill Products - Baarerstrasse 94 - CH-6300 Zug - Switzerland
May/June 2014
Aluminium International Today
HEALTH & SAFETY 57
Health and safety in the aluminium industry Numerous challenges involving environmental, health and safety issues lie ahead for the aluminium industry. Alex Lowery* explains. Predictions for what the future may hold for the industry are difficult to make; the environmental issues have mushroomed from a few to many over the past decade. These issues now include global warming, climate change, regulations, raw material supply, waste, pollution and natural disasters among others. No other topic has divided people across the globe in the past decade then global warming and climate change. The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines global warming as: “An increase in temperature near the surface of the Earth...most often used to refer to recent and ongoing warming caused by people’s activities. Global warming leads to a bigger set of changes referred to as global climate change.” People can argue whether or not man’s activities are having an effect on the earth’s climate, but no one can argue that the actions taken by some governments to address global warming and climate change are the biggest threats to the industry as a whole. The European Aluminium Association states: “The aluminium industry complies with ever more demanding environmental legislation covering emissions to air, discharges to water, handling and storage of waste and of hazardous substance.” Environmental regulations have far reaching effects to the industry. Electricity in many ways is the most important cost for primary aluminium with the Aluminium Association claiming: “Energy represents about one-third of the total production cost of primary aluminium.” Over 41% of all electricity produced globally is by coalfired power plants. The countries listed in Table 1 are faced with aging coal-fired electricity generating plants. These are more susceptible to closure when stricter environmental regulations are enacted. In the United
States, over 280 coal-fired power plants are slated to be shutdown as a result of stricter Environmental Protection Agency regulations. Already high energy prices coupled with London Metal Exchange prices, which have languished close to or below the cost of production for many makers, has forced some aluminium smelters to shut their doors. South Africa
93%
USA
45%
PR China
79%
Australia
78%
India
67%
Russia
20%
Table 1. Coal in Electricity Generation
Ormet, an aluminium smelter located in Hanibal, Ohio, USA saw its base rate to procure power increase more than 53% from $39.66 per MWh in 2009 to $60.83/MWh in September 2013. Ormet’s requested relief to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio from the “uncontrollable” power costs was denied. It said in a statement on October 4, 2013: “Due to the decision [lack of relief], Ormet cannot emerge from bankruptcy and must immediately shut down operations.” This trend, in the future, with the everincreasing cost for electricity will result in more primary and secondary aluminium plants closing. Raw materials
Over the past decade, a proliferation of new smelters has opened up in regions with immature environment regulations and subsidised electricity. As some companies have followed the lure of ‘cheap electricity’ and ‘friendly governments,’ the easy access to raw materials (e.g., bauxite) proved to be a mirage for a few companies. Vedanta Resources’ aluminium smelter project in India’s eastern state of Orissa
became engulfed in the perfect storm of social media and environmental activists when developing new bauxite mines. Vedanta Aluminium spent over a decade, and in some estimates, more than $6.7 billion building the complex, that included a 1 million ton alumina refinery and aluminium smelter, prior to finalising agreements to mine local high-quality bauxite. The locally sourced bauxite is in the Niyamgiri Hills, which is home to the Dongria Kondh tribe. The tribe considers the Niyamgiri Hills sacred. In 2013, the plan to supply cheap raw materials to its nearby aluminium operations was complicated when the Dongria tribe councils voted against its latest proposal. The Dongria tribe’s resistance to the generous Vendetta offers were buoyed by social media and the cause became so celebrated that it was used as inspiration for characters in the blockbuster movie Avatar. When local opposition grows to become an international movement, not only does the aluminium company lose, so does the industry. The industry has done an admirable job constructing and maintaining red mud (produced during the Bayer Process) reservoirs. The public perception of reservoirs changed for the worse on October 4, 2010 with the breach of Timföldgyár alumina plant’s red mud reservoir in western Hungary. Over one million cubic meters of liquid waste escaped affecting over 40 square kilometres of land. Nine townspeople died and over 120 were injured when the 1-2 metre wave of red mud swept through nearby towns and cities. Since this incident, red mud reservoirs around the globe have been prevented from expanding because of opposition from local environmentalists. The spotlight will
*Wise Chem LLC, USA. Aluminium International Today
May/June 2014
58 HEALTH & SAFETY
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Ormet, Ohio, USA.
remain focused on how the industry disposes of red mud in the coming years. There are numerous companies who are developing technologies to “treat red mud”. The hope is these technologies will be commercially viable soon and eventually reduce the large quantities of red mud disposed annually. Natural disasters
Aluminium companies in the past year faced natural disasters including, wildfires, typhoons, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes etc. On November 17, 2013, a series of severe storms formed a north-south band measuring over 900 kilometres in length that travelled from the Midwest to East Coast of the United States. The storms spawned numerous tornadoes with varying degrees of severity affecting numerous aluminium plants with power outages. One tornado formed south of the newly constructed Nanshan America Aluminium plant in Lafayette, Indiana, Molten metal water explosions have caused causalities
the past, a safety incident at an aluminium plant might only be known locally. Now, the world can know about the smallest incident almost immediately after it occurs. Conversely, the news media can fail to report positive stories involving the industry. Numerous aluminium companies like Novelis, Alcoa, Emal, Hydro, Alba, and others have excellent safety records. These companies’ safety programmes are used in other industries as benchmarks. It is a great compliment when an aluminium company’s safety record is used as a benchmark for companies outside the industry. Novelis’ safety programme, known as the Novelis Safety System (NSS), creates a comprehensive system for identifying and mitigating risk, ensuring Novelis employees work safely and monitoring performance. Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) held their annual Safety Week using the theme “Together, We Build a Safe Culture”. The company understands promoting and supporting a safe work environment affects every aspect of their operation in a positive manner. In the future, these companies will continue to lead our industry in creating a safe work environment.
became a slip hazard. Aluminium fines were then either deposited into a furnace or a dumpster. Its nuisance byproduct label quickly disappeared when aluminium dust explosions occurred. Dust accumulation in older plants is a difficult task that many in the industry struggle with on a daily basis. Newer plants have been designed with the latest technology allowing for the containment of aluminium fines at the generating source. In the future, as technology evolves, this hazard will be reduced further. Technology has also transformed the hazard of mobile equipment helping mitigate injuries and fatalities. This hazard is unique when compared to others because mobile equipment or industrial trucks can be located in one spot and the next minute in another spot. Not only is there a hazard associated with the equipment operator, the mobility itself is a danger to nearby workers as well. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog posted five fatalities involving moveable equipment in 2013. The industry will have to take a proactive approach to minimise or even eliminate the interaction between mobile equipment and pedestrians in the future. Changing times
Hazards
USA. The tornado had wind speeds up to 254-333 kilometres per hour. The aluminium workers heard the tornado warning sirens go off, signalling a pending tornado and followed their emergency training. Amazingly, the Nanshan American Aluminium plant was spared any significant damage. Neighbouring businesses received a direct hit from the tornado. In the future, emergency management plans must take into account all types of manmade and natural disasters. Safety programmes
The spotlight has not only highlighted the industry’s environmental issues it has also shone brightly upon its safety incidents. In May/June 2014
The hazards faced in the past are still in large part present today. Molten metal water explosions have historically had the greatest impact. Of all the hazards the industry deals with on a daily basis (moveable equipment, dust/fine explosions, confined space, lock out tag out, etc.), molten metal water explosions have caused more human causalities and financial loss than any other. History is littered with companies forced to shut their doors after a molten metal explosion. Even without the loss of human life, the loss of production due to damaged equipment is a burden many companies cannot overcome financially. Compared to the age of the industry, combustible dust has only been identified as a hazard for a short period of time, basically the past 25 years. Aluminium fines were considered a nuisance byproduct before being designated a hazard and were allowed to accumulate throughout aluminium plants. Fines accumulate on any horizontal surface in the plant. Dust would often build up so much on rafters and roof joists that it would fall and look like snow falling. Floors were only swept when aluminium fines
Worker attrition through retirement and layoffs is also a potential hazard. A high percentage of middle to upper management are reaching retirement age in the next five years around the world. The workforce will soon lose many of its most experienced workers. One study found that 20% of the workforce will be 55 or older by 2015. How the aluminium industry deals with this will have lasting effects on safety. An apprentice programme allows a company to have a pool of experienced employees of different ages so that they will be better able to meet future needs. Companies who participate in apprenticeship programmes benefit by having employees who are not only trained to industry standards but also understand the particular company's unique workplace conditions. A recent survey of apprentices found that participants developed a loyalty to the company that hired them leading to a more stable workforce. The industry should be commended on the diligent work it’s done to mitigate environmental issues and safety hazards. In the past aluminium companies worked independently when addressing industry issues. Now companies realise that working together benefits all parties. Aluminium International Today
EVENTS 59
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11th Australasian Aluminium Smelting Technology Conference
6-11th December 2014, Jebel Ali Golf & Beach Resort, Dubai, UAE
The date and venue for the triennial Australasian Aluminium Smelting Technology conference has been set. The programme organisers promise delegates a week filled with up-to-date technical information, research findings and vigorous panel discussions on technical issues of concern to the industry. These sessions will be led by the world’s foremost exponents of smelting know-how, so delegates will again have access to the game-changers in the industry, as well as an exclusive opportunity to see up close the very latest in operating smelting technology. Throughout the 33 years of this boutique conference there has always been a strong link between the UAE and Australasia – including conjoint development of technology and work practices. With the changing dynamics of the Aluminium smelting industry it was considered an appropriate occasion to broaden this year’s “Australasian”
Photo from the 10th AASTC in Launceston, Tasmania 2011
Conference to an “Austral-Asian” one and therefore it is being held in the UAE. Jebel Ali Golf & Beach Resort, located a convenient distance from both DUBAL and EMAL smelters, has been selected as the venue for the 11AASTC so that delegates can visit the new state-of-the art Phase 2 potline at EMAL. A limited group accommodation booking has also been made at the venue. Registration is open now. Limited sponsorship opportunities can be arranged to promote your
organization at this major event. Conference and social event registration, accommodation bookings and sponsorship opportunities are available on 11AASTC.com. Detailed information about the conference themes and submission of abstracts and papers can also be obtained from the website. Contacts Phil Black: pblack@hatch.com.au Maria Skyllas-Kazacos: m.kazacos@unsw.edu.au
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60 PERSPECTIVES
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Analysing the aluminium industry Dr. Ravi Yellepeddi, based in Switzerland, is the Global Director of Marketing and Business Development, Materials and Minerals at Thermo Fisher Scientific. He is responsible for product development, applications and technical marketing activities for Thermo Scientific on-line processing and laboratory analysers in industrial applications, such as metals, cement, minerals, petrochemicals and material science. 1. How are things going at Thermo Fisher Scientific?
It is an exciting time right now. We recently launched our Thermo Scientific™ ARL iSpark™ OES based Elemental Analyser. It represents the next generation of elemental analysis with more flexibility than our previous models, yet retains the accuracy and reliability customers expect. Later this year, we will also release a new IR based sensor for the measurement of coatings on flat sheet. This sensor will compliment the full array of non-contact dimensional sensors already available to aluminium sheet producers. 2. What are your views on the current state of the global aluminium industry?
As part of an integrated global organisation, we are always impressed with the drive to maximise the potential of aluminium. Recently, the drive to increase fuel economy in motor vehicles has resulted in some high profile opportunities for aluminium producers. The aviation industry also continues to consume a wide variety of aluminium products. Along with the evergrowing number of annual air passengers, we expect positive market conditions for both the near and long term. 3. In your opinion, what are the big issues affecting the aluminium industry today?
Access to low cost energy is always an important issue to aluminium producers, as is the need to differentiate their product in the marketplace. The ability to supply a product with the consistent chemistry required for the mechanical properties and uniform dimensions also makes a big difference to aluminium consumers. If they perceive any concerns, they will find another supplier in the market. 4. Where in the world are you busiest at present?
With our base of operations in Europe, corporate headquarters in the US, and service and sales facilities in 29 May/June 2014
countries around the world, we see activity in many areas. However, China continues to be the area of largest growth. 5. What products are proving the most lucrative?
Each of our products brings exceptional value to our customers. When our partners do well, we are able to share in that success through repeat business, product support agreements and other aftermarket services. 6. How quickly has Thermo Fisher Scientific responded to ‘green politics’?
Our vision has always been to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Thermo Scientific products provide essential process information to reduce raw material waste, optimise production parameters and assure quality standards are met the first time. Aluminium producers are able to realise not only material savings, but energy and waste stream management savings as well. 7. What are the big trends in value-added production and where is Thermo Fisher Scientific leading the way?
For commodity products, value is found in consistency and profitability depends on high-speed production and overall mill yield. Our high-speed X-ray gauges provide real-time feedback signals for sheet thickness control and our automated elemental analysers assure consistent sample preparation and handling, which in turn assures consistent product quality. 8. Where do you see the most innovation in terms of production technologies – primary, secondary, or further downstream?
Application engineers seem to find new uses for aluminium on a daily basis. While this often requires some out-of-thebox vision, the innovation often falls to the metallurgist to make vision a reality. I once
read that early metallurgists were revered as magicians for their ability to manipulate earth and fire to create materials with extraordinary properties. The royalty during those times would take extraordinary measures to keep secret any new developments within their kingdoms. While the fundamentals of aluminium production are well known, those companies still guard those secrets closely. 9. Do you see Thermo Fisher Scientific as an innovator within the industry?
Absolutely. Our elemental analysers are often the first to see the newest metallurgical “magic trick”. The partnership we have with many of our customers leads them to contact us when they need a measurement solution. 10. Are there any research and development projects in place?
Certainly, but like the royalty of long ago, we’ll keep those secrets well guarded. 11. How do you view Thermo Fisher Scientific’s development over the short-to-mid term in relation to the global aluminium industry?
Thermo Fisher Scientific is an optimistic company. Our opportunities for development and growth are well aligned with the markets we serve. The upside potential for aluminium growth in automobiles, aerospace and other new markets will also translate to growth for us. 12. What does Thermo Fisher Scientific have in store for 2014?
We have invested in a comprehensive cross-training programme to provide deep local product and applications expertise to our installed base. As we continue to roll out our innovative products, customers can expect their Thermo Scientific service engineer to deliver the same focus and dedication as the physicists and engineers of our research and application teams. Aluminium International Today
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