Capacity building and awareness programme on aluminium

Bhubaneswar: The three days "capacity building and awareness programme on aluminium," being held in Hotel Mayfair Lagoon, Bhubaneswar organised by Ministry of Mines and NITI Aayog together with Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC) Aluminium Association of India (AAI), Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) and Aluminium Secondary Manufacturers Association (ASMA) was inaugurated by Member Secretary of Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Ratan P Watal in presence of distinguished dignitaries JNARDDC's Director Dr Anupam Agnihotri, Senior Consultant office of Principal Scientific Advisor Dr BN Satpathy, Ministry of Mines's Director Amit Saran (Director, Ministry of Mines), HINDALCO's MCoE Bibhu Mishra, NALCO's Executive Director Sharanan Chaudhuri, MRAI's Vice president Kishore Rajpurohit and host of participants.

In his inaugural speech Watal stressed the need for circular economy (in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible, the maximum value is extracted from them whilst in use, the products and materials are recovered and regenerated at the end of each product life) and resource efficiency in view of depleting natural resources in global competition. For sustainable development, aluminium resource efficiency is key element necessitating great attention at waste materials such as bauxite residue (red mud), fly ash, spent pot lining (SPL), dross and recycling of aluminium. Dr Agnihotri affirmed the commitment of JNARDDC to contribute in every possible way in achieving resource efficiency in the aluminium industry which can become zero waste industry and carbon neutral by 2030-35 with concerted efforts of everybody involved. Dr Agnihotri advocated the establishment of regulatory authority (on similar lines like Bureau of Energy Efficiency – BEE – under Ministry of Power) which will help in conserving the resources enhancing cost competitiveness etc.

The programme has received widespread participation from all three primary aluminium producing companies (NALCO, VEDANTA & HINDALCO), MRAI, ASMA, secondary aluminium industries, representatives from government organisations (NITI Aayog, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, CPCB, SPCB, BARC, IBM, Ministry and BIS etc) as well as from technology providers, young entrepreneurs, academicians and students etc. Deliberation is focused on following aspects of resource efficiency in aluminium.

• Specific uses of waste generated by the Primary and Secondary Aluminium Industry
• Processing of the waste into value-added products
• Recycling of aluminium – Areas of concern
• Best available technologies

Deliberations, interactions during this programme will not only enlighten the participants but will help in better understanding and implementing the desired goals of resource efficiency in the interest of industry and nation.

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