Phillip Julien, acting chief executive officer, Alutrint, says the modern Chinese technology–North East University Industries–being used for the aluminium smelter in T&T, would significantly reduce the emissions resulting in a safer environment. At a media conference last week Thursday at the Kapok Hotel, Maraval, Julien said the aluminium industry has been evolving as a result of continuous research. He said some of the information being circulated is outdated and new information is available about the industry's developments. Julien said a water treatment plant and buffer zones would be implemented as added mechanisms to ensure a healthy and safe environment.
He said residents can be assured the company has no intention of closing down Vessingy Beach as this would not affect any of the operations. "Due to the resurgence about the health and safety concerns regarding the proximity of the industry to the communities, it is our care and responsibility to deal with these concerns," he said. "We have been engaging with stakeholders and would be forthcoming with our answers," Julien said. He said it was in this context he invited two Norwegian doctors to share their experience on Norway's mature aluminium industry. Julien said Norway has a manageable relationship between its industry and the environment, from which T&T can learn.
Norway aluminium industry
Underscoring this view was Jan Yttredal, an electrochemistry engineer from Norway, who has about 40 years' experience in the aluminium industry. Drawing from his Norwegian experience, Yttredal said they have changed their technology and has been using the modern technology, which has significantly reduced emissions. He said previously Norwegian aluminium smelters used the older technology than that which is proposed for La Brea. However, Norway has about seven smelters with various technologies ranging from the modern pre-bake technology to the old Vertical Stud Soderberg technology.
He said, "Pot room asthma was an issue in older and poorly managed smelters, some of which are no longer in operation." Yttredal said out of the seven aluminium plants in Norway, five have communities residing in close proximity to them. He said there was no buffer zones and there were people living just outside the fence of the plant. "Once you can run the technology to its specifications, you would experience less emissions resulting in a safer environment." He said Norway is also known as a big exporter of fish, especially cod and salmon and one of its plants, Sudulsora, has a salmon river running alongside it.
Dr Bjorn Dahlberg, former chief medical officer at the Hydro aluminium plant in Norway and head of that country's health committee for industrial ecology, drew on his experience as a company doctor at the Ardal aluminium plant in Norway. He said the concerns that T&T citizens have are legitimate and that Norwegians had similar concerns. He said the new capacity for this modern technology is based on gas and hydro electric energy (green energy), but most of the older technology was powered by coals. He said, though, that this hydro electric energy comes at a high cost. Dahlberg said with the old technology, the anodes were baked in the pot room in the same place in the work room, but with the newer aluminium smelters using the pre-bake technology, the anodes are baked in a different room. The pots are totally enclosed and most process operations occur without opening the pot enclosure, he said.
Therefore, the pre-bake technology creates and bakes the anodes in a separate facility, Dahlberg said.
Emission concerns
During a question and answer segment, Julien was asked to reassure the public that Alutrint's emissions would not add to the existing emissions from cars and other plants in Pt Lisas. "The emissions would not be that significant...the social and environment impact would be manageable," he said. Asked about power for the Alutrint smelter, Julien said the smelter plant would be powered by electricity and that power plant would be fuelled by natural gas. He said 50 per cent of the world's aluminium production are powered by Hydro electric energy, ten per cent is fuelled by natural gas and six per cent is fuelled by coal. "So Alutrint falls in the category of being fuelled by natural gas," he said. Asked if this would interrupt T&T's supply of electricity, Julien said the power plant, currently under construction at Union Estate, is being sized to fuel both the national grid and the aluminium smelter. The plant would facilitate Alutrint eventually and the T&T Electricity Commission. He said completion of the first phase at year's end is exclusively for the national grid.
About Alutrint
Alutrint Ltd is a state enterprise established in 2005 by the Government and is mandated to construct and manage a state of the art Aluminium Complex at Union Industrial Estate, La Brea. The complex will comprise a smelter with a production capacity of 125,000 metric tones a year, as well as two manufacturing plants. According to management, once operational, the complex will directly employ about 800 people. Alutrint said the company, which is scheduled to begin commercial production in 2012, would not only produce raw aluminium, but will begin converting it into viable downstream products, such as automotive wheels.
