Engineering, designing, and constructing a high purity alumina process plant for use in decarbonization technologies worldwide

High Purity Alumina Definitive Feasibility Study

To aid its decarbonization journey, the world needs high purity alumina (HPA) and we’re helping to design a way to process it. How is HPA used? It’s used to produce synthetic sapphire, a type of scratch-resistant glass, as well as lithium-ion batteries that are critical for use in electric vehicles and solar battery storage. We worked with technology developer Lava Blue and QUT to scale the science—moving from the laboratory to a demonstration plant processing 20 kilogram (44 pounds) batches.

Thanks to an agreement with Lava Blue to use this technology, we’re now developing a four thousand tonnes per annum (TPA) commercial scale HPA operation for a client. As part of the project’s definitive feasibility study, we’re undertaking the engineering and design of the plant. To support a Class 3 capital cost estimate, or budgetary estimate, we ascertained the plant’s footprint, then modelled it in 3D to demonstrate the layout and quantities. The project was managed by our Mineral Processing Centre of Excellence in Brisbane which provided a full suite of disciplines including process, mechanical, electrical instrumentation, and controls (EI&C), civil, and structural engineering.

Following this project, we engaged in a prefeasibility study for a smaller, commercial scale HPA plant for another client—helping to decarbonize the world, one project at a time.