Founded in 1888, Alcoa is the world's leading producer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina, and a major participant in all segments of the industry: mining, refining, smelting, fabricating and recycling. Alcoa serves customers worldwide in the packaging, automotive, aerospace, construction and other markets with a great variety of fabricated and finished products. The company has 215 operating locations in 31 countries. I am describing four of my current projects related to spectroscopy analysis.

A) HF analysis

Roof monitor (roof line) emissions account for the majority of total fluoride released to the environment from an aluminum smelting potroom. For this reason, Alcoa has implemented an extensive R&D program to identify/develop and optimize methods for continuous monitoring of gasesous HF emissions form aluminum smelting pots, with the overall goal of providing tools that allow Alcoa to minimize fugitive HF emissions through better control of the smelting process. As a result of this research effort, my job involves the installation and calibration of differential optical absorption and tunable diode laser based HF CEMs at our U.S. smelters at Wenatchee, WA and Rockdale, TX. I am also directly involved in ALCOA efforts to gain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acceptance of open-path optical CEMs for HF reporting. These instruments are installed in the roof monitors (roof line) of our aluminum smelter buildings and shoot a light beam the entire length of the roof to actively analyze the actual HF concentration of the air exiting the smelter roof. This information, coupled with the measured air flow exiting the roof, allow us to calculate total HF emissions.

CF4 and C2F6 have been implicated in climate change,owing to their high global warming potential (i.e. "greenhouse gases"). It is estimated that in the U.S., alumium smelters represent the number one point source of fluorocarbon emissions. In response, the EPA and the domestic primary aluminum producers have established the Voluntary Aluminum Industrial Partnership (VAIP), with the goal of reducing annual emissions of PFCs from aluminum smelters by 45% (from 1990 levels) by the year 2000. I am the Alcoa�s process owner for FTIR-based analyses of CF4 and C2F6 in our worldwide smelter benchmarking program as part of the VAIP Program. These analyses provide Alcoa�s measurement and documentation of progress toward achieving the above-stated emission reduction goals.

C)

I am also the lead investigator regarding algorithm development, programming and implementation of FTIR-based methods for rapid, non-destructive analyses of oxide, chrome phosphate and oil thickness on aluminum sheet. This methodology, which employs Alcoa patented (U.S. Ser. No. 694,605) technology, is replacing less accurate, wet-chemical method of analysis in our fabricating plants worldwide. This new methodology eliminates chemical waste generation and offers a substantial improvement in operator safety by eliminating worker exposure to solvents. I have already implemented this technology (developed last year) at Alcoa plants in the U.S. and Australia.

D)

The FTIR-based coating thickness methodology has also proven indispensable to our in-house research efforts for developing non-chrome metal-phosphate conversion coatings. I have been intimately involved in ALCOA in-plant trials of non-chrome conversion coatings by quickly developing and implementing methods for fast characterization of coating thickness and composition. My efforts have proven instrumental in the process optimization trials of these experimental coatings.