“2020 will definitely be a key milestone in the deployment of the Fives digital solutions in various sectors,” - Mr Sébastien GAUGUIER, Head of Fives, Aluminium Division

Fives is an industrial engineering group specialised in designing, supplying machines, and processing equipment and production lines for the world’s largest industrial groups, including the aluminium, steel, glass, automotive, aerospace, logistics, cement, and energy sectors. Located in nearly 30 countries and with nearly 8,700 employees, it is known for its technological expertise and competence in executing international projects.

It is our pleasure to have with us the company’s aluminium business head Mr Sébastien GAUGUIER, who has shared the company’s performance projection and a few thumb rules for sustainable and carbon-free aluminium smelting process in 2020. He has also spoken about the expected impact of digitization in the time to come and the new digital solutions to be incorporated in aluminium process equipment in 2020. To know about them in detail, read the interview.

AlCircle: Congratulations on joining Fives Aluminium Division! As the head of the division, how do you foresee the performance of Fives aluminium business in 2020?

Sébastien GAUGUIER: Let’s be honest, the current aluminium market is going through one of those slowdown periods that we have already seen in the past. Three main driving factors can explain this slowdown:

1. The demand is slowing down, with some key sectors such as the automotive facing difficult times
2. With the latest smelters ramping up in production, there is an overall excess of capacity
3. The primary aluminium stocks are still globally relatively high

In this context, Fives will continue to concentrate on helping its customers improving their process efficiencies to optimize revenues.

AlCircle: Since Fives is specialised in design, supply, and management of process equipment in carbon and reduction sectors of the primary aluminium industry, could you please suggest a few thumb rules for sustainable, carbon-free aluminium smelting process in 2020?

Sébastien GAUGUIER: First of all, a carbon-free aluminium smelting process can only be considered with Hydro or Nuclear Power Plants upstream. Today, according to the 2018 World Aluminium Statistics, 71% of the power used for the aluminium reduction process worldwide is generated from fossil energy sources (mainly coal and gas). Even if Fives is not involved on the Power Plants sector, we are actively supporting our customers to reduce the specific power required to produce each tonne of aluminium and to optimize the anodes efficiency and therefore, reduce the so-called Net Carbon Consumption.

In terms of “rules of thumb”, some figures well-known from the reduction specialists can be reminded: the production of one tonne of aluminium should ideally consume about 334 kg of carbon. Practically, best in class smelters are consuming between 395 and 415 kg, while the global average consumption is probably somewhere between 425 and 435 kg per tonne (considering only the pre-bake pot technologies). There are therefore, approximately 100 kg of carbon per tonne of aluminium that could be “saved”. One part of it, typically 20 kg, is related to the efficiency of the reduction process, the 80 kg remaining are depending - but not exclusively - on the quality of the anode characteristics. By applying the best operation practices, by using the best anode manufacturing processes, and by keeping these processes permanently under control, improvements of 3 to 5% can be expected. This is typically where the Fives expertise can have a significant impact.

AlCircle: What new innovations do you expect in carbon-free aluminium smelting process across the globe in 2020?

Sébastien GAUGUIER: Even if significant progresses have been made recently (especially on the inert anode journey), the industrialization of a full carbon-free aluminium smelting process at a representative scale is a long journey.

If we look more specifically at the inert anode developments, one of the key questions that needs to be looked at is the potential increase in pot voltage (which could offset the initial gain of CO2 emissions when the electricity is from fossil energy sources). Some promising announcements will probably occur in 2020 concerning prototyping and punctual trials, but the development of a full proven industrialized package will take several years.

AlCircle: How do you foresee the market of green anode plant in the upcoming year, as a large number of aluminium smelters are focusing on improving anode quality for boosting aluminium output?

Sébastien GAUGUIER: Since we anticipate the low LME period that we are currently facing to probably last during most of 2020 and potentially even beyond, we do not foresee a lot of activity in terms of investment on the green anode market. We will therefore, concentrate our efforts on helping our customers to improve the reliability and the performance of their existing assets with a growing contribution of our digital solutions.

AlCircle: What new impacts of digitization do you expect to create on the global aluminium industry in 2020?

Sébastien GAUGUIER: Concerning Fives, as a supplier of key equipment for primary aluminium production processes, we strive to monitor and improve the performance and reliability of our solutions. In 2020, we will continue to improve our equipment monitoring systems and deploy it further. In addition, we will also offer to some selected customers a new dedicated web portal that will help them to quickly access key technical information on their Fives assets.

AlCircle: What new digital solutions do you plan to incorporate in your aluminium process equipment in 2020?

Sébastien GAUGUIER: 2020 will definitely be a key milestone in the deployment of the Fives digital solutions in various sectors:

1. Equipment Monitoring Systems like our SmartCrane digital offer for the cranes of the reduction and anode baking sectors
2. Crane automatized sequences to improve operations quality and reliability
3. Automated visual inspection of the anodes, a solution that captures the images of each anode block and is a step forward towards the complete digitization of the anode lifecycle, which also includes our original Anode tracking system based on vision technology
4. Sofia, a system that scans the anode on the fly in a rodding shop and is currently being launched

AlCircle: What role can digitization play in ensuring safe work environment in aluminium smelters in the years to come?

Sébastien GAUGUIER: We are totally convinced that digitization can play a crucial role when it comes to ensuring safe work environment:

1. All inspection tasks in tough environment could eventually be avoided by using digital solutions with the technical progresses made on sensors, vision technology, and algorithms
2. Some hazardous tasks like hood handling, manual removal of the bath on butts or even bricklaying, can be robotized

On a slightly longer term, risks related to the interactions between pedestrians and vehicles should also be mitigated thanks to the intensive R&D programs in the automotive industry and the emergence of reliable detection systems