A quick recap of IBAAS-JNARDDC 2023

The long-awaited international aluminium conference, jointly organized by IBAAS (International Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium Society) and JNARDDC (Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre) was concluded on 6^th December 2023 in Nagpur.  This 11^th International Conference and Exhibition (IBAAS-JNARDDC 2023) was held during December 4 - 6, 2023 at Chitnavis Centre, Nagpur, India.  This was followed by a post conference visit to the HINDALCO’s aluminium downstream facility of Mouda, near Nagpur on December 7, 2023. The theme of the IBAAS-2023 conference was “Latest Technological Developments in Alumina & Aluminium Production”.  This Conference covered the complete value chain of aluminium industry from bauxite evaluation / beneficiation to aluminium downstream products in three days of interactive meet.

The conference had series of technical presentations by leading Indian and the foreign experts. These were followed by intense technical discussions on each paper of bauxite-alumina and aluminium industries. This is the unique international conference of IBAAS, registered in India, which revolves around aluminium value chain, latest developments and future challenges for this industry.  In this mega event, about 210 delegates from 95 companies / organizations from all over the world have participated. Delegates, representing bauxite, alumina and aluminium industry, research organizations, technology / equipment suppliers, service providers, and academic institutes have assembled in this event of 2023. The experts were mainly arrived from India, Denmark, France, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Sierra Leone and the USA.  There was also an exclusive technical exhibition during this conference, where companies have shown their equipment/instruments and technology used in bauxite mines, alumina and aluminium plants.

The conference was inaugurated by Mr. S. Kanakanand, President & Head Manufacturing Centre for Excellence, HINDALCO along with Director JNARDDC Dr. Anupam Agnihotri, Mr. Yves Ocello, a leading alumina expert of France, and Chief Research and Development Officer, Vedanta. The inaugural function was conducted by Dr. M.K. Roy, Secretary IBAAS and Dr. Ashok Nandi, Convener of the Conference, highlighted the journey, growth and contribution of IBAAS to Aluminium industry.  This is the 11^th International IBAAS conference and in the past 7 International meetings were organized in various cities of India, 3 large events in China and 1 in Guinea, a west African country. In the inaugural function, Dr. Amit Chatterjee of VEDANTA talked about the necessity of innovations and continuous R&D for development of this industry. Mr. Yves Ocello touched the overall developments of bauxite, alumina and aluminium industry in the world and importance of India. Dr. Agnihotri highlighted the efforts of IBAAS to bring all the aluminium producers, leading experts and stakeholders in one platform for useful technical interactions and updates. Mr. S. Kanakanand, Chief Guest of IBAAS-2023 spoke on the vision of Indian Aluminium industry, demand of aluminium, driven by the growth in sectors like electricity, transport, building, construction and packaging. Dr. P.K Jain of Indian Bureau of Mines proposed ‘Vote of Thanks’.

After the inaugural function 7 keynote addresses on various aspects of aluminium industry were delivered by leading Indian and foreign experts. The first keynote address on "Decarbonisation of Indian Aluminium Sector-Way Forward"" by Dr. Anupam Agnihotri, Director JNARDDC led to the pathway for achieving CO2 reduction in aluminium production. The second keynote presentation on "Sustainable Aluminium manufacturing " by Mr. S. Kanakanand, President & Head Mfg CoE of Hindalco Industries outlined various efforts being made by HINDALCO to maximise the green energy generation and hydel power by lifting water at height through solar energy and produce electricity. Dr. Amit Bansiwal, Senior Principal Scientist, NEERI presented the third keynote address on "Environmentally Sound Management of Industrial Wastes in Aluminium Sector". The next two keynote addresses highlighted the latest developments in alumina technology by Mr. Yves Ocello and by Dr. Vilas Tathavadkar, Chief Technology Officer of Hindalco Industries. Dr. Amit Chatterjee, Chief Research and Development Officer, Vedanta presented keynote on "Innovations and Technology Interventions-Key to Sustainability of Aluminium " and the last address one was on "Supply chain challenges in the Metals industry: Navigating Challenges, Ensuring Sustainability " by Ms. Kopal Agrawal, Chief Procurement Officer of Hindalco Industries.

On the afternoon of first day (4^th December, 2023), sponsors and supporters like Tokai COBEX GmbH, AKW Apparate + Verfahren GmbH, Nalco Water, Ashapura, STC-Engineering, SpectraFlow Analytics AG and Alumina Chemicals and Castable had presented their company profiles, products and highlighted the equipment/instruments for alumina and aluminium plants. The 7 exhibition stalls of this mega aluminium event were taken by Malvern Panalytical, a division Spectris Technologies, Westech Process Equipment, SpectraFlow Analytics AG and Janatics India. Just after the start of the function, the IBAAS-2023 exhibition was inaugurated by Chief guest Mr. S. Kanakanand, President & Head Mfg CoE of Hindalco Industries. The main media partner for this conference was AlCircle and others were International Aluminium Institute (IAI), Light Metal Age and MetalWorld.    

On the second day of conference (5^th December), 3 parallel technical sessions on Bauxite-Alumina, Smelter and Aluminium downstream were conducted in 3 different conference halls. In the bauxite alumina sessions about 17 selected technical papers were presented by leading Indian and foreign experts.  Here technical experts of Hindalco, Vedanta, AKW, Nalco Water, Malvern Panalytical, Remi Process, Westech, Metso, Venus Engineering and SpectraFlow etc. had presented number of interesting papers. The second parallel session on Aluminium smelter had 19 technical papers mainly by primary aluminium producers, R&D Institutes and Janatics India. All the primary aluminium producers of India were represented here and they had lively technical discussions on various aspects of smelter technology.  The third parallel technical session on Aluminium Downstream and Sustainability consisted of 14 technical papers, presented by Scientists / Engineers of JNARDDC, Magma, q-Maxim LLP, IIT, Ria Casthouse, Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) and CETIZION Verifica etc.    

On the third day two parallel technical sessions on ‘Non-metallurgical bauxite-alumina’ and ‘Bauxite residue’ were conducted. About 5 papers were presented in each of these sessions and these were followed by intensive technical discussions. For each technical session, a Chairman was nominated, who had conducted the proceeding and also checked the quality of presentations.

All the selected papers / presentations were awarded with prizes with certificates. The main objective was to encourage the young scientists and engineers to further work for the development of Aluminium industry. In the concluding participants of IBAAS-2023 conference have provided their feedback and requested to encourage papers and presentations on digitisation of aluminium industry, decarbonisation and non-metallurgical bauxite-alumina, where India can play vital role in the world. It is also suggested to have brainstorming sessions on various important topics of aluminium industry. This is well noted and the future conferences may incorporate some of these suggestions. The conference souvenir, list of presented papers / delegates and photographs of IBAAS 2023 are uploaded on IBAAS website  (http://www.ibaas.info/). All the feedback can be sent to info@ibaas.info.