Technology transfer to Australia
There have often been successful exports from Austria to overseas, and one or two well-known stories have their origins in Styria. One of our current orders also originates from this federal state – as a result of one of our successful technology projects.
Origin at STYROMAG AG
Interested readers will remember the project carried out by VOIGT+WIPP Engineers to modernize the magnesite calcination process in Tragöß-St. Katharein, Styria. Styromag AG produces magnesium oxide with a very high degree of purity in a fluidized bed reactor. The project objective was to modernize the 100 years old production with 45 years old plant construction and to reduce the high energy consumption for the calcination process. (Click here for the project article)
The results speak for themselves
Two years after implementation, the results are impressive and our colleague DI Dr. techn. Bernhard Kronberger was able to present the exciting project to a very interested audience at the 12th Austrian IEA Fluid Bed Meeting in St. Veit an der Glan.
The technology project of VOIGT+WIPP Engineers resulted not only in an ecological optimization through the reduction of CO2 emissions but also in an improvement of the economic efficiency through reduced production and energy costs by optimal use of waste heat and waste gas loss minimization. In addition to the desired safeguarding of the site’s future, this also led to a new industry standard (BAT = best available technology) with regard to the combination of technical, economic and environmental advantages.
Know-how Transfer to Queensland, Australia
The need for process optimization also exists at QPM Australia , which is in the conceptual phase of implementing a fluidized bed reactor for MgO recovery. This recovery is part of a major project “Townsville Energy Chemiclas Hub”(TECH-Project) which is a CO2-negative and clean production facility of key chemicals for the electric vehicle and energy storage industry.
Fig.1: TECH project overview – VOIGT+WIPP Engineers services take place in the highlighted part
Our client wants to establish itself there as a sustainable producer of critical metals and other by-products for the lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle industries. The expertise of VOIGT+WIPP Engineers in fluidized bed and boiler technology, heat exchanger design as well as flue gas dedusting and the deep, specialized know-how in magnesite processing from the experience gained in the STYROMAG project were requested for this purpose.
We are very pleased to have been awarded this exciting contract and were able to provide valuable conceptual work for our Australian client during the first phase of the project to drive the realization of the project forward.
Image sources:
Titelbild: AdobeStock_439270891
Fig.1: https://qpmetals.com.au/tech-project/dni-process/