The 10th IBAAS conference was inaugurated on 14th September 2022 morning by Mr Bibhu Prasad Mishra, President & Head, Manufacturing Centre of Excellence, Hindalco Industries. Dr Anupam Agnihotri, Director, JNARDDC, Ms Marieke van der Mijn, Director of Partnerships, Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) and Ms Lavanya Kugaswaran, Environment Program Manager, International Aluminium Institute (IAI), London were guests of honour.
About 200 delegates representing the bauxite, alumina and aluminium industry, research organizations, technology/equipment suppliers, service providers, and academic institutes participated in this conference. The inaugural function was conducted by Mr Sankaranarayanan and Dr Ashok Nandi, Convener of the Conference, highlighting the journey, growth and contribution of IBAAS to the Aluminium industry. Ms Marieke of ASI highlighted the activities of their International organization and certification process. She invited all the delegates to participate in the ASI workshop, which was held on 16th September at the same venue. Ms Kugaswaran introduced the International Aluminium Institute and showed various publications on their website on bauxite, alumina, red mud and aluminium. Dr Agnihotri spoke on the responsibility and vision of the Indian Aluminium industry, particularly regarding celebrating 75 years of India’s independence. According to Director, JNARDDC, the demand for aluminium in India is expected to grow at 5-8% per annum. This will be driven by growth in the electricity, transport, building, construction and packaging sectors. The domestic Aluminium consumption is expected to double from ~4 MT in FY22 to ~8 MT in FY32.
The second-day conference was devoted to a series of technical papers in 3 parallel sessions, namely Bauxite, Non-metallurgical bauxite-alumina and red-mud; Alumina and Aluminium Smelting and Downstream. About 50 high-quality technical papers were presented by Engineers / Scientists of leading primary aluminium producers, R&D Institutes, and technology and equipment suppliers. A complete list of technical papers for IBAAS-JNARDDC 2022 is provided on the website and abstracts of all the papers are given in the Souvenir volume.
An important addition to this conference edition is the workshop by Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) on 16th September, which was held for the first time in India. Several interested delegates of India's primary and secondary aluminium producers participated in this program, discussed the ASI certification program in detail, and highlighted the benefits for responsible aluminium producers. At the same time, some of the remaining technical papers of this conference on aluminium smelting and downstream were also parallelly presented. Three best papers of the IBAAS-JNARRD conference, presented by young scientists and engineers, were awarded in the valedictory function at the end of the third day.
On 17th September, during this conference, JNARRDC, as Metal Recycling Authority, organized a one-day brainstorming session on Non-Ferrous Metal Recycling in India. In this important meeting, Chief guest Mr Ved Prakash Mishra of the Ministry of Environment of Forest spoke about the importance of a circular economy and aluminium recycling. Several representatives of MRAI (Material Recycling Authority of India), Bureau of Indian Standards, ASI and leading aluminium, copper, lead and zinc recycling companies participated and had intensive discussions on this industry's present status and future. JNARRDC is compiling a detailed report on this deliberation and discussion on recycling, and the same will be submitted to Govt. of India. On 18th September, the post-conference visit to Hindalco's Lapanga Smelter Plant in Jharsuguda was organized by IBAAS / HINDALCO for the selected foreign and Indian delegates.
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