Date:
Monday March 15, 2021
Time:
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT
Sponsored by:
TMS Light Metals Division; TMS Aluminum Committee
Organizer:
Les Edwards, Rain Carbon Inc.
Seven invited presenters from international aluminum companies and organizations will offer their perspectives at this special keynote session. Join us to hear presentations beginning at 8:30 a.m. and for a live question and answer period with presenters at 11:35 a.m.
Learn about additional light metals programming planned at TMS2021 Virtual on the Technical Program web page.
Featured Speakers
Pernelle Nunez, International Aluminium Association
Presentation Title: "Long-Term Sustainability of the Aluminium Sector"
About the Presentation
Due to its unique combination of properties, demand for aluminum products continues to increase. Global demand for aluminum is projected to grow from 99 million tonnes in 2019 to 172 million tonnes in 2050. This is to meet society’s needs across several sectors including transportation, the built environment, energy infrastructure, and packaging. While some of this demand will be met by recycled material, significant volumes of primary aluminum will still be required. Alongside this growing demand for metal, expectations for sustainably produced and responsibly sourced material are also growing. The aluminum industry must continue to adapt and address the key sustainability challenges it faces. This paper draws on the International Aluminium Institute's material flow analyses, life cycle analyses, waste management experience, and decades of industry statistics. It will provide an overview of future demand scenarios and the challenges associated with fulfilling growing demand, including: raw materials supply, sustainable bauxite residue and spent pot lining management and potential greenhouse gas pathways for the sector.
About the Presenter
Pernelle Nunez has more than ten years of experience in the metals and mining industry. She joined the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) in 2015 and is responsible for projects overseen by the IAI’s Environment and Energy Committee. The IAI’s membership represents approximately 60% of global bauxite, alumina, and aluminium production. As the IAI’s Director, Sustainability, she has worked on a broad range of collaborative industry projects including: life cycle impact assessment, environmental footprint analyses, sustainable waste management, and greenhouse gas emissions accounting. Nunez was a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2019 Methodology Report Update to the 2006 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Guidelines. She is also responsible for the IAI’s work on bauxite mining which encompasses issues such as biodiversity and community engagement. Nunez holds an MSci Geology (Hons) from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London.
Efthymios Balomenos, Mytilineos SA
Presentation Title: "Near Zero-Waste and Near Break-Even: A Path Towards Sustainable Bauxite Processing"
About the Presentation
The Mytilineos Metallurgy Business Unit, former Aluminium of Greece (AoG), is one of the few vertically integrated alumina and aluminum plants in the world. Since 1991, the plant has been actively pursuing new and sustainable ways not only to safely store Bauxite Residue (BR) as dry filter cake but also to valorize it as a secondary raw material resource. In cooperation with various alumina refineries, the International Aluminium Institute, as well as research and technological centers across the world, Mytilineos’ vision for sustainability is expressed through multiple BR processing routes leading to a diversity of niche and bulk raw materials and products. The end goal is to achieve a near zero waste and near break-even BR processing flowsheet. This presentation will give a global overview of BR recycling efforts and showcase the latest developments of open EU-funded research projects such as SCALE, REMOVAL, and REACTIV.
About the Presenter
Efthymios Balomenos studied Mining and Metallurgical engineering at National Technical University of Athens and received his Ph.D. degree in Thermodynamics in the same school in 2006. Since 2008, he has been working in the Laboratory of Metallurgy as a postdoc researcher focusing on sustainable process development, CO2 mitigation strategies, exergy analysis, and resource utilization efficiency. He is involved in the research management and coordination of several collaborative large scale research projects (ENEXAL, EURARE, SCALE, ENSUREAL, REMOVAL, BIORECOVER, AlSiCaL, ReActiv), most of which focus on Bauxite Residue valorization. He has more than 58 research publications in journals and conference proceeding with more than 600 citations and an h-index of 14. Since 2015, he is employed in MYTILINEOS SA as residue valorization engineer. He was a recipient of the TMS Light Metals Subject Award – Alumina & Bauxite in 2017.
Andrew Furlong, Worley
Presentation Title: "Alumina in a More Sustainable World"
About the Presentation
Worley has defined its organization’s purpose as “delivering a more sustainable world.” This presentation focuses on a key element of sustainability: decarbonization. Aluminium can only take its place as the metal of choice in a more sustainable world once its carbon footprint is addressed. The alumina sector’s progress and current state is examined, and Worley’s decarbonization roadmap for the industry is shared, mapping out potential pathways. These pathways include refinery electrification, carbon capture, grid synergistic on-site energy storage, hydrogen, and various emerging technologies for Calcination. The right path depends on numerous local factors. With significant investment required in such a dynamic landscape, selecting the right path is more critical than ever. It is an exciting time to be in the industry, with only the first steps being taken in what will become a transformation. Even today’s benchmark performance is incompatible with a zero-carbon world. What has presented as a challenge for the industry may, however, become its greatest opportunity.
About the Presenter
Andrew Furlong is Worley’s Global Director for Bauxite and Alumina, responsible for sector strategy and business development. He leads Worley’s Bauxite and Alumina Centre of Excellence based in Brisbane, Australia. Since joining Worley in 2003, Furlong has been been involved with all phases of alumina refining project development for most industry players across multiple continents. He has deep and broad knowledge of Bayer processing technology and project execution. Furlong has held overall responsibility for process engineering design and execution on multiple greenfield refinery projects, as well as leading front-end and optimization technical service studies to various operating refineries. He started his career in 1994 at the Aughinish refinery in Ireland. He holds a Degree in Chemical Engineering from University College Dublin and a Masters in Energy from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
Les Edwards, Rain Carbon Inc.
Presentation Title: "Review of Sustainability in the Carbon Supply Chain"
About the Presentation
Carbon in the form of calcined petroleum coke (CPC) and coal tar pitch (CTP) remains an essential raw material for the production of aluminum. CPC and CTP are produced from byproducts of other industries, which represents a more sustainable, higher value alternative than combusting as fuel. Significant differences exist in the technologies used to produce these raw materials. Modern calcining plants, for example, include advanced waste heat recovery and pollution control systems that substantially reduce their impact on the environment. Results from detailed carbon footprint analyses are presented, including the contribution of CPC and CTP to anode and smelter CO2 footprints. Anodes represent the primary source of smelter process emissions, which has driven the industry to seek alternatives in the form of inert anodes and bio-carbon replacements for CPC and CTP. Whilst renewed efforts are underway in these areas, the challenges remain significant, and carbon anodes will continue to be used by the industry for the foreseeable future.
About the Presenter
Les Edwards is vice president of Production Control and Technical Services at Rain Carbon Inc. and has been with the company since 1998. He is responsible for production planning and control at Rain Carbon’s U.S. operations and technical support functions for the calcination business unit which includes customer technical support, R&D activities, and laboratory operations. Edwards is a longstanding member of TMS. He has twice served as Program Organizer of the Electrode Technology Sessions at TMS annual meetings and is leader of the TMS Anode Technology Course. He is a regular presenter at industry technical conferences and has authored or co-authored more than 30 technical papers. Prior to joining Rain Carbon, Edwards spent 11 years working in the Australian aluminum industry in a predominantly R&D role. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Australia and an MBA from Tulane University in New Orleans.
Hans Erik Vatne, Hydro
Presentation Title: "Hydro’s Approach to Sustainability"
About the Presentation
Sustainability has become a necessary part of the license to operate for any industry. The aluminum industry is no exception, and our industry’s CO2 emissions might be some of the most difficult and expensive to abate. In this presentation, Hydro’s approach to sustainability is outlined, starting with the company’s short and long-term targets throughout the value chain followed by our strategy to fulfil these targets. Upstream within bauxite and alumina production, the biggest challenges are deposits of bauxite residue and CO2 emissions while in the smelter area it is CO2 emissions and other off-gases and various wastes like spent potlining. The casthouses have a challenge with emissions from the melting furnaces (CO2 and other gases) but are also a sustainability opportunity through increased recycling of post-consumer scrap which contributes to reduced overall carbon footprint but also more challenging exhaust gases. Downstream is very much about increased use of low-carbon aluminum and substituting less sustainable materials and high-carbon aluminum. Examples of such products are Hydro’s Reduxa and Circal.
About the Presenter
Hans Erik Vatne is Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer in Hydro and heads Hydro’s Corporate Technology Office. Currently, he is also interim head of Hydro’s battery technology team. He holds a Master’s degree in Physics and a Ph.D. in Metallurgy, both from The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. He has more than 20 years of experience within the aluminum industry in Hydro, holding positions in R&D, rolling operations (among others, plant manager at Holmestrand Rolling Mill, Norway), Head of Business Unit Remelters, and lately Chief Technology Officer. Vatne is also board member of the faculty of natural sciences at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway, and chairman of the portfolio board for energy, transport and low emissions of the Research Council of Norway.
Mark Dorreen, EnPot Limited
Presentation Title: "Aluminium Production: A Pathway to Zero Carbon by 2050"
About the Presentation
Much has been made of aluminium’s environmental credentials as a metal, with its infinite low energy recyclability and ability to contribute to decarbonization through light-weighting effects in transportation. However, primary aluminium production, as one of the five large hard-to-abate sectors, faces a unique set of challenges to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 as a pathway to full decarbonization has proven elusive. Here we examine the latest IEA score card (more effort needed), and propose what a pathway to zero carbon emissions for aluminium production could be, including what changes in processes and electricity use need to occur, and what are the risks to the industry if we don’t get on a pathway at all.
About the Presenter
Mark Dorreen holds Bachelors and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland. His 20+ years of experience have covered research and development, technical support, and project management in metal production industries. After working at New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter, Pacific Steel, and Chemiplas NZ, Dorreen returned to the Light Metals Research Centre (LMRC) based at the University of Auckland in 2008 and became Centre Director in 2014. His main smelter-based projects for the LMRC involved working in carbon plants and rodding rooms especially in China. He was a lead instructor for LMRC’s industrial training courses delivered at various smelter sites and also guided the fundamental research programs carried out at the Centre. Since 2016, he has led the development and commercialization of the EnPot shell heat exchanger technology which originated from LMRC research. The technology enables smelters to modulate their energy consumption, and in 2019, Dorreen was appointed CEO of EnPot Limited.
Fiona Solomon, Aluminium Stewardship Initiative
Presentation Title: "The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI): Implementation and Impact"
About the Presentation
The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI)’s mission is to recognize and collaboratively foster responsible production, sourcing, and stewardship of aluminum. In December 2017, ASI launched its comprehensive certification program for the aluminium value chain, covering both performance and chain of custody. In November 2020, ASI has grown to more than 140 members and nearly 100 certifications issued for operations across 34 countries and counting. ASI aims to provide an international benchmark for performance and procurement that covers a wide range of sustainability issues for the aluminum sector, including greenhouse gas, biodiversity, human rights, and material stewardship. The challenge for all aluminum value chain participants is to tackle impacts and opportunities proactively, so as to maximize the contribution of aluminum to a sustainable society. This presentation will provide an overview of ASI’s mission, its impacts so far, and its forward plans.
About the Presenter
Fiona Solomon is chief executive officer of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), which she joined in March 2015 with responsibility for leading the development and implementation of ASI’s strategy. Her career has specialized in building new and innovative initiatives in mineral supply chains over more than twenty years. She was previously director, Standards Development, at the Responsible Jewellery Council from 2007 to 2015, where she developed a certification program for gold, diamonds, and platinum group metals, which has been adopted by more than 1,000 companies across the supply chain. She has served as a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group for responsible mineral supply chains and a board member of the ISEAL Alliance. From 1997, Solomon worked for ten years at Australia’s CSIRO, leading research into mining and sustainability, and was also seconded to WWF to manage a multi-stakeholder project on the feasibility of mine-site certification. She has a Bachelors degree (Hons 1) in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in philosophy of technology from the University of Queensland.