The plant produces 2,500 tons of carbon-free aluminum annually.

Rio Tinto’s Arvida smelting complex in Quebec, Canada is set to adopt new Elysis carbon-free technology, Interesting Engineering reported on July 1. This is an effort to accelerate the transition to more environmentally friendly production methods.

The new technology promises to replace traditional aluminium production methods, eliminating all greenhouse gases directly, while also producing oxygen. Rio Tinto will design and build a pilot plant at the complex with 10 furnaces operating at 100 kiloamperes (kA).

Elysis is an inert anode technology. In a traditional electrolysis chamber, alumina (a compound of aluminum and oxygen) is placed on the same electrode as the carbon anode. This process separates the aluminum and oxygen, with the aluminum settling to the bottom of the chamber while the oxygen combines with the carbon anode, creating CO2 emissions.

However, with inert anode technology, the carbon component is eliminated. Without carbon, the process of separating aluminum from oxygen only releases oxygen from the chamber.

Elysis promises to significantly reduce the carbon emissions of many everyday products, such as consumer goods and products in the construction, transportation, and electricity industries. In Canada alone, the technology could reduce about 7 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, the equivalent of removing 1.8 million cars from the road.

In addition, the developers claim that Elysis technology also improves occupational health and safety, reduces capital intensity and operating costs, and increases productivity. The new technology can be retrofitted to both existing and new smelting facilities.

Rio Tinto said the new plant is expected to start operations in 2027 and will be capable of producing up to 2,500 tonnes of commercial-quality aluminium without directly emitting any greenhouse gases. Further development of the Elysis technology is also underway. Larger 450kA test chambers are being built at Rio Tinto’s Alma smelter.