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INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

Norwegian-Canadian Partnership in Research and Education in Primary Production of Aluminium

Alternative title: Norge-Canada partnerskap innen forsking og utdanning i primærproduksjon av Al

Awarded: NOK 3.2 mill.

In order to make metal production more sustainable, it is crucial to reduce energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions, and this is highly relevant when considering the production of aluminium. Aluminum is a very important product in both Norway and Canada, and aluminum is produced from environmentally friendly hydropower in both countries. Reduced energy consumption and lower CO2 emissions per tonne of aluminum produced are two important goals for research and development within this industry, and international cooperation is crucial to achieving these goals. In the western world, Canada and Norway are two of the most important aluminium-producing countries, and there are robust research and educational environments linked to aluminum production in both countries. The aim of this collaborative project is to strengthen and establish a permanent collaboration between the professional communities in the two countries, and to strengthen the international position of the two communities in this field. The project has established a summer school that alternates between Norway and Canada. CaNAl also supports the exchange of students and staff, and several research collaborations have been established through the increased contacts between the environments and which will result in joint publication between Canadian and Norwegian researchers. Both summer schools and exchanges were unfortunately affected as a result of Covid19, but the activities associated with summer schools were taken up again in 2022 and 2023, respectively in Trondheim and Canada. For the summer schools in 2022 and 2023, attention was also given to other parts of the value chain, to ensure further synergies between relevant professional environments. The cooperation between Norway and Canada is further safeguarded through a similar initiative on the Canadian side, as well as partnership in a recent FME application.

The main outcome of the project has been the successful realization of four summer schools (2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023), involving in total more than 250 participants from academia, research institutes and industry, and 125 technical presentations, including short courses relating to various aspects of aluminium production and use. The project has allowed for long term exchange for 3 PhD students, 1 researcher and 1 MSc student, in addition to shorter visits for senior researchers. The bilateral exchange has resulted in two peer reviewed publications, in addition to joint presentations at the summer schools. Future research collaboration has been realized through a partnership in an application for the 2023 call for FMEs.

Primary production of aluminium metal is one of the core onshore industries in Norway. The world leading metal production research community located in Trondheim is of paramount importance to support development and innovation in the Al industry and to supply the industry with well-qualified master and PhD candidates. In the western world, the Norwegian and the Canadian aluminium industries are the most robust and innovative. A strong and world leading research and education environment have been build-up over the last decades at University of Laval in Canada to support the Canadian and the US aluminium industry. This project aims to build a long-term sustainable partnership between the Norwegian aluminium research community at NTNU/SINTEF with the Canadian counterpart at Laval University/REGAL. The partnership will include exchange of master and PhD students as well as faculty and build a framework for collaboration including shared PhD courses, summer schools and workshops particularly dedicated to support graduate educational programs including a Al summer school to secure an international research environment and industrial relevance. In this proposal the projects SFI Metal Production and CaRMa (Carbon and Refractory Materials in Metal Production( are at the core of the partnership. A Norwegian-Canadian partnership is of particular importance since there are hardly other academic institutions in Europe focusing on aluminium reduction technology, and the project aims to build a strong collaboration with the main academic institution in this field in America.

Publications from Cristin

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Funding scheme:

INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research