Rio Tinto and Hydro have partnered to assess carbon capture technologies in the aluminium electrolysis process.
The two companies will share information to create enhanced, viable carbon capture technologies from relevant suppliers, the two companies said in an official statement.
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Approximately $45m (£36m) will be invested over five years to support this scheme.
Most of the work will be at Rio Tinto’s facilities in Europe and Hydro’s facilities in Norway.
Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm said that the alliance comes as the company aims “to cut our carbon emissions and reach net zero by our 2050 target”.
“By working in partnership with Hydro to assess certain carbon capture technologies for aluminium smelters, we are finding better ways to leverage our complementary networks and R&D [research and development] capabilities to address the climate change challenge,” he added.
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By GlobalDataSome 75% of a smelter’s direct CO₂ emissions are from anode consumption during the electrolysis process. Capturing carbon from aluminium smelter flue gas requires adapting direct air capture technologies for higher concentrations or point source technologies for lower concentrations.
However, the technology is still very much in its infancy. The partnership between Rio Tinto and Hydro aims to speed up this development to help abate greenhouse gas emissions from smelters.
Both companies are also working independently on the development of carbon-free aluminium smelting technologies. This includes Hydro’s HalZero technology, a venture that Hydro scientists have been working on since 2016, which aims to convert alumina to aluminium chloride before electrolysis, keep chlorine and carbon in a closed loop and eliminate emissions of CO₂, replacing it with the emittance of oxygen.
Hydro president and CEO Eivind Kallevik added: “Hydro is accelerating our road map to achieve net-zero aluminium production by 2050 or sooner, advancing solutions across every step of our value chain – from mine to metal.”
He added that carbon capture technologies “are critical to decarbonising existing smelters, and our partnership with Rio Tinto will amplify efforts to develop fit-for-purpose solutions that can accelerate the aluminium industry’s transition towards net-zero production”.
