38th International Conference and Exhibition ICSOBA 2020

3

days

75

papers

280

participants

7

exhibitors

Overview

  • The 38th International Conference and Exhibition of ICSOBA (The International Committee for Study of Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium) was held from 16 to 18 November 2020 online.
  • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the ICSOBA 2020 was held as a virtual event to ensure the health, safety and comfort for all delegates, in line with our vision to be “the technology conference of the aluminium industry, for the aluminium industry”.
  • There were 75 high quality papers collected from the authors, and 6 distinguished keynote speakers who covered the full spectrum of subjects pertaining to bauxite, alumina and aluminium production and market.
  • 280 delegates registered from all around the world as the duplicated sessions enabled them to connect most often at convenient working hours. Eleven sponsors and seven exhibitors enjoyed increased visibility and greatly contributed to the success of the event.
  • Full set of documents (TRAVAUX book No 49, presentations, exhibitor documents, recorded Q&A sessions) werel available for download for the two weeks following the conference from our NexTech partner’s platform. As usual, all papers published in the TRAVAUX book are accessible from this ICSOBA website.
ICSOBA 2020 Post-conference release

More Photos of the 38th ICSOBA conference see here

More Photos of the 38th ICSOBA conference see here

More Photos of the 38th ICSOBA conference see here

More Photos of the 38th ICSOBA conference see here

More Photos of the 38th ICSOBA conference see here

More Photos of the 38th ICSOBA conference see here

More Photos of the 38th ICSOBA conference see here

ICSOBA 2020 Program

Conference run over 3 days: from 16th to 18th November 2020

  • Two streams (bauxite & alumina, carbon & smelting) run in parallel presentations
  • 2 keynotes and 9 technical presentations for carbon & smelting and 12 technical presentations for bauxite & alumina were broadcasted twice each day to ensure large time zone coverage
  • Keynotes were broadcasted simultaneously to the two streams
  • Platform access was open 24/24 to allow delegates to visit exhibitors’ booths and watch sponsor communications

 

Due to live broadcast time restrictions, not all papers were selected for oral presentations over three days but all submitted papers are published in TRAVAUX book n° 49. As usual, all papers published in the TRAVAUX book will be accessible from this ICSOBA website in electronic version.

Distinguished Keynote Speakers included:

Abdulla Habib

Abdulla Habib

Chief Operating Officer,
Aluminium Bahrain
Short Bio
KN01 - Alba’s Journey to 1.5 Million Tonnes Site Capacity - Challenges and Opportunities.
Abstract
Gobinda Gopal Pal

Gobinda Gopal Pal

Chief Operating Officer,
Vedanta Limited, India
Short Bio
KN02 - Growth of Indian Aluminium Industry and Vedanta.
Abstract
Paul Adkins

Paul Adkins

Managing Director,
AZ China Limited, Hong Kong
Short Bio
KN03 - China’s Aluminium Industry – Why It Is in Seriously Bad Health.
Abstract
Christopher Baylis

Christopher Baylis

Deputy Secretary General,
International Aluminium Institute, United Kingdom
Short Bio
KN04 - Long Term Sustainability of the Aluminium Sector (2020-2050).
Abstract
Uday Patel

Uday Patel

Senior Research Manager,
Wood Mackenzie, United Kingdom
Short Bio
KN05 - Aluminium Market Outlook Across the Value Chain.
Abstract
Carl Firman

Carl Firman

Principal Analyst,
Wood Mackenzie, United Kingdom
Short Bio
KN05 - Aluminium Market Outlook Across the Value Chain.
Abstract
Jerome Lucaes

Jerome Lucaes

Director Marketing and Sustainability,
RUSAL, Zug, Switzerland
Short Bio
KN06 - Evolution of Low-Carbon Aluminium in the Market for More Sustainable Economic Development
Abstract
Abdulla Habib

Abdulla Habib

Gobinda Gopal Pal

Gobinda Gopal Pal

Paul Adkins

Paul Adkins

Christopher Baylis

Christopher Baylis

Uday Patel

Uday Patel

Carl Firman

Carl Firman

Jerome Lucaes

Jerome Lucaes

ORGANIZING and TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

ICSOBA 2020 President: Claude Vanvoren
General Coordination: Claude Vanvoren, Frank Feret, Andrey Panov, Michel Reverdy, MatthieuArlettaz, HoushangAlamdari, BijoySatpathy, DagobertoSevero
Program Directors: Michel Reverdy
Subject Organisers: Andrey Panov (alumina)
Vinko Potocnik (aluminium)
HoushangAlamdari (carbon)
Reviewers (in addition to Subject Organisers and program directors): BijoySatpathy, Frank Feret, Carlos Suarez, EfthymiosBalomenos, Linus Perander, Martin Fennell, Roberto Seno, Stephan Beaulieu, Steven Healy Yin Zhonglin, Yves Occello (alumina)
André-Felipe Schneider, Bingliang Gao, DagobertoSevero, Kristian Etienne Einarsrud, Stephan Broek, YasarKocaefe (aluminium)
Gisele Azimi, DuyguKocaefe, HichamChaouki, Victor Buzunov (carbon)

ICSOBA 2020 President

Guanghui Lang

Dr. Claude Vanvoren

2020 ICSOBA President,
President, C2V Consulting
Containment strategies, travel restriction and overall economic situation of aluminium industry combine to challenge conference organisation in present time. However, promoting industry players collaboration through exchange of ideas and know-how is as important as ever to endeavour a swift recovery from COVID-19 pandemia. This is why ICSOBA 2020 is maintained and will be held as a virtual conference.
About ICSOBA presidents

Student Grants

No student awards were considered at the virtual ICSOBA 2020 conference. However, for the last several years ICSOBA (registered in the province of Quebec) supports JER (Journée des Étudiants) conference organized by REGAL. At this year virtual conference, the recipient of the ICSOBA price was Mahmoud Osman of McGill University of Montreal.

Congratulations!

2020 Satisfaction Survey

As every year, an online satisfaction survey was carried out following Virtual ICSOBA 2020. As this conference was a first of its kind, a significant number of the 44 questions dealt with the virtual aspect of the conference. Main results could be summarized as follows:

  • A response rate of 44% confirms strong interest of ICSOBA delegates to provide feedback. 123 responses were collected which is the second highest number of responses for the last 5 years we conducted such online survey. This ensures a very good representativity of the results.
  • The main feedback is a very strong support to ICSOBA decision to go virtual in 2020: not only the way we addressed this very special year (90% good or excellent) but also the choice to use a virtual platform (89% support) rather than a “simple” webinar type conference.
  • Duplicated sessions (91%) and pre-recorded presentations (equally 91%) were overwhelmingly supported.
  • Nextech platform was very well rated both in term of connexion, navigation and comfort in watching presentations.
  • Two points require further developments should we experience another virtual conference:
    • The time allocated for and format of Q&A and also exchanges at large between delegates and/or delegates and speakers
    • The attendance to virtual exhibition and interaction between delegates and exhibitors
    We received numerous suggestions regarding those two points which give us a great confidence for improved format in the future.
  • With regards to the future, it’s worth mentioning that if most of the delegates favour hybrid (43%) or classical physical (32%) conference, still 20% support a full virtual conference, even in the case of no travel restriction!
  • We noted with great satisfaction that the technical quality and content, applicability, as well as innovative nature of the papers are well rated at 65 to 75%.
  • Keynote presentations were better rated than last year (73% vs 60%) and Keynote as introduction to technical session looks to be a good alternative to a single Keynote session.
  • A very large swing regarding the preferred communication channel with a strong come back of the bi-annual newsletter and a corresponding diminishing of significance of social media.
  • Amongst conference delegates, producers are still the most represented with a percentage in the range of previous years.
  • Also, with regards to delegate’s attendance, we observed a lower attendance for B&A (38% vs 48% last year) with corresponding increase for Carbon + Smelting (15 + 45= 60%).