One year since its BRL 1.3 billion (USD 234 million) investment to phase out fuel oil and switch entirely to natural gas, Hydro’s Alunorte refinery in Pará, Brazil, has managed to cut a staggering 700 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. The figure is not only a testament to the scale of the project but also a signal to the rest of the global alumina industry that real decarbonisation milestones are achievable — if backed by strategic foresight, capital intensity, and infrastructure reform.
Image for representational purposes only
The fuel switch at Alunorte involved converting six steam-generation units and seven calciners to operate fully on natural gas. To make this feasible in a relatively underdeveloped energy corridor, Hydro partnered with New Fortress Energy, which commissioned a dedicated LNG import terminal and regasification unit (FSRU) in Barcarena, making it the only such hub in northern Brazil. The gas supply agreement, signed for 15 years, secured 29.5 TBtu annually for Alunorte, which now stands as the largest single natural gas consumer in the region. Beyond its emission targets, Hydro’s project has spurred infrastructure development that may unlock gas access for other industries in the Amazon region.
The sheer scale of Hydro’s investment reflects more than environmental optics. Retrofitting a continuous-process alumina refinery of 6.3 million tonnes per year demands a complete overhaul: from burner conversion to gas metering, safety redundancies, automation, and real-time emissions monitoring.
Being located in a tropical and logistics-challenged geography calls for the cost of importing gas infrastructure, adding a lump sum overhead, not to mention the capital needed for long-term emissions strategy alignment.
Yet, Hydro’s move promises energy cost optimisation in the medium term, eligibility for future carbon credit mechanisms, and favourable positioning under evolving European and global ESG mandates.
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