Final Activity Report Summary - REACON (The establishment of a world class European industrial alumina research facility through the transfer of knowledge from Australia and other Industries)
REACON's primary objective was to transfer knowledge into Europe on the extraction processes of alumina from centres of expertise throughout the world. The alumina industry began in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century but its leading role in research and development in the industry moved to the United States, Russia and eventually Australia through the latter half of the last century. The project objectives were achieved by expanding aughinish alumina's capabilities in research and development in a number of key technological areas: process geochemistry; computational fluid dynamics and process control.
The high level outcome has been that the company is now well known within the worldwide industry as a technological leader and the application of this technology within the company has strengthened its manufacturing base and future in Europe. The company now has the capability to carry out research work for other alumina companies and a number of contracts to do this work are in place.
At a very practical level as a result of the project, Aughinish has implemented significant process improvements as a result of the research carried out during REACON. Production has been increased with minimal capital investment through improve understanding of equipment and process chemistry, the implementation of advanced process control has improved the safety of the operation and overall energy efficiency has also increased.
REACON has been a very positive project for Aughinish alumina, the company has been exposed to very knowledgeable researchers from around the world all of whom have contributed greatly to the future viability of the operation.
The high level outcome has been that the company is now well known within the worldwide industry as a technological leader and the application of this technology within the company has strengthened its manufacturing base and future in Europe. The company now has the capability to carry out research work for other alumina companies and a number of contracts to do this work are in place.
At a very practical level as a result of the project, Aughinish has implemented significant process improvements as a result of the research carried out during REACON. Production has been increased with minimal capital investment through improve understanding of equipment and process chemistry, the implementation of advanced process control has improved the safety of the operation and overall energy efficiency has also increased.
REACON has been a very positive project for Aughinish alumina, the company has been exposed to very knowledgeable researchers from around the world all of whom have contributed greatly to the future viability of the operation.