About the "Aluminium" sector

Aluminium is a young material. It has become the world's second most used metal after steel in little more than a century since its first commercial production. The range of forms Aluminum can take are castings, extrusions and tubes, sheet & plate, foil, powder, forgings.

Aluminum lends itself to a wide range of products, many of which we use every day of our lives. Aluminium is a unique metal. It is strong, durable, flexible, impermeable, lightweight, corrosion-resistant and 100% recyclable. Aluminium is the most widely used non-ferrous metal.

Uses of Aluminium : 

Aluminium plays a very vital role when it comes to fuel efficiency of vehicles. It cuts down on fuel consumption and emissions without compromising the size or the safety of the vehicles by reducing the vehicles weight.

Aluminium also facilitates the construction of corrosion-resistant and low maintenance buildings.

Raw Material used in production of Aluminium : 

The major raw materials in production of aluminium are bauxite, caustic soda, cryolite, carbon & electricity. 

Largest Producer of Aluminium in the world 

Alcoa, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Nippon, Chalco are some of the major aluminium producing companies in the world.

Production process of Aluminium 

The primary aluminium production process consists of three stages. First is mining of bauxite, followed by refining of bauxite to alumina and finally smelting of alumina to aluminium. 

Production of 1 tonne of aluminium requires 2 tonnes of alumina while production of 1 tonne of alumina requires 2 to 3 tonnes of bauxite.

The aluminium production process can be categorised into upstream and downstream activities.

The upstream process involves mining and refining while the downstream process involves smelting and casting & fabricating. 

Downstream-fabricated products consist of rods, sheets, extrusions and foils.

India and Aluminium 

India is the fifth largest country with deposits of bauxite reserves of about 3 billion tonnes or 5% of world deposits. India's share in world aluminium capacity rests at about 3%.