ELYSIS selected the Alma smelter, operated by Rio Tinto in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, for the first installation and demonstration of its inert anode technology at a commercial size of 450 kiloamperes (kA), which is a common capacity for modern, full-scale smelters.
ELYSIS is a joint venture company, led by Alcoa and Rio Tinto, that is working to commercialize a new technology to make aluminum that eliminates all direct greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the traditional smelting process and instead produces oxygen.
As part of its technology development and scale-up, ELYSIS will install industrial inert anode prototype cells at the end of an existing potline at the Alma smelter to demonstrate the technology’s effectiveness at a commercial scale in an industrial operating environment. This will build on ongoing work at the nearby ELYSIS Industrial Research and Development Centre, also located in the Saguenay region of Quebec.
ELYSIS plans to commercialize its breakthrough technology in 2024, for use in retrofitting existing smelters and installation in new facilities.
