wiredInUSA June 2018

Carbon-free venture gets underway

New smelter design from Elysis

Executives of Rio Tinto, Alcoa and Apple were joined by the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and the premier of Québec, Philippe Couillard, to announce what was described as the “most significant innovation in the aluminum industry” in over a century. To advance larger scale development and commercialization of the new carbon-free aluminum smelting process, Alcoa and Rio Tinto are forming Elysis. The joint venture company will further develop the process with a technology package planned for sale in 2024. Elysis, which will be headquartered in Montreal with a research facility in Quebec, will develop and license the technology for retrofitting to existing smelters or new- build facilities. When fully developed and implemented, the process will eliminate direct greenhouse gas emissions from the smelting process and strengthen the

closely integrated Canada-US aluminum and manufacturing industry. Elysis will also sell proprietary anode and cathode materials, said to last over 30 times longer than traditional components. technology, developed by Alcoa, is currently producing metal at the Alcoa Technical Center, near Pittsburgh, where the process has been operating at different scales since 2009. The joint venture intends to invest up to $40 million (CAD) in the US, which would include funding to support the supply chain for the proprietary anode and cathode materials. The CEO of Elysis, Vincent Christ, has 30 years’ experience at Rio Tinto Aluminium, most recently serving as head of technology, research and development, and automation programs. He holds an engineering degree in electronics and industrial information technology. The patent-protected

wiredInUSA - June 2018

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