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The
Belgaum Research and Development Centre (BRDC),
which celebrated its silver jubilee on 26 March
2004, was started in 1979 with the assistance
of Alcan, Canada. The
centre now has a team of 23 professionals consisting
of doctorates, post graduates and graduates in
engineering, ceramics, material science and chemistry.
Successful
projects at the BRDC have included processability
studies of the Bayer process with various types
of bauxites. Product development of aluminas and
hydrates for applications in refractories, ceramics,
polishing, abrasives, fillers and fire retardants
have also been taken up. BRDC works towards advanced
application research to strengthen Hindalco's
leading position in speciality alumina and hydrate
applications.
Some
recent R&D achievements of the centre include
product re-engineering to establish alumina chemicals
for household cleaning products and application
research leading to enhanced understanding of
the end-usage of specialty chemicals.
BRDC's
world-class R&D facilities include the latest
equipment and instruments for its processability
studies and other research projects. The centre
received the ISO 9001-2000 certification in March
2001. BRDC has now started getting project assignments
from other alumina companies worldwide in connection
with new refinery projects.
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History
and progress of BRDC
facilities
| research projects | achievements
| ISO 9000 | current
scenario
Facilities
BRDC
began developing instrumental methods
of
analysis as a substitute for the time-consuming
and imprecise traditional wet chemical analysis
of bauxite, alumina and other process materials.
Sophisticated analytical instruments like
XRD, AAS, XRF, SEM, ion chromatograph and
sedigraph were procured over a period of time.
Critical instruments are regularly replaced
with more advanced models in order to keep
abreast of international standards.
Research
projects
Over
the years, many development projects have
been undertaken:
- Processability
studies using the Bayer process with various
types of bauxites, development of predesilication
process for the Belgaum plant, estimation
of organics and oxalate build-up, precipitation
control, process for the separation of
vanadium and oxalate, etc.
- Product
development on alumina and hydrate for
various applications like refractories,
ceramics, polishing, abrasives, fillers,
fire retardants, etc.
- Application
research on the use of alumina and hydrate.
Achievements
- BRDC
has filed over 300 technical reports.
Patents on processes and applications
have been obtained.
- From
the early 1990s, BRDC started undertaking
analytical and development projects for
Alcan and other group companies on a payment
basis. Some noteworthy projects were Ely
bauxite exploration, technology evaluation
and development for Utkal Alumina, precipitation
studies to achieve 100 g/L productivity
and organics/oxalate build-up with numerous
bauxites.
- The
centre also undertakes processability
studies for green field aluminas
ISO
9000
In
1994, systems at BRDC were reoriented towards
the requirements of ISO 9001-1994 certification.
In March 1995, BRDC became the first R&D
centre within the Alcan system to achieve
ISO 9001 certification. In fact, BRDC achieved
double certification of ISO 9001 for development.
In March 2001, within three months of the
new updated standards being officially issued,
BRDC became one of the very first outfits
in the whole of India to get certified to
ISO 9001:2000 standards.
Current
scenario
With
the good reputation earned over the years,
BRDC has started getting project assignments
from other alumina companies in the world
in connection with a number of new refinery
projects. This has given our scientists an
opportunity to learn new processes in dealing
with different bauxites and technologies. |
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