REACON · The Establishment of a world class European industrial alumina research facility through the transfer of knowledge from Australia and other industries
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2004-06-01 → 2008-05-31
- EU contribution
- €1,721,773
- Participants
- 6
- Scheme
- TOK
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners. CORDIS does not always give exact coordinates for projects before 2014. These points are placed at city or country level.
Results in brief
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.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This project is concerned with transferring knowledge into Europe on the extraction process of alumina, from centres of expertise throughout the world but in particular Australia. This will be achieved by expanding the Host's knowledge and R and D capabili ties in alumina extraction chemistry and asscoiated technologies. The project will have 3 prioroty areas which will allow the knowledge gained through fundamental reasearch at laboratory scale to be initially scaled up to full plant and finally embedded in to the key operational systems. The priority areas are: Process Geochemistry; Computational Fluid Dynamics; Process Control. A number of research fellows will be recruited that have relevant research experience in the priority areas for various periods fro m 2 months to 2 years. It is planned that a number of very experienced researchers will be recruited for short periods throughout the project to provide expertise in terms of scope development, research methodology and direction, to be followed by less exp erienced researchers for longer time spans. In addition up to 7 key technical people from the host will be sent to a number of well renowned institutions world-wide for short periods for training and knowledge acquisition. A key factor in the project is th e well established partnership that is in place betwee the Host and the University of Limerick (UL). This gives access for the research fellow to a most advanced scientific and academic infrastructure. It is envisaged that the research fellows will move fr eely between the host laboratories and those of UL as the reseach programme dictates. Another important feature of this partnership is that it provides the host with advice and assistance as regards research project management.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- AUGHINISH ALUMINA LTD · LIMERICKCoordinatorCity levelIreland
- ALCAN INC · MONTREALCity levelCanada
- COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION · CAMPBELLAustralia
- HONEYWELL INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS · PHOENIX AZCity levelUnited States
- UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE · CALLAGHAN NSWAustralia
- UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE · NEWCASTLE UPON TYNEUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union