A Light and Bright Future with Aluminium and Silicon
Environment, Energy and Productivity
Aluminium
The production of primary aluminium is a 100 year long tradition in Norway, historically due to an abundance of cheap hydroelectric power, a prerequisite we no longer have. However, technologically Norway is in the forefront in most areas of aluminium production.
Hydro Aluminium has recently expanded its primary capacity at the Sunndal plant by close to 300,000 tpy, based on company developed technology. The total investment cost was 6 billion NOK. Being a global actor, Hydro Aluminium now invests 10 billion NOK in a greenfield primary aluminium plant in Qatar.
Elkem Aluminium presently upgrades its carbon facility at the Mosjøen plant to produce 300,000 tpy baked anodes. External conditions continually sharpen and necessitate that new, untraditional solutions are sought to meet the challenges the industry faces. In this effort interdisciplinary approaches and teamwork are of utmost importance to succeed.
14 tons water have to fall 500 meters to produce 1 kilo aliminium.
Ecology
Fluoride emission and the environment. Reducing emissions to the environment stimulates forest growth.
Technology
Modern redution cells.
Recruitment
Dr. student Marianne Engvoll working in Elkem Aluminium's laboratories.
Silicon
Silicon is a raw material for the chemical, the electronics and the aluminium industry. The end-users are the automobile, the construction and the cosmetics industries, in addition to the producers of semiconductors. Elkem Silicon supplies around 80 % of the silicon metal needed by the Japanese IT-industry. Elkem Silicon has three metals plants in Norway.
Ferro silicon is used by the steel and iron industry to remove oxygen from the steel and to adjust the Si content in steel and iron.
In addition, Elkem Silicon produces about 12,000 tons annually of Microsilica® by filtering the exhaust gases from the furnaces. Microsilica® is used to produce extremely strong concrete and refractory materials.
Production
Carbothermic reduction of quartz produces silicon metal.
Village chief Professor, dr.ing. Trygve Foosnæs Department of Materials Science and Engineering Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology Tel: 73 59 40 06 E-mail: trygve.foosnas@material.ntnu.no
Assistants Heiko Gaertner gaertner@stud.ntnu.no Maria Mørkrid mmorkrid@hotmail.com Ahmed Adnan Aqrawi aqrawi@stud.ntnu.no
External owner Hydro Aluminium Elkem Silicon
We will be assisted by employees of Hydro Aluminium and Elkem Silicon. Excursions to Hydro Aluminium Sunndal and Elkem Thamshavn are planned.
The International Course on Process Metallurgy of Aluminium
An annual international aluminium course is arranged in Trondheim for about 100 participants. Total 2100 from 49 countries.
Silicon for the Chemical Industry
A bi-annual conference is arranged in Norway for approximately 150 participants from typically 25 countries.
