Fig. 2. When complete, Qatalum will have an annual capacity of 585 000t/y. Image courtesy of Norsk Hydro


resources have been mobilised to ensure a safe and quick restart. Regional smelters provided support and shared expertise, equipment and materials,” says Qatalum’s ceo Jan Arve Haugan. Qatalum’s insurance coverage related to the incident is


considered robust: “We have insurance related to property damage and loss due to business interruption and we are in a constructive dialogue with our insurers to determine the financial impacts of this incident,” Haugan says. Qatalum is a 50-50 joint venture between Qatar


Petroleum and Norsk Hydro. When complete, it will be one of the most modern, energy-efficient and environmentally high-performing aluminium plant in the world, with an annual production capacity of 585 000tonnes of aluminium. The plant has a total of 704 cells (Fig. 2). In Australia, Melbourne-based company Calsmelt has


completed a ‘concept proof ’ stage of technology development for its Thermical process. Calsmelt holds an exclusive worldwide license to the novel carbothermic smelting technology for aluminium production developed by the Australian company Thermical. Calsmelt co-founder and interim ceo Dr Greg Smith


described Thermical technology as a significant breakthrough for the production of aluminium at a significantly lower cost, and in a much more environmentally friendly manner: “Calsmelt is delighted that its work on the Thermical technology has now been proven to the point that within a couple of years we will be ready to build a first small, but commercially viable plant.” Calsmelt’s chief scientist, co-founder and technology


inventor Dr Yaghoub Sayad-Yaghoubi commented: “For around 70 years now, the aluminium industry has been searching for a suitable carbothermic technology to smelt aluminium in a similar manner to the way steel is produced. Such a technology would help it overcome the well-known limitations of the industry’s current, pervasive electrochemical approach. While some promising approaches were considered over the last two decades, these were found to have significant shortcomings that prevented their commercial introduction. Our Thermical technology overcomes all of these limitations and finally creates real potential for the industry move to carbothermic smelting for aluminium – at a time when the industry is under economic and environment pressure.” He added: “We believe that Thermical technology will


insure a competitive future for the aluminium industry by drastically reducing the costs and environmental footprint of metal production. Capital costs will be reduced by 77-80 per cent, while the operational cost will be lowered by about 40 per cent. Power consumption will be about 40 per cent lower. The currently troubling fluoride emissions found in the electrochemical process will be completely eliminated and the quantity of generated gases will be significantly lower. Thus, the global warming potential of the Thermical process will be 40-60 per cent lower than in the current electrochemical process.” The first stage of the Thermical process requires significantly lower temperature and does not produce any gas. Unlike the conventional process, therefore, it does not require a separate fume collection and treatment system at this stage. The second stage of the process operates at a lower temperature than conventional carbothermic processes, too, reducing cost of gas collection and treatment, while ensuring a lower carbon content in the produced metal. l


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