In 2022, Bell Bay Aluminium presented a paper on our Next Generation furnace project at the International Committee for Study of Bauxite, Alumina & Aluminium conference. The project involves implementing a new refractory design (known as Next Generation) for our carbon baking furnace.
Historically during the carbon bake furnace rebuilding process, existing insulation has had remedial repairs. Over the past 30+ years, these repairs have become labour intensive, and costs have increased. The Carbon Bake Furnace Rebuild team developed a product and method to replace the tub wall insulation during sectional replacements that can be installed during Next Generation conversions.
At the conference, many questions were asked by the audience after the presentation. The paper received the Best Paper Award in the Carbon field. This award recognises the innovation and courage shown by the team for the deployment of this technology, with the support of our Brisbane head office and Rio Tinto’s Research and Development Centre in Voreppe, France.