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Webinar

Horizon Europe project HAlMan webinar

HAlMan process: First test results

Sustainable hydrogen and aluminothermic reduction process for Manganese, its alloys and critical raw material production.

About HAlMan webinar

The webinar will focus on the groundbreaking developments and results from the HAlMan project, which are set to revolutionize the metallurgical industry. The project aims to create sustainable processes that significantly reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumption associated with metallurgical production. Additionally, it emphasizes the elimination of solid waste generation and the effective valorization of secondary raw materials from both the mining and metallurgical sectors. By addressing these critical areas, the HAlMan project is poised to lead the way toward a more environmentally friendly and resource-efficient future for the industry.

The focus of this webinar is the HAlMan process, mapping of the manganese sources and first test results implemented in 2024. 

For who?

Students

Young professionals

Experienced professionals

Researchers

Agenda

10:00 – 10:20
The HAlMan project: Need. Solutions. Expected impact and results.
Manganese is a key metal to make materials for different applications. The state-of-the-art technologies for the production of the main Mn-containing products are evaluated in comparison with the new HAlMan process, including the fundamentals related to these processes. Moreover, the impact of HAlMan process and its advantages with regard to energy consumption, emissions, etc. are presented.

Dr Maria Wallin and Prof. Jafar Safarian
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
10:00 – 10:20
10:20 – 10:35
Mapping manganese sources for sustainable metallurgy
This presentation focuses on mapping the major manganese deposits worldwide, with a particular emphasis on Europe. Special attention will be given to European low-grade manganese ores rich in Rare Earth Elements (REEs) due to their significance for the HalMan project. The presentation will also cover oceanic manganese resources, highlighting their considerable economic value. Additionally, the chemistry of manganese tailings from ore beneficiation processes will be shown, as their high manganese content makes them potential sources for Mn production.

Dr Konstantinia Papadimitriou
Admiris
10:20 – 10:35
10:35 – 10:55
Results from pilot tests at SINTEF
Dr Casper Van der Eijk will guide you through the entire process of the Pilot test preparation and implementation within SINTEF, providing valuable insights into the results achieved.

Dr Casper Van der Eijk
SINTEF
10:35 – 10:55
10:55 – 11:15
Results from pilot tests at MINTEK
The presentation will highlight MINTEK's pilot facilities utilised to demonstrate hydrogen pre-reduction of lumpy manganese ore and smelting-aluminothermic reduction of pre-reduced ore and secondary manganese slag. I will present the output of the preliminary process simulation, and discuss the experimental conditions evaluated, observations, and results obtained to validate carbon-free production of ferromanganese alloys at a pilot scale. The presentation will also include results from furnace emissions measurement to present evidence that the smelting process did not generate CO2.

Sello Tsebe
MINTEK
10:55 – 11:15
11:15 – 11:20
The way forward: Next steps
HAlMan project coordinators will provide information about the next steps toward the project goals.

Dr Maria Wallin and Prof. Jafar Safarian
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
11:15 – 11:20
11:20 – 11:30
Question and answer session
11:20 – 11:30

Speakers

Dr. Maria Wallin

Dr. Maria Wallin

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) | Project HAlMan coordinator

Dr. Maria Wallin, a chemical engineer with a PhD in Material Science from Chalmers University (2014), has experience as a Product Developer at Promimic and as a Quality and Management consultant at Knightec. She joined NTNU in 2017, where she now works as a researcher focused on the production, recycling, and refining of metals from stable oxides. Dr. Wallin also serves as the administrative coordinator for three EU projects: SisAl Pilot, HAlMan, and HydroMetEC.

Prof. Jafar Safarian

Prof. Jafar Safarian

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) | Project HAlMan coordinator

Jafar Safarian is a professor in extractive and process metallurgy with over 32 years education and experience in this field. He got his PhD in 2007 at NTNU on “Ferromanganese slags reduction by selected forms of carbonaceous materials”, and his PhD study was followed with about 5 years academic and research activities as a PostDoc fellow/researcher at NTNU. He worked more than three years at SINTEF Materials and Chemistry during 2012-2015, and again joined NTNU as a fulltime employee from 2016 with Associate Professor position, and full Professor position since 2021. He has academic teaching duties, and does currently research on solar grade silicon production and recycling, sustainable alumina production, hydrogen reduction processes, manganese dioxide production, valorisation of waste, etc. He has supervised several PhD and PostDoc researchers as well as master’s and bachelor’s students. He has management duties in several educational and research projects such as HydroMetEC, supported by EIT Raw Materials, FME-SUSOLTECH supported by the Research Council of Norway, and HALManHARARE, and ENSUREAL, supported by the Horizon Europe 2020 program.

Dr. Casper Van der Eijk

Dr. Casper Van der Eijk

Senior Research Scientist | SINTEF – HAlMan consortium partner

Casper Van der Eijk is a Senior Research Scientist at SINTEF, with a strong academic background that includes an M.Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering from Delft University of Technology and a Ph.D. in Metallurgy from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Within the HAlMan project he is responsible for the pilot tests implemented at SINTEF facilities. He is also the project coordinator for the Horizon 2020 project HARARE, which focuses on hydrogen-based metal recovery from waste. His expertise lies in minerals and raw materials, as well as primary metals production. Casper is also a prolific author of numerous academic articles in his field.

Dr Konstantinia Papadimitriou HAlMan

Dr Konstantinia Papadimitriou

Project manager | Admiris

Dr. Konstantinia Papadimitriou is a project manager at AdMiRIS, an engineering & consulting firm specialized in offering industrial solutions in the sectors of raw materials, metallurgy and recycling. She specializes in sourcing and mapping of primary and secondary raw materials. She is a chemist and holds a PhD and a MSc in Polymer Science and Technology from the University of Patras, Greece. Since she obtained her doctoral degree, she has worked for 7 years as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at FORTH/ICEHT (Foundation for Research and Technology/Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, Patras Greece). Her main research activities focused on the development of functional polymeric materials for energy applications and the fabrication of graphene-based nanocomposite materials. After her postdoctoral research she joined the Nanotechnology Innovation Hub at Patras Science Park, where she worked as a Business Developer. She has published 10 peer-reviewed papers in international scientific journals, holds 3 patents and has actively participated in 20 international conferences/workshops/schools. In the HAlMan project, she is responsible for mapping manganese ores and flux sources to identify potential European raw materials for the HAlMan processes, aiming to determine the most promising/economically viable supply options for HAlMan technologies.

Sello Tsebe HAlMan webinar

Sello Tsebe

Head of the Technology Demonstration Group in the Pyrometallurgy Division | Mintek

Sello Tsebe is an ECSA registered Professional Engineer with B.Sc. Eng. and M.Sc. Eng. degrees in Materials and Metallurgy from Wits University. He joined Mintek in January 2008 as an Engineer-in-training and is currently Head of the Technology Demonstration Group in the Pyrometallurgy Division. Sello has over 16 years of experience as a research engineer where he was the lead researcher of many prefeasibility studies involving pre-reduction, fuming, smelting, and converting processes as well as feasibility studies at the pilot scale utilising rotary furnace, vertical retort, AC submerge arc furnace, and a range of DC arc furnaces from 100 kVA to 3.2 MVA. Sello gained technical knowledge in the processing of a variety of commodities such as PGMs, gold and silver, lead and zinc, copper, iron and steel, ferromanganese, and ferrochrome. His current interests in research include thermal recycling processes towards a circular economy and decarburization of pyrometallurgical processes towards production of green metals.