Elysis, the technology partnership between Rio Tinto and Alcoa, plans to launch its first industrial-scale demonstration plant at the Arvida smelter complex in Québec, Canada. This investment will support the ongoing development of the breakthrough Elysis inert anode technology, which is said to eliminate all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the traditional smelting process and produces oxygen as a byproduct.
Rio Tinto will design, engineer, and build the Elysis demonstration plant, which will be equipped with ten pots operating at 100 kA. 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, Canada. By locating the demonstration plant adjacent to the existing Arvida smelter, it will be able to use the current alumina supply and casting facilities.
To support the industrial demonstration, Alcoa will manufacture the proprietary Elysis anodes and cathodes at the Alcoa Technical Center (ATC) in Pittsburgh, PA, which will include installing and operating new equipment. As the technology provider, ELYSIS retains full ownership of the intellectual property of its proprietary technology.
The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 2,500 tonnes of commercial quality aluminum per year without direct GHGs. It will be located adjacent to the existing Arvida smelter, allowing the use of the current alumina supply and casting facilities. Alcoa has the right to purchase up to 40% of the metal produced from the demonstration plant.
Alcoa anticipates benefitting from the learnings of this phase of the demonstration and expects to apply them to future phases in Elysis development. “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.”
The industrial-scale demonstration plant will be owned by a new joint venture in which Rio Tinto and the Government of Québec, through Investissement Québec, will invest US$179 million (CAN$235 million) and US$106 million (CAN$140 million) respectively as equity partners, for a total investment of US$285 million (CAN$375 million).
“This investment will further strengthen Rio Tinto’s industry-leading position in low-carbon, responsible aluminum in North America with our hydro-powered smelters and our recycling capacity. Becoming the first to deploy the Elysis carbon-free smelting technology is the next step in our strategy to decarbonize and grow our Canadian aluminum operations,” said Jérôme Pécresse, chief executive of Rio Tinto Aluminium. “In addition to delivering even lower-carbon primary aluminum 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.”
The target for first production at the Elysis demonstration plant is 2027.