The International Committee for Study of Bauxite, Alumina & Aluminium

39th International Conference and Exhibition ICSOBA 2021

3

days

98

papers

300

participants

3

exhibitors

2

field trips

OverviewBest Paper AwardsExhibitorsField TripsSponsors

Overview

  • The 39th International Conference and Exhibition of ICSOBA (The International Committee for Study of Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium) was held from 22 to 24 November 2021 online. The conference covered bauxite, alumina, bauxite residue, carbon for aluminium electrolysis, aluminium production, and aluminium recycling in a variety of technical sessions.
  • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the ICSOBA 2021 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”.
  • With over 300 delegates registered for the conference, 39 corporate members and 15 sponsors the organizers of ICSOBA 2021 are humbled by this realization.
  • The program included 10 high-caliber keynote speakers and 98 technical papers presented in two parallel sessions. In addition, two virtual plant tours of Alba Smelter and EGA Al-Taweelah Refinery were organized, as well as a discussion panel on strategic supply of alumina.
  • For the first time this year several companies were invited to present their profile between the technical sessions. GEA, Jingjin Environment Protection, NALCO, Tokai Cobex, Eqip, ABC Flex and Trimet benefited from this opportunity.
  • A complete set of documents (TRAVAUX book No. 50, presentations, exhibitor documents, recorded Question and Answer sessions, etc.,) were still available for download until recently on the vFairs partner’s platform (https://icsoba2021.vfairs.com/en/). As usual, all papers published in the TRAVAUX book, as well as the presentations, will be accessible from the ICSOBA website at https://icsoba.org/proceedings/.
  • ICSOBA was fortunate to have Alba as the Host Sponsor fully committed and motivated to support ICSOBA in this endeavor. Now, more than ever, during these challenging times, we deeply appreciate the staunch support of various businesses and individuals. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the conference this year. In addition, the organizers are deeply grateful to the partners and sponsors who have worked with us at all stages of this important industry event.
ICSOBA 2021 Post conference release

Virtual Lobby of ICSOBA 2021

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ICSOBA 2021 Program

The Conference run over 3 days from 22 to 24 November 2021:

  • Two streams (Bauxite & Alumina, Carbon and Aluminium) were run in parallel presentations.
  • 3-4 keynotes and 32 technical presentations for Bauxite & Alumina, Carbon and Aluminium were conducted and broadcast each day.
  • A Q&A session followed each keynote presentation and a live Q&A panel with speakers followed 4 successive technical presentations.
  • Access to the platform was open 24 hours a day to allow delegates to visit exhibitors' stands and follow communications from sponsors.
ICSOBA-2021 Final Program

 

董春明

董春明

陽光金屬諮詢（北京）有限公司總經理
Short Bio
建立負責任和可持續的鋁價值鏈： 鋁管理倡議（ASI）的作用和進展
董春明

董春明

康义

康义

刘万超

刘万超

李劼

李劼

Сompanies that have submitted abstracts of technical papers:

Abu Dhabi University
AKW Apparate + Verfahren GmbH
Alcoa

ORGANIZING and TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

 

With Michel Reverdy as Program Director the ICSOBA 2021 Technical Committee was composed as follows:

 

SubjectSubject organizerReviewers
KeynoteMichel ReverdyAccording to subject
Bauxite, Alumina, Bauxite ResidueAndrey Panov
Carlos Suarez
Thymis Balomenos		Steven Healy, George Banvolgyi, Stephan Beaulieu, Patrick James, Ajamu Duncan, Evandro Leao, Gokhan Demir, Helen Adamson, Frank Feret, Bijoy Satpathy, Andrey Panov, Carlos Suarez, Thymis Balomenos
Aluminium Reduction TechnologyVinko PotocnikStephan Broek, André-Felipe Shneider, Dagoberto Severo, Yashar Koçaefe, Kristian Einarsrud, Vinko Potocnik, BalK Kakkar
CarbonHoushang AlamdariDuygu Kocaefe, Gøril Jahrsengene

ICSOBA 2021 President

Abdulla Habib

Dr. Abdulla Habib

Chief Operating Officer, Aluminium Bahrain
Short Bio
Aluminium is the metal of the future. As the world’s largest aluminium smelter ex-China, we believe in partnering with industry-specific associations such as ICSOBA that will enable us to exchange and transfer knowledge as well as best practices. Through this, we aim to achieve efficient and cost-effective solutions that will help us stay ahead of the curve in an ever-changing global environment. This in turn will translate Alba’s Vision ‘To be the number one aluminium supplier for the generations to come.
About ICSOBA presidents

Student Grants

No student awards were considered at the virtual ICSOBA 2021 conference. However, for the last several years ICSOBA (registered in the province of Quebec) supports JER (Journée des Étudiants) conference organized by The Aluminium Research Centre – REGAL and offers a monetary funding. The REGAL brings together 36 regular members, 45 collaborator members from the public and private sectors, and about 170 students.

2021 Conference Satisfaction Survey

An online satisfaction survey (which begun in 2016) was carried out again following Virtual ICSOBA 2021. As this conference was the second consecutive of its kind, a significant number of 39 questions dealt with the virtual aspect of the conference. The feedback that the ICSOBA Board obtained from the survey is highly valuable. With ICSOBA 2020 as a reference the main results could be summarized as follows:

  • A response rate confirms strong interest of ICSOBA delegates to provide feedback. 99 answers were collected which ensures a good representativity of the results.
  • The main feedback is a very strong support to ICSOBA decision to go virtual in 2021. The choice to use a virtual platform rather than a “simple” webinar type conference was supported by 91% of the respondents. Connection to and navigation within the vFairs platform was very well rated. Organization of the Q&A session by block of 4 speakers was also fully supported (85%).
  • The survey attendance was 30% for Bauxite & Alumina stream with 67% for Carbon and Smelting.
  • With a 55% ratio, producers were again the most represented with the highest participation ever.
  • Conference agenda in a flipbook format was highly rated. The absence of duplication of session was greatly supported at the level of 86%, thanks to the on-demand capability. Video on-on-demand was very much appreciated (78%) as well as resource downloading (81%), but some delegates experienced difficulties downloading multiple documents. For the virtual event, the audio and video quality of the broadcast is a must, on which we cannot compromise.
  • The results on exhibition confirm those of the last year: our delegates value an exhibition (67%), but none of the proposed formats is clearly preferred. The new feature of “Company Presentation” was well received with some good improvement suggestions.
  • We noted with great satisfaction that the technical quality of articles (79%) and 73% for innovative content has improved further compared to previous years.
  • The forecast to attend next year Conference is 86%, back to the 2019 value and well above the 56% “historical rating“.
  • The bi-annual Newsletter is confirmed as the preferred communication channel with same % as last year (42%)

The ICSOBA Board of Directors needed comprehensive feedback on Virtual ICSOBA 2021 to influence future ICSOBA events to adopt the most efficient and beneficial format. We received many suggestions regarding all points; this gives us great confidence for an improved format in the future. Your contribution is greatly appreciated, and we thank you for your participation.