ABx Group’s 83 per cent owned subsidiary ALCORE is set to produce aluminium fluoride at the company’s continuous pilot plant, which will be established at a facility adjacent to Rio Tinto Aluminium’s Bell Bay smelter in northern Tasmania.
ALCORE plans to prove its world-first process produces industrial chemicals - including hydrogen fluoride - from smelter waste. The hydrogen fluoride is then converted into aluminium fluoride, an essential chemical used in the aluminium smelter industry.
The high-tech and environmentally friendly process has been designed to recover hydrogen fluoride from the excess bath produced during the aluminium smelting. It is then combined with aluminium hydroxide to produce aluminium fluoride.
The product is currently fully imported, so ABx’s technology offers it a compelling opportunity to help meet local demand with a locally produced product.
Cryolite, or bath, is used in aluminium manufacturing to cover melted aluminium and prevent it from oxidising. It is also required to keep the melting temperature relatively low and reduce energy consumption.
ABx has leased a facility from Rio Tinto comprising a building sufficiently large enough for the plant. It will require some minor internal modifications. Encouragingly, the agreement comes with a reduced rate from the mining giant as a contribution to the pilot plant and project. It also provides an option for ALCORE to purchase or lease the site for 10 years if the plant proves successful and a decision is made to construct a commercial plant.
The company is in the process of securing environmental and planning approvals and expects to order most of the plant’s key equipment in the first quarter of this year.
Management remains laser-focused on demonstrating its new-age technology and moving into commercial production.
ABx Group managing director and chief executive officer Mark Cooksey said: "Securing the facility at Bell Bay is a critical step in advancing our continuous pilot plant. The location is ideal, offering proximity to key infrastructure while allowing us to progress rapidly with minimal upfront costs. This is a significant advantage as we move closer to our goal of recycling fluorine waste into industrial chemicals at a commercial scale.”
Rio Tinto Bell Bay Aluminium general manager Richard Curtis said: “Currently all aluminium smelters in Australia import aluminium fluoride, so if a way can be found to produce it from a waste product, that makes economic and environmental sense. If ABx can do this locally, that’s good for the community and Tasmania, so we are happy to be able to contribute to this pilot plant.”
The technology recently delivered its best fluorine recovery result to date, returning 93 per cent in testwork at its Technology Centre on the New South Wales Central Coast – increasing the company’s confidence in the commercial viability of the process.
Management says detailed experimental work and an in-depth knowledge of the relevant process underpinned the impressive result. It is another record result from an independent analysis of samples produced in the latest test runs at its bath pilot batch reactor.
The reactor is designed to recover fluorine from excess bath. Since the commissioning of the reactor, the company has conducted multiple test runs involving about 10 kilograms of bath and sulfuric acid.
It says the recovery process is improving, from a maximum of 80 per cent in a single initial stage, followed by 88 per cent with further processing.
Using data analysis and its detailed process knowledge, ABx designed a comprehensive experimental work program using available equipment to imitate the proposed second-stage performance – returning the 93 per cent recovery rate. Management believes this level of recovery would be sufficient if achieved in a commercial plant operation.
The Tasmanian Government has also stepped in to help the technology get off the ground via a conditional zero-interest loan for $1 million help build and operate the pilot plant.
The loan offers a nil interest rate for the first two years and then converts to the Department of State’s cost of funds plus a risk margin.
The company is eagerly pushing forward with its technological process as it attempts to shake up the aluminium fluoride market.
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By Craig Nolan
