The project team for Program 3, is assessing different ways to add solar to the high temperature calcination stage of the Bayer process, including the introduction of concentrated solar radiation: • directly to the reactor • indirectly via the heating of particles. We are working on the development of both a reactor and modelling tools to allow the economics of the process to be estimated. The model will be validated with our own data and with Alcoa’s process models. The validated model will be used to estimate viability of the process, accounting for solar resource variability, heat losses and syngas from solar reforming. By assessing a range of options, we will identify the preferred path with which to introduce CST into the high temperature calcination process. This will be used to develop a plan for scale-up and demonstration of the technology in a future program. • To identify a system suitable for continuous calcination of industrial quality alumina with a significant component of concentrating solar energy with low cost relative to selected alternative renewable energy technology options, considering: • direct and indirect introduction of concentrating solar energy to the reactor • beam up and beam-down configuration options • hybridising with natural gas and/or solar syngas • thermal energy storage options • the influence of transients of the solar resource.

[1] Solar Energy by S P Sukhatme and J K Nayak. [2] Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes by Duffie and Backman. Solar process load: Hot water load, space heating load, building loss coefficient, cooling load, swimming.

• To develop and demonstrate at laboratory scale, a reactor suitable for the above calcination process. • To develop reliable engineering design tools to support the scale-up of the above reactor using a combination of experiments and numerical modelling tools, addressing: • reliable models of the calcination process under conditions of relevance to the new process • reliable models of the heat and mass transport processes within the new reactor. Program 3 intended outputs: • Process and techno-economic models to reliably estimate the economic viability of a new design solar-combustion hybrid calciner for high temperature calcination of alumina continuously at industrially realistic scales. • Validated engineering design tools for reactor design and an approach for its integration into the process. Rave master subtitle indonesia.

• A plan for on-sun demonstration of this technology at pilot-scale to be conducted at the CSIRO, Newcastle. New technology is needed because the 1000ºC temperature of the commercial alumina calcination process is significantly higher than the 600ºC at which CST is commercially available. And while a number of individual component technologies have been demonstrated to operate at the necessary temperature at smaller scale, a system suitable for continuous production is not available. We don’t yet understand enough about the performance of complete systems to enable preferred system configurations to be identified. However, significant progress has been made.

For example, we have recently demonstrated the direct calcination of high quality alumina with concentrated solar radiation in a laboratory scale reactor. Industry has been making alumina for about 130 years. Its most recent process step change was arguably the introduction of flash calcination in the 1980s. Step changes occur rarely but when they do they are very disruptive and result in large economic, social or environmental benefits.