Coal-heavy Australian aluminium vs renewables-led New Zealand: How Oceania is balancing decarbonisation
Oceania’s primary aluminium industry is facing a fragmented energy transition. While Australia, the leading aluminium producer of the continent, has abundant renewable resources and a well-established aluminium value chain, its smelters remain significantly more dependent on fossil-fuel-based...
Can the US afford to cut Canada off? 75% aluminium and $100b energy tell the story
The US aluminium industry’s dependence on Canada extends far beyond primary aluminium imports. While Canada supplies around 75 per cent of US imported primary aluminium, covering roughly 60 per cent of the country’s annual aluminium usage, it is also a major supplier of crude oil, natural gas and...
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Why buy the AlCircle Exclusive Report on Potline Failure?
Potline failure in aluminium smelters has long been a serious technological issue for primary aluminium producers. In last five years, as many as nine big aluminium smelters of the world faced major potline failure challenges which resulted in loss of man-hours and productivity up to varying...
Army engineers use aluminium powder to make new energy sources
<p>Army engineers at the Aberdeen Proving Ground facility in Maryland has discovered a new energy source by mixing nano-galvanic, aluminium-based powder with water, or with any liquid containing water. According to them, this technology produces high amount of energy for fuel and fuel cells.</p> <p...
The Wait Is Over! AlCircle Exclusive Report on Potline Failure Now Available for Purchase
<p>AlCircle, the Virtual Aluminium Ecosystem, has just published an exclusive report titled <strong>“Potline Failure in Aluminium Smelters: Observations and Recent Case Studies (2013-2017).”</strong> The study which looks into major case studies spanning last five years across the...
Century Aluminum optimistic about capacity reopening with new power agreement
<p>In an investor presentation on Wednesday, Century Aluminum’s president and CEO Michael Bless said that his firm plans reopening the 100 thousand tpy of idled aluminium smelting capacity in the United States soon. He however added that the reopening depends on the availability of...
AlCircle to publish an Exclusive Report on potline failure in aluminium smelters (2013-2017)
<p>Power outage was the single biggest cause behind plotline failures that happened in aluminium smelters across the world from 2013 to 2017, an exclusive report by AlCircle reveals. The report titled- Potline Failure in Aluminium Smelters: Observations and Recent Case Studies (2013-2017), is...
Rio Tinto urges for stricter price regulation of East Coast electricity generators
<p>Rio’s subsidiary Tomago Aluminium smelter in New South Wales has been struggling with uncertain power supply and higher power rate issues for years now. Tomago, which is co-owned by Rio and has CSR subsidiary Gove Aluminium Finance consumes 12 per cent of the state’s...
Post GST, effective coal prices drop by 2-3% for Indian aluminium producers
<p>The implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime has resulted in the decrease of effective coal prices by 2-3 per cent for aluminium producers in India. The new tax structure has subsumed several additional taxes making power a little cheaper for the domestic players in the...
Boyne Smelters threatened by 35% electricity price hike in Queensland
<p>Queensland businesses are being hit with multi-million dollar price increases in electricity costs with some putting the hikes at 80%.</p> <p>A multi-million dollar price increase in electricity cost has hit a number of businesses in Queensland including Gladstone's Boyne Smelters. The...
Afrox offers oxyfuel solutions for low-energy aluminium processing
<p>Afrox is upgrading its technologies to increase productivity and limit emissions in the aluminium processing. Afrox is providing technical competence and process knowledge to melting, dross handling, refining, and extrusion and annealing applications through its parent company The Linde...
Global energy efficient windows market projected to grow at CAGR of 8.86% by 2021
<p>According to the latest research report with title 'Global Energy Efficient Windows Market 2017-2021' by ReportsnReports.com, the global energy efficient windows industry is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 8.86 per cent during the period 2017-2021.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle;...
DEWA hands out $26mln contracts for supply of aluminium & copper cables
<p>Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has given contracts to a number of national companies. The contracts worth $25.9m (AED95m) involve the delivery of 1,290km of low-voltage cables for household connections. The deal covers the supply of aluminium and copper cables in order to...
Missouri new governor sees the possibility of reopening of closed Noranda smelter
<p>The reopening of aluminium-smelting operation at the closed smelter of Noranda was the first topic of discussion in the first special session of the Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens in May.</p> <p>The smelter had been southeast Missouri’s largest employer. However, after that, there’s...
Open Water Power starts developing new aluminium-based battery to power underwater vehicles
<p>Open Water Power has started to develop the newest aluminium-based battery that “drinks” seawater for power generation. It would provide autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) a tenfold increase in range over traditional lithium-ion batteries.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align:...
Network Rail to replace copper cables with aluminium as a cost saving measure
<p>Cost reduction is one of the major challenges for Network Rail, the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the rail network in England, Scotland and Wales. Engineers are working on a range of ways in which costs can be reduced, and the electrical fraternity is playing its part.</p> <p...
Fire mishap chars transformer at Nalco’s Odisha captive power plant
<p>According to reports, National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) today witnessed a major fire break- out at its Captive Power Plant (CPP) in Angul, Odisha. The incident caused severe damage to the transformer of the CPP.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left:...
Alba reaches the financial close of c. US$ 700 million in Export Credit Financing
<p>Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), home-base of the Line 6 Expansion Project, is pleased to announce that it has successfully closed the first tranche of c. US$ 700 million from Export Credit Agency (ECA) covered facilities to finance the Company’s Power Station 5 and Power Distribution...
CSIR teams up with Paltech to manufacture aluminium valve for electrical power transformers
<p>The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's (CSIR) recent collaboration with Paltechnologies (Pty) Ltd (Paltech) has resulted in the development of a standard 80 mm diameter aluminium butterfly valve. Aluminium butterfly valves will be used on electrical power transformers.</p>...
Aditya Aluminium installs solar-powered streetlights in Odisha villages
<p>Aditya Aluminium, a unit of AV Birla group company Hindalco Industries, has initiated a project in a partnership with the Odisha government to provide an uninterrupted supply of electricity to the villages of Sambalpur district.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display:...
