Calix Limited, an Australian company providing environmental technology solutions for industrial decarbonisation, has executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a leading aluminium company to co-develop its Zero Emissions Alumina (ZEAL) technology. Also, the firm has executed an agreement with the same partner to implement a pilot-scale material testing program and a pre-Front End Engineering Design (pre-FEED) study.
As per the agreements, the Australia-based company will carry out the material testing program at its Technology Centre in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, with the purpose of proving the viability of its ZEAL technology for the production of smelter-grade alumina from the feedstock of the Alumina Company.
It will further retain complete ownership of all intellectual property (IP) related to its core technology and ZEAL will serve as an industry-wide, deployable solution for alumina calcination. It's estimated that the combined material testing program and pre-FEED study will yield in excess of AUD 1 million (USD ) in revenue for the company.
The ZEAL technology of the firms seeks to replace fossil fuels in alumina refining by making effective utilisation of the electric calcination, which offers potential reductions in emissions, operational costs and improvements in product quality.
Additionally, the technology is also designed to supply smelter-grade alumina while giving the opportunity for zero Scope 1 emissions for the energy-intensive bauxite-to-alumina calcination process. The company has predicted that the electric calcination could also improve energy efficiency by replacing the combustion of fuel with electrical heaters and producing high-purity steam to be reused in the process.
Phil Hodgson, the CEO and Managing Director of Calix, stated that both agreements represent significant milestones contributing to the company, commencing revenue generation in alumina and affirming their commercialisation strategy.
Further, Hodgson also cited that his firm is looking forward to demonstrating the lowest-cost pathway to near-zero emissions alumina with their new global partner. The firm's patented core platform technology is being developed for indirect heating of raw materials, facilitating the efficient, precise and flexible renewable-power processing of metals and minerals while capturing unavoidable industrial emissions.
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