Thèse de doctorat : Physique et Chimie de la Matière et des Matériaux : Nancy 1 : 2007. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX237328.

This project has been carried out in collaboration with CC Pack, a Swedish packaging company located in Tibro, and under the supervision of University of Skövde. The aim of the project is the creation of a new aluminium packaging, with the intention of satisfying the highest number of customers' requirements, getting also a differentiation from the competitors. Archer’s model is followed during the design process. This model allows strengthening the efficiency of project design. The compilation of information in order to make a complete requirement classification is based on: CC Pack requirements, a study of customer needs focused on interviews and pilot study, and a literature study lead by Maslow’s hierarchy translated to design along with the 4 pleasures of Patrick Jordan. After the requirements classification, it is time to start with the concept generation phase. This phase consist of diverse methods of generation and evaluation of ideas, such as brainstorming or the weighted objective method, until a final solution is reached. This last solution, which consists of an aluminium tray surrounded by a cardboard structure, is communicated at the end of the project through illustrations created through design software such as PTC Creo Parametric and Photoshop. Conclusions obtained are quite positive in general, nevertheless there is still an aspect that could be improved. It is related to the shipping system and it is commented in chapter 7 conclusions. There is also a chapter devoted to propose possible future contributions in order to implement this project.

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Absorption Fine Structure spectroscopy (XAFS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Pyridine Adsorption Spectroscopy (PAS-S) were used to investigate the solid superacid high surface area AIF3 (HS AIF3). The aim of this work was to establish correlations between Lewis acidity, surface area, geometric and electronic structure of the materials. The aim of this study was to obtain structure/activity relationships for AIF3 materials synthesised by different routes, with a view to future tailoring of the properties of these materials to potential industrial applications.

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Dross is the inevitable waste product generated by the world-wide primary and secondary aluminium industries. Around 3.5 million tonnes of white dross and 0.85 million tonnes of black dross are produced per year. Drosses are classified depending on metal content. White dross contains 40% and black dross contains 10% of aluminium. About half of the white dross is currently landfilled along with almost all of the black dross, and the annual cost to the UK industry of landfilling this waste is about £90 million per year. There is no commercially viable method of recovering the aluminium, which is potentially recyclable from these drosses, and no current conventional process has the custom-built capability to avoid their disposal to landfill. The practice of landfilling aluminium dross has raised problems for both industry and environment, because of potential leaching of heavy metals into groundwater from the landfill. The black dross has been physically and chemically characterised. The results show that the dross contains mostly metallic aluminium, aluminium nitride, alumina, sodium chloride, potassium chloride and silica with almost 50% of the dross being a mixture of sodium chloride and potassium chloride. A counter current leaching process has been developed to recycle the salts back to the secondary furnace. The environmental impact of black dross has been investigated using simulated landfill conditions. Leachability studies were carried out using water, and other leach media to model the following conditions: humic acid-containing systems, acid rain (pH 2.5), and acetic acid solutions (pH 5). Up to 60% of the dross was leached out in all media with the production of the saline solution providing the major impact. Only small amounts of aluminium were leached out under all these condition. No leachability behaviour was detected once the black dross was washed. So landfilling washed black dross can minimise both environmental and economical problems. Black dross residue, after washing with water, is enriched with alumina. Added value chemicals (of >95% purity) including aluminium hydroxide, alumina, aluminium chloride, aluminium nitrate, aluminium sulphate and aluminium carboxylates have been prepared using the washed black dross. Preliminary calculations have shown that the technology developed to recycle black dross to added-value chemicals is economically viable. A methodology has been developed which enables low grade alumnium waste, black dross, to be treated, commercially viable chemicals to be prepared, reagent use to be minimised through recycle and the diversion of millions of tonnes of furnace residue from landfill.

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