Norsk Hydro to Mass Produce Greener Aluminum in 2022

By Maitane Sardon

Norsk Hydro ASA aims to deliver commercial volumes of a greener aluminum next year as part of its goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The Norwegian aluminum maker said Monday that in 2022 it plans to manufacture aluminum that contains more recycled post-consumer aluminum scrap in large quantities. The aluminum would have a footprint of less than 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide compared with the 2.3 kilograms of the greenhouse gas it currently releases into the atmosphere when making 1 kilogram of the metal, it said.

Norsk said it would develop the production capacity of the low-carbon aluminum in line with market demand.

"The world needs a green transition to fight climate change," Norsk Hydro President and Chief Executive Hilde Merete Aasheim said. "This is both our most important challenge and our biggest opportunity."

The aluminum sector is responsible for 2% of the greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, according to the International Aluminium Institute. The majority of the sector's emissions are produced during the smelting process which requires an enormous amount of electricity that, in many cases, is generated by burning coal.

The company also said it is developing carbon-free aluminum-smelting technology that converts alumina to aluminum chloride before electrolysis. It aims to pilot it at an industrial scale before 2030 and will combine it with carbon capture, renewable energy in the production process, and an increase in the use of recycled aluminum.

Write to Maitane Sardon at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 13, 2021 07:28 ET (12:28 GMT)

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