“Arctus Aluminium Ltd. is scaling up its production cells for a pilot plant at Trimet Aluminium in Germany”, Eng. Jon Magnusson, Founder and CEO of Arctus Aluminium

Sustainable Carbon Free Aluminium Process

A report from December 2021 by the World Economic Forum and the Energy Transmission Commission with the title “Closing the Gap for Aluminium Emissions” is a described possible technology to reduce CO₂ emissions from the aluminium industry. In this report are listed three corporations developing carbon-free aluminium processes, all based on vertical inert anodes and cathodes in low-temperature electrolyte: Elysis informing to have the technology commercially available in 2024, Rusal to be ready in 2030 and the Icelandic Arctus Aluminium claims to have their technology available also in 2030. AlCircle wanted to know about Arctus Aluminium, the company and process and contacted its CEO and Founder, Eng. Jon Magnusson.

AlCircle: What is the status of the Arctus´ process of carbon-free aluminium technology?

Eng. Jon Magnusson: Our carbon-free aluminium process is based on multiple vertical inert metallic anodes and wettable ceramic cathodes in low temperature (800°C) electrolytic cells. We have solved the three scientific challenges of acceptable material compositions for the vertical inert anodes and cathodes and the composition of the electrolyte to dissolve the alumina at 800°C to O₂ and Aluminium and produced high-quality aluminium at the Icelandic Research Institute; IceTec, for proof of concept. We are now working together with Trimet Aluminium to scale up the cells for a pilot plant at Trimet in Essen, Germany. This upscaling is in cooperation with specialists from three European universities, two research institutes and two companies in different fields for improving the lifetime of the inert anodes and cathodes. We will then continue the scaling up to industrial size cells in a demonstration plant. Trimet operates four primary aluminium smelters in Europe and wants to convert all of them to carbon-free operations before 2035.

AlCircle: What according to you are the main values of the carbon-free aluminium process besides zero CO₂ emissions?

Eng. Jon Magnusson: This sustainable carbon-free aluminium process has the following main benefits besides zero CO₂ emissions: Zero CO₂ compliance costs and taxis applied in Europe, 50% less space required than traditional smelter for the same production capacity, 40% less capital investment,  modular power feeding during peak hours and power shortage periods for optimal power price. 99.9% high purity aluminium, 30% overall reduction in annual production costs as no carbon anodes and 20% less energy consumption as well as almost no spent potlining material.

The main reason for the lower energy consumption is the short anode-cathode distance of 20-25 mm and we use both the sides of the vertical anodes and cathodes for current distribution, only 800°C temperature of the electrolyte and good insulation of the production cells.                          

AlCircle: How do you foresee the year 2022 for the global aluminium industry?

Eng. Jon Magnusson: The aluminium industry will be doing well in 2022 with an aluminium price of over USD 3,000/tonne. The question is about the export of aluminium from the 10 Russian smelters? Most smelters are making some improvements to reduce CO₂ emissions like changing from gas heaters to electric heaters, reducing the anode effect, etc.

I would not be surprised that companies planning new Greenfield smelters will await and see the progress of the development of CO₂ free aluminium process.

AlCircle: Creating inert anodes to produce low-carbon aluminium, Elysis will make it available in 2024, Rusal anticipated in 2030 and Arctus Aluminium to be ready in 2030. Your competitors are already ahead in this technology development, so how do you place yourself to be a game-changer?

Eng. Jon Magnusson: Elysis, Rusal and Arctus are all developing carbon-free processes based on vertical inert anodes and cathodes in low-temperature electrolytes: According to Elysis, they are progressing well with their technology and expect to have commercially available cells in 2024. We wish them all the best. The main differences between the Elysis and Arctus technologies are that Elysis connects the anodes above the surface of the electrolyte and the cathodes through the bottom of the cells which means that they expect a long lifetime of the cathodes but Arctus connects both the anodes and the cathodes above the surface for making it easier to replace them in modules based on the lifetime in the cells. Elysis and Arctus have different materials in the inert anodes and cathodes. so we will see!  

AlCircle: Could you share the R&D journey of Arctus Aluminium with the Icelandic research institute IceTec in Reykjavik towards the development of a carbon-free aluminium process?

Eng. Jon Magnusson: Arctus and IceTec have been working on the development of this carbon-free aluminium process since 2016 and produced high-quality aluminium for proof of concept. We have signed an agreement with Trimet Aluminium in Germany to scale up the cells for a pilot plant and then for a demonstration plant at Trimet in Essen. Trimet will then convert their four smelters in Germany and France to this carbon-free technology.

AlCircle: When does Arctus expect to have the first primary aluminium smelter in operation with the new technology?

Eng. Jon Magnusson: We expect to have our demonstration plant in operation at Trimet in Essen in 2026 for long time operation and test of the lifetime of the inert anodes and cathodes. The first potline with these cells should be in operation in 2029.

Arctus will sell this technology to smelters worldwide and Trimet will be our operational partner assisting in starting up new smelters and training operators in Trimet´s smelters with our aluminium process.