Sustainability of Different Aluminium Production Technologies

The centre for an energyEnergy efficient and competitive industry for the future (HighEFF) at SINTEF has over 7 years considered different aluminiumAluminium production technologies with focus on energyEnergy consumption and environmental footprint. Primary aluminiumPrimary aluminium production technologies including the Hall-Héroult processHall-Héroult process, inert anodeInert anodes, and the chloride processChloride process were considered. The investigations suggest that inert anodeInert anodes technology and the chloride processChloride process will curtail emission of greenhouse gasesGreenhouse gases, provided the electrical energyEnergy source is renewable. Inert anodesInert anodes will eliminate CO2 and perfluorocarbonPerfluorocarbons emissions but will require more energyEnergy due to the absence of carbon anodesCarbon anode. The chloride processChloride process has the lowest electrical energyEnergy consumption and may be more environmentally sustainable, provided that the carbon is recycled or based on biomass. The Hall-Héroult processHall-Héroult process has the potential to be climateClimate neutral by incorporating carbon capture and storage. It is noteworthy that more than 60% of CO2 emissions is related to the power production.