Group FerroAtlántica » R&D

  Improvement

The advance in Technologies and the desire to perfect the products and the production systems has focused the interest of FerroAtlántica on its strategic bet on this area of growing importance. The acquisition of Pechiney Electrometallurgie in 2005 and the setting up of the new company FERROPEM in France have allowed to join R&D forces and to complement the role of technological leadership within the sector.

FerroAtlántica R&D coordinates the whole R&D&I force of the Group, and has agreed to keep the team, the projects and the developments which existed in FerroPem. Operative agreements of cooperation are kept with several Universities and Research Institutes in Spain, France and other countries in the world. Around 1% turnover of the Group is earmarked for new progress encouragement.

One of the most outstanding benefits of this research is the electrode «ELSA», also known as “electrodo composite” patented and recognized worldwide and used by a great part of the world´s silicon production.

The automation of all the processes in our factories, in particular the running of the furnaces, is another important project which has been totally developed by our technicians.

As a result of company knowledge, studies on silica fume production and application have been carried out, especially on high resistant concrete and concrete of special qualities for the applications of fibrocement and heat-resistance. Thanks to its experience on this product considerable technical assistance is given to the client.

Another development has been the copper plate cast machine, where the liquid metal is cast and at the end of it the solid and commercial grain size is collected.

FerroPem is the worldwide leader among high range inoculants in casting industry. The R&D contributes to the adjustment of new products and to the realization of technical assistance in order to optimize its applications. Further information can be found on the specific web Foundry solutions.

Group FerroAtlántica, aware of its world leadership situation in the production of metallurgical silicon, wants to take on this role in the production of silicon of photovoltaic quality by the metallurgical via. To achieve this, we are running two simultaneous projects with one only goal but by way of two different paths: The Photosil Project, which is being carried out in collaboration with French research public organisms of recognised worldwide prestige, the CEA and the CNRS and on the other hand in collaboration with a company from the photovoltaic sector, Apollon Solar. Everything is financed by the region Rhône Alpes and ADEME. The pilot plant of this project is located in Bourget du Lac, near Chambery. The FerroSolar project is wholly being carried out by FerroAtlántica with the financial aid of the Galician and Spanish administration and the collaboration of several Research centres ( Instituto de Cerámica of Galicia, University of Santiago, Cenim, Instituto de Energia Solar of Madrid etc).

FerroAtlántica I+D   Address:     Pol. Ind. Sabón     15142 Arteixo (A Coruña) - Spain   Tel.:+34 981 647 010   Fax: +34 981 602 354   E-mail: faid@ferroatlantica.es

FerroPem R&D   Address:     517 Avenue de la Boisse   73025 Chambery CEDEX - France   Tel.: +33 479 683 100   Fax: +33 479 683 199   E-mail: faid@ferroatlantica.es