By Alton Tabereaux, Contributing Editor. A conspicuous transformation occurred in the world’s primary aluminum industry during the past five years with the construction of “Mega” aluminum smelters (>1 million tpy) in China, which have boosted aluminum production to levels not previously experienced by companies. Nine aluminum companies had an annual production greater than 2 million […]
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation entered into an asset purchase agreement for its flat rolled products business with Gränges AB, a supplier of rolled products for brazed aluminium heat exchangers in Sweden. Under the agreement, a subsidiary of Gränges will serve as the “stalking horse” bidder for Noranda’s flat rolled products business in a court-supervised sale process […]
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) selected Bechtel as the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contractor for its Line 6 Expansion Project. Under the terms of the contract, Bechtel will be responsible to design and construct the sixth potline as well as support industrial services. Bechtel has worked with Alba for more than 25 years, including previous work as […]
By Alton Tabereaux, Contributing Editor. The largest gain in primary aluminum production during 2015 was in China at 31.1%, followed by India (21.1%) and Saudi Arabia (11.3%). This was due to startup of new low cost smelters and/or the restart of potlines. China accounted for a staggering 54.9% of the total world aluminum production in […]
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), Bahrain, signed a contract with Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) to upgraded the technology for its Line 6 Expansion Project from EGA DX+ to the EGA DX+ Ultra. The upgrade to the DX+ Ultra technology will improve energy efficiency, which in turn will allow Alba to increase its metal production with no increase […]
Hydro made a formal decision to build its planned full-scale technology pilot at Karmøy, Norway, aiming to verify the world’s most climate and energy efficient production of primary aluminium, as well as achieve the lowest CO2 footprint in the world. “After several successful improvement programs, the next steps in our efforts to further strengthen our […]
In 2015, China produced just over half of the world’s aluminum and its demand for bauxite has been increasing year-on-year, according to a report from Roskill Information Services. Following Indonesia’s decision to implement a ban on the export of unprocessed ores, China turned to Malaysia in an attempt to fill the void in its bauxite […]
By Phil Black. The aluminum industry has an opportunity now to leave a lasting legacy of Spent Potliner (SPL) management that boosts the industry’s ongoing reputation for sustainability. Expensive Legacy Primary aluminum smelters have spent many millions on improved pot linings, squeezing the last available drop from the energy efficiencies in cathodes, ramming materials, and […]
By Dr. Gao Bingliang, School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University Editor’s Note: This article is a companion piece to “Innovations in Aluminum Production Technology at Northeastern University, Shenyang, China,” also by Gao, which appeared in the February 2016 issue of Light Metal Age. Introduction The Chinese aluminum smelting industry has gone through tremendous growth during the […]
