Alcoa Corporation have announced further progress on ELYSIS technology with Rio Tinto’s plans to launch the first industrial-scale demonstration of the breakthrough technology, which eliminates all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the traditional smelting process and produces oxygen as a byproduct.
Established in 2018, ELYSIS is a technology partnership between Alcoa and Rio Tinto to advance technology first developed at the Alcoa Technical Center (ATC) outside of Pittsburgh. Rio Tinto’s demonstration project will occur at Arvida in Quebec, Canada, and includes 10 ELYSIS smelting pots operating at 100 kiloamperes (kA), a size similar to those operating at smaller-scale commercial smelters.
Alcoa has the right to purchase up to 40 percent of the metal produced from the demonstration at Arvida, allowing for Alcoa customers to benefit from ELYSIS’s carbon-free electrolytic process early in the technology development cycle. The target for first production is by 2027.
“Since inventing the aluminum smelting process in 1886, which is still in use today, Alcoa has continued to create transformational technologies to improve our industry,” said William F. (Bill) Oplinger, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcoa Corporation. “We are proud to progress the technology initially developed at our technical center to its next phase within the ELYSIS partnership. Aluminum plays a critical role in the world’s energy transition and decarbonization efforts; with the ELYSIS technology, the smelting of this important metal can also be done without direct carbon emissions.”
To support the industrial demonstration, Alcoa will manufacture the proprietary ELYSIS anodes and cathodes at ATC, which will include installing and operating new equipment. Alcoa anticipates benefitting from the learnings of this phase of the demonstration and expects to apply them to future phases in ELYSIS’s development. Metal produced through the ELYSIS process will further improve upon Alcoa's lower carbon products already on the market, such as the Sustana™ product line.
Rio Tinto has announced it will be installing carbon free aluminium smelting cells using first ELYSISTM technology licence.
Rio Tinto will install carbon free aluminium smelting cells at its Arvida smelter in Québec, Canada, using the first technology licence issued by the ELYSIS joint venture. This investment will support the ongoing development of the breakthrough ELYSISTM technology and allow Rio Tinto to build expertise in its installation and operation.
Rio Tinto will design, engineer, and build a demonstration plant equipped with ten pots operating at 100
kiloamperes (kA). The plant will be owned by a new joint venture in which Rio Tinto and the Government of
Québec, through Investissement Québec, will invest $179 million (CAN$235 million) and $106 million
(CAN$140 million) respectively as equity partners, for a total investment of US$285 million (CAN$375
million).
This facility will use the same technology that has been successfully demonstrated at the ELYSIS Industrial
Research and Development Center in Saguenay—Lac-St-Jean. This pilot operation will be a critical step in
Rio Tinto’s learning journey towards full scale industrialization of the ELYSISTM technology.
The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 2,500 tonnes of commercial quality aluminium per year
without direct greenhouse gas emissions, with first production targeted by 2027. It will be located adjacent to
the existing Arvida smelter, allowing the use of the current alumina supply and casting facilities.
Rio Tinto Aluminium Chief Executive Jérôme Pécresse said: “This investment will further strengthen Rio
Tinto’s industry-leading position in low-carbon, responsible aluminium in North America with our hydro-powered smelters and our recycling capacity. Becoming the first to deploy the ELYSISTM carbon-free
smelting technology is the next step in our strategy to decarbonize and grow our Canadian aluminium
operations. In addition to delivering even lower-carbon primary aluminium for our customers, this investment
will allow Rio Tinto to build its expertise on installing and operating this new technology, while the ELYSIS
joint venture continues its research and development work to scale it up to its full potential.”
Québec Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy; Minister for Regional Economic Development; and
Minister for the Metropolis and the Montreal Region, Pierre Fitzgibbon, said: “ELYSISTM is a truly disruptive
technology for the industry, and it's thanks to Quebec expertise that we are the first in the world to produce
GHG-free aluminium. This is a technological innovation with unprecedented benefits for our aluminium
sector, which remains an undisputed world leader.”