PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining giant Rio Tinto and aluminium equipment supplier STAS have agreed to terms to commercialise Rio’s advanced compact filtration (ACF) technology for aluminium cast houses.
The ACF technology developed by Rio will now be manufactured and sold under licence by equipment manufacturer STAS worldwide.
This filtration technology was developed in the early 2000s at Rio’s Arvida Research and Development Centre, in Canada, and is an optimal filtration solution that can eliminate more than 90% of inclusions in liquid aluminium. It is used to manufacture products intended for critical applications, such as high value added aluminium sheets and plates used to produce cans.
Rio partnered with STAS to design and manufacture the first prototypes of the ACF technology for its Grande-Baie and Laterrière smelters, where it has been used successfully for more than a decade. Commercialising the technology will now maximize the value gained from it, and support its ongoing development and evolution, the miner said.