Rio Tinto, regarded as the world’s largest metal and mining company, has announced that its proprietary Advanced Compact Filter (ACF) technology will soon be globalky and commercially manufactured and sold.
The Australian company announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with Canadian equipment manufacturer, STAS to design and develop the first prototypes of the ACF technology, which has been in use for decades in Rio Tinto’s Grande-Baie and Laterrière smelters.
The Rio tinto-STAS partnership paves the way for the commercialization of the ACF technology, which in turn will allow optimization of the value gained from its use, as well as support the technology’s continuing development and evolution.
The Executive President of STAS, Louis Bouchard, remarked that
“The ACF technology has huge commercial potential for the global aluminium industry and that the Rio Tinto partnership will maximize the value it delivers.”
Basic Info about the Advanced Compact Filter (ACF) Technology
The ACF technology was developed to provide robust, efficient and flexible filtration solutions suited for large product mix mining environments. The development took place during the early 2000s and was initiated by Rio Tinto’s Arvida Research and Development Centre (ARDC) in Quebec, Canada.
After which, the technology was industrialized by Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA), where its efficiency on critical products was successfully demonstrated; allowing its full implementation and operation in Rio Tinto Alcan casthouse.
As an optimal filtration solution, the ACF technology is capable of eliminating more than ninety percent (90%) of inclusions, specifically in liquid aluminium.
After all, aluminum does not occur as a pure element, although it is the third most abundant metal found in the Earth’s crust. However, since aluminum has high chemical reactivity, it easily bonds with other elements to form compounds. It is estimated that more than 270 minerals have aluminum content.
When refined and processed, aluminum is used in the manufacture of critical products, such as but not limited to aluminum sheets and cans.
