01 January 2018 – 31 March 2021
Objective
Each ton of aluminium produced in smelters generates approx. 20kg of hazardous waste, which is a mix of the carbon lining and the refractory lining, known as “spent pot lining” (SPL). Worldwide aluminium production in 2016 was approximately 59 million tonnes, corresponding to the generation of 1.18 million of tonnes of SPL. The current practice of the waste management of hazardous SPL is landfilling or incineration, which costs aluminium producers on average 200 EUR/tonne (240 million EUR annually on a global level).
The solution (technology)
The project presents a novel zero waste technology, developed by and with external partners from EIT RIS eligible countries (Talum and Bistra, Slovenia) for the recycling of spent pot lining (SPL) from aluminium production, consisting of four main separation processes (preparation, extraction, flotation, and refining) in order to achieve the quality of products needed by end-users. The final products will be used either in aluminium production (recovered carbon and fluoride slats) or will be sold to the refractory industry or the construction industry (recycled refractory residues), with a special focus on the industry in RIS countries, on the one had to help them to solve their particular problems, on the other hand to foster their international competitiveness.
Partnership
- Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG), Slovenia (Lead partner)
- Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
- MYTILINEOS HOLDINGS S.A., Greece
- National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece
- SRC Bistra Ptuj, Slovenia
- TALUM Tovarna aluminija d.d., Slovenia
- Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za strojništvo, Slovenia
- UVR-FIA GmbH, Germany
- Flemish Institute for Technological Research NV (VITO), Belgium