DUSHANBE, January 6, 2016, Asia-Plus – The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) is expected to launch three large enterprises in the Yovon district of Khatlon province in the summer.
According to TALCO, the plant for production of aluminum fluoride with annual capacity of 18,000 tons, the plant for production of cryolite with annual capacity of 12,000 tons and the plant for production of sulfuric acid with annual capacity of 130,000 tons will be introduced into operation in the summer.
The plants are reportedly being constructed by TALCO in cooperation with China National Heavy Machinery Corporation.
The plants are being constructed in the framework of a five-year program for Tajik aluminum smelter’s shift to domestic raw materials, which is being implemented in cooperation with Canada’s engineering company, Hatch.
A total cost of these three projects is 126 million U.S. dollars, including 88.5 million U.S dollars provided by China Exim Bank and more than 37 million U.S. dollars invested in the projects by TALCO.
Aluminum fluoride is an inorganic compound used primarily in the production of aluminum. This colorless solid can be prepared synthetically but also occurs in nature. Aluminum fluoride is an important additive for the production of aluminum by electrolysis. Together with cryolite lowers the melting point to below 1000 °C and increases the conductivity of the solution.
Cryolite was historically used as an ore of aluminum and later in the electrolytic processing of the aluminum-rich oxide ore bauxite. The difficulty of separating aluminum from oxygen in the oxide ores was overcome by the use of cryolite as a flux to dissolve the oxide minerals. Pure cryolite itself melts at 1012 °C), and it can dissolve the aluminum oxides sufficiently well to allow easy extraction of the aluminum by electrolysis. Substantial energy is still needed for both heating the materials and the electrolysis, but it is much more energy-efficient than melting the oxides themselves. Now, as natural cryolite is too rare to be used for this purpose, synthetic sodium aluminum fluoride is produced from the common mineral fluorite.
Sulfuric acid has a wide range of applications including domestic acidic drain cleaner,
electrolyte in lead-acid batteries and various cleaning agents. It is also a central substance in the chemical industry. Principal uses include mineral processing, fertilizer manufacturing, oil refining, wastewater processing, and chemical synthesis. It is widely produced with different methods, such as contact process, wet sulfuric acid process and some other methods.
The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) is one of the ten largest aluminum smelters in the world and provides up to 70% of the country’s foreign currency earnings, consuming 40% of the country’s electrical power. TALCO is wholly owned by the Tajik government. Tajikistan does not mine alumina but imports the raw material through tolling arrangements.
Construction of the Tajik aluminum plant (TadAZ) began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on March 31, 1975. On April 3, 2007, TadAZ was officially renamed to TALCO – Tajik Aluminum Company. The Tajik aluminum smelter had the capacity to produce 517,000 metric tons per year.
