FilterEx – A sustainable solution for aluminium smelting filter dust wastes

从现在到2030年，全球铝消费量预计将增长40%，但与此同时，人们越来越关注碳净零和气候变化，铝生产部门面临着前所未有的压力，以确保其活动的可持续性，并在可能的情况下为社会的环境目标做出积极贡献。Ultromex的存在是为了帮助铝生产部门实现其通过为铝冶炼和铝回收所产生的废物开发创新解决方案，实现可持续发展目标。我们的主要目标是处理这些废物，使其能够从填埋场转移并作为二次资源返回循环经济。无论是在铝行业，还是在水泥、陶瓷、钢铁和耐火材料生产等下游行业，Ultromex都已经为铝浮渣、盐渣和废罐内衬开发了可持续的解决方案。这些解决方案可以部署在冶炼现场，以处理产生的废物，甚至可以部署在垃圾填埋场，以处理废物并回收资源进行有益的利用。通过FilterEx，Ultromex现在将注意力转向过滤系统产生的废物-过滤粉尘。这种废物流具有其他炼铝废物的许多特点;它具有高度的水反应性，可以释放有毒和潜在的爆炸性气体，含有可沥滤的污染物，在受管制的地区被认为是危险废物。然而，它在几个关键领域有所不同，特别是非常细的颗粒尺寸和污染物的范围，这提出了新的处理挑战。已经在概念验证和实验室规模上得到证明，与FilterEx Ultromex公司合作，Ultromex公司现在寻求扩大规模到一个小型试验工厂，以向冶炼厂证明该工艺在小工业规模上对一系列过滤粉尘的有效性。它还将为潜在的下游用户提供足够数量的经处理的材料，以评估和验证该材料作为二次原料的适用性，工业用途。FilterEx的设计使处理成本在经济上优于现有的处理解决方案，但这些解决方案通常被认为是不可持续的。该项目的成功结束将为所有人带来许多好处利益相关者;铝工业，下游行业使用的产出，社会作为环境挑战得到解决，英国有限公司将再次展示全球领导地位的铝冶炼废物处理。

With global aluminium consumption forecasted to grow by 40% between now & 2030 but at the same time with increasing focus on carbon net zero and climate change, the pressure has never been greater on the aluminium production sector to ensure that its activities are sustainable and indeed where possible make a positive contribution to society's environmental goals.Ultromex exists to help the aluminium production sector achieve its sustainability goals by developing innovative solutions for the wastes produced by aluminium smelting and aluminium recycling. Our primary objective is to treat these wastes so that they can be diverted from landfill and returned to the circular economy as secondary resources. This can be either within the aluminium sector or downstream industries such as cement, ceramics, steel and refractory production.Ultromex has already developed sustainable solutions for aluminium dross, salt slag and spent pot liner. These solutions can be deployed at the smelting site to treat waste as it arises or even at a site where wastes have been landfilled, to treat them and recover the resources for beneficial use.With FilterEx, Ultromex has now turned its attention to the wastes arising from filtration systems - Filter Dusts. This waste stream exhibits many of the characteristics of other aluminium smelting wastes; it is highly water reactive and can evolve toxic and potentially explosive gasses, contains leachable contaminants and is considered to be a hazardous waste in regulated regions.It differs, however, in several key areas, notably the very fine particle size and the range of contaminants which present new treatment challenges.Already proven at proof of concept and laboratory scale, with FilterEx Ultromex now seeks to upscale to a small pilot plant to demonstrate to smelters' the effectiveness of the process at small industrial scale across a range of filter dusts. It will also provide sufficient volumes of treated materials for potential downstream users to assess and validate the suitability of the material as a secondary feedstock for their beneficial, industrial use.FilterEx has been designed so that the cost of treatment will be economically favourable to existing disposal solutions but which are generally not considered to be sustainable.A successful conclusion to the project will have many benefits for all stakeholders; the aluminium industry, downstream industries using the outputs, society as environmental challenges are addressed and UK plc which will again demonstrate global leadership for treatment of aluminium smelting wastes.