Spent Pot Lining (SPL) — a by-product of aluminium smelting — represents one of the industry’s more stubborn environmental challenges. Rich in refractory, carbon, fluxes, and cyanide, the material is classified as toxic waste and demands careful handling and disposal.
The story of Torftech’s solution began in 1987, when Comalco Aluminium Ltd of Australia set out to develop a process capable of treating SPL safely. Early attempts using established technologies — including rotary kilns and fluidized beds — ultimately failed. The decisive breakthrough came with the TORBED reactor, deployed as an industrial waste combustor, which successfully thermally dissociated the cyanide locked within the SPL.
History records the results clearly. In 1990, Comalco commissioned a plant capable of processing 3,000 tonnes of SPL per year. By 1994, capacity had more than tripled to 10,000 tonnes per year — firmly establishing the industrial waste combustor as a landmark solution that modified this hazardous material so that it could be safely stored, demonstrating clearly the effectiveness of the TORBED processor in tackling difficult wastes.