NorCast®2026

Registration & Welcome

After registration at the NorCast desk in the reception area at Clarion Hotel Tyholmen,
an informal Welcome Event will be arranged by Silver Sponsor CCMA LLC, USA at the seaside
Greek Restaurant Symposium, located in Pollen, at a short distance from the Conference Hotel.

Opening of Conference.

Mr Robert Cornels Nordli
Mayor
Arendal.

Welcome Remarks

Mr. Svein Terje Strandlie,
Norcast Coordinator

Aluminium Recycling – Current Status & forward Projection.

Presenter: Dr. Ing Jan Steglich, Head of Casthouse Projects
Hydro Aluminium Metal, Germany

Pre-refining for Aluminium Billets and its advantages on Extrusion of hard and soft Alloys.

Presenters: Mr. Andrea Presicce, Technical Manager &
Mr. Sergio Sannicolo, Foundry Ecocer’s R&D Consultant
Foundry Ecocer s.r.l., Milan
Italy

Coffee Break (20 min)

Predictive Intelligence: How Industry 4.0 is Transforming Smelter and Casthouse Performance.

The Presentation explores how STAS is leveraging automation, AI, and vision
systems (ABIS3D, ASIS3D) to support predictive maintenance, energy
efficiency, and smarter decision-making while improving quality, safety, and
productivity.

Presenters: Mr. Kent Scholin, Director of Strategy and Innovation &
Mr. Yannick Boulianne, Product Manager, STAS Inc., Canada

Application of electromagnetic stirring to continuous and semi-continuous casting of Aluminium alloys.

Presenter: Mr. Cristiano Persi, Business Development Manager.
Ergolines – Innovation Partner
Italy.

Electrification of Aluminium Casthouse Furnaces.

Presenter: Mr. Tom Gertjegerdes, Research and Development.
Otto Junker Solutions GmbH
Germany

Coffee Break (20 min)

Recent Development in Filtration and Melt Treatment.

Presenter: Dr. Ing Alexander Mach, Managing Director,
Drache Umwelttechnik GmbH,
Germany.

Increasing Quality, Reliability and Pit Recovery of State-of- the-Art DC-Casting Plants.

Presenter: Mr. Gerold Keune, Managing Director & Owner
Hertwich Engineering GmbH,
Austria.

Mr. Johan Berg, Senior Vice President,
Head of Primary Production Norway,
Hydro Aluminium Metal,
Oslo

Sustainable Casting Alloys at Audi AG, Germany

The Presentation will highlight Audi’s sustainable goals, alloy
development and current activities & results.

Presenter: Dr. Ing Marius Kohlhepp and Mr Marc Hummel,
Technology Development Casting.
Audi AG, Germany

Coffee Break (20 min)

Need for new Technology and Innovation for the European
Aluminium parts suppliers to the European Automotive industry.

Presenter: Mr. Per Dale, Managing Director
Benteler Automotive AS, Raufoss,
Norway

Lessons learned – followed by Discussions.

The Panel members will present a couple of topics for Presentation and discussion.

Chair of Panel: Mr. Stian Rørvik, Sales Director Sheet Ingot, Europe
Hydro Aluminium Metal, Oslo
and NorCast Committee member.

Panel members;
Mr. Erik Nordstoga, Casthouse Manager, Alcoa Mosjøen, Norway
Dipl. Ing Dr mont, Alexander Poscher, Casthouse Manager Rolling
Slabs, AMAG Casting GmbH, Austria.
Mr. Nicolas Ligonesche, Casthouse Manager, Trimet Aluminium,
France.

Coffee Break (20 min)

Impact of oxy-fuel technologies including Hydrogen oxy-combustion
technologies on decarbonization efforts from Aluminium market.

The presentation will go through different business cases,
technical cases and research cases, providing available technologies which can help in
reducing CO2 emissions while maintaining competitiveness.

Presenter: Mr. Joaquin de Diego Rincon,
Director Combustion Application Europe,
Nippon Gasses Europe

Advanced Refractory Solutions for Aluminium Casthouses and Electrolysis lines.

Presenter: Dr. Ing Svetlana Yelchaninova,
Global Product Director - Aluminium.
Vesuvius Netherland

Opening Remarks

Mr. Harald Bentzen, Director Casthouses & Extrusion Business System
Hydro Extrusion and NorCast Committee Member

Safety Wake Up

Presenter: Mr. Arild Håkonsen, Head of Technology & Sustainability Hycast AS,
Norway

LME Aluminium Update & Forward Projections.

Presenter: Mr. Sigurd Bjerkhaug, Market Analyst,
Norsk Hydro ASA, Oslo,
Norway

The “ASTRAEA” Process.
Upcycling Low-Grade Scrap to Increase Recycling Content in Difficult Applications.

Presenter: Dr. Pascal Lavoie, Vice President – Breakthrough Technology Strategy
Alcoa Corp. Canada.

Coffee Break (20 min)

New development of BatchPilot system enable “Self Learning
Capability” which leads to significant improvement in measuring
accuracy of heel weights and full furnace weights.

Presenter: Mr. John Courtenay, Chairman & Owner
MQP International Ltd,
UK

Conversion to Zero Emission Vehicles in Casthouses

Replacing Diesel Engines by fully Electric Drivers.

Presenter: Mr. Massimo Masiero, Project Manager
T.T. Tomorrow Technology S.p.A, Italy

Total Dross Management
A Novel Dross Processing Technology for a true Circular Economy.

Presenter: Mr. James Herbert, Managing Director
ALTEK Europe Ltd, UK

Coffee Break (20 min)

Automated Metal Cleanliness Analyzer (AMCA): Digital Image
Analysis Phase Differentiation and Benchmarking Against PoDFA-
derived Cleanliness Data.

Presenter: Professor Ragnhild Elisabeth Aune,
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Engineering,
Trondheim, Norway

Pathway to net-zero 2040 – External Secondary Aluminium Recycling Growth.

Presenter: Mr. Robbin Kantarp, Technical Manager
Granges Aluminium AB, Finspong
Sweden

Mr. Hisham Yousif Alkooheji, CMO-Chief Marketing Officer.
Alba- Aluminium Bahrain,
Kingdom of Bahrain.

Summary and close of Conference.