Norwegian aluminum maker Norsk Hydro and US startup Verdox completed a two-month trial of electrochemical carbon capture at the Sunndal smelter. The system pulled CO2 from exhaust gas with only about 1% CO2, and it kept working despite industrial contaminants. Verdox says the process used around 1.5 gigajoules, or 417 kWh, per metric ton of CO2 captured. That energy figure is encouraging, but it does not cover a full commercial plant. The pilot shows technical feasibility, not economics. The next step is proving the technology can scale, hold up over years of operation, and produce captured CO2 at a cost that makes sense for aluminum producers. Until then, commercial viability stays uncertain.
