A new aluminium waste recycling pilot facility, touted to be the first of its kind in the world, will soon be up and running alongside Rio Tinto’s aluminium smelter in Bell Bay, Tasmania.
ABx Group, a subsidiary of Alcore Limited, is driving the project with a proprietary process that aims to recover and reuse chemicals from the aluminium manufacturing process that are expensive or would traditionally need to be imported.
One such chemical is hydrogen fluoride, which is recovered and then converted to aluminium fluoride, an essential chemical for aluminium smelting.
“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,” Rio Tinto Bell Bay aluminium general manager Richard Curtis said.
“If ABx can do this locally, that’s good for the community and the state of Tasmania, so we are happy to be able to contribute to this pilot plant.”
The process for securing environmental and planning approval for the plant is already underway, with Alcore expecting to have all necessary equipment ordered and on its way to site in the next couple months.
“The location is ideal, offering proximity to key infrastructure while allowing us to progress rapidly with minimal upfront costs,” ABx Group managing director and chief executive officer Mark Cooksey said
“This is a significant advantage as we move closer to our goal of recycling fluorine waste into industrial chemicals at a commercial scale.”
The Tasmanian Government has been working closely with Alcore on the proposal for the facility since 2017 and has shown its support with a $1 million investment via a commercial loan to support this early phase.
“This project demonstrates how innovation and sustainability go hand in hand, as Alcore tests its process to reprocess what would otherwise be a waste product into a high-value additive for aluminium smelting,” Tasmanian Minister for Business, Industry and Resources Eric Abetz said.
“The pilot plant’s initial operations will deliver up to 10 highly skilled, full-time jobs locally, with the potential to grow to more than 100 full-time equivalent positions as the project moves towards full-scale commercialisation.”
