Hydro plans to begin testing green hydrogen in a three-year industrial-scale pilot at its new recycling unit recently opened at Hydro Høyanger, Norway. Green hydrogen has the potential to replace fossil energy in the recycling of aluminum, enabling zero-carbon aluminum products.
“Hydro is pursuing multiple paths to decarbonize our operations,” said Hanne Simensen, executive vice president of Hydro Aluminium Metal. “With this pilot we take another step on our path to zero-carbon aluminum. Green hydrogen is an exciting potential option to decarbonize aluminum and other hard to abate industries.”
Hydrogen is a versatile energy carrier and can be used as a fuel in various industries, such as aluminum, glass, steel, and cement. Currently, the world consumes almost 100 million tonnes of hydrogen every year, mainly in oil refineries and ammonia plants. Over 99% of the current hydrogen production is made from fossil fuels, either natural gas or coal, resulting in 900 million tonnes of CO2 being emitted annually.
Green hydrogen is a potential emission free alternative to replace traditional hydrogen production methods and fossil fuels used in industry and transport. It is produced by using renewable electricity to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, without emitting any greenhouse gases. Therefore, green hydrogen has the potential to play a key role in the global transition to a sustainable and net-zero emissions economy.
Replacing liquid natural gas with green hydrogen in the recycling of 100% post-consumer scrap is one of the fastest routes to zero-carbon aluminum, but is not in use on an industrial scale in the aluminum industry today. The remelting of aluminum requires high heat, an energy intensive process which is hard to achieve without fossil energy, such as natural gas.
Hydro has been actively exploring the use of hydrogen in its aluminum recycling operations. The company conducted a “world first” industrial-scale test of green hydrogen in aluminum recycling at its Navarra, Spain, facility in June 2023.
At the Høyanger recycling unit, Hydro will be building upon this existing knowledge to implement an industrial-scale pilot. During the pilot, green hydrogen will power one remelting furnace at the Høyanger recycling unit. This is key to unlocking this renewable fuel’s decarbonization potential in aluminum. It will also provide insight into fuel switch technology, metal quality, and necessary infrastructure for green hydrogen projects.
Hydro Havrand, Hydro’s green hydrogen unit, has been granted soft funding from the Norwegian Government (Enova) up to NOK 83.3 million to enable this pilot. The aluminum produced in the recycling furnace will be used to further lower the CO2 footprint of aluminum products from Hydro’s Norwegian smelters.