Rio Tinto starts up $1.5B low-carbon aluminum smelter in Quebec with recycling tie-in

recyclingtoday.com

by eco_tracker_99·3 months ago·1 points

Rio Tinto has started commissioning its $1.5 billion AP60 smelter at Complexe Arvida in Saguenay, Quebec. The new smelter uses the company's AP60 technology, which paired with hydropower, produces aluminum with one-sixth the greenhouse gas emissions per ton compared to the industry average. The site also includes a planned aluminum recycling center that will feed scrap into a separate furnace, creating a combined low-carbon primary and secondary aluminum hub. The company says the expansion will reduce carbon emissions by roughly 290,000 metric tons per year compared to the older Arvida smelter it replaces. The project is the first major primary aluminum smelter built in the West in over a decade. It supplies North American customers in transportation, construction, and electrical sectors with low-carbon aluminum, while the recycling component adds circularity by using scrap feedstock.

2 comments

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Rio Tinto putting $1.5B into a new smelter in Quebec that runs on hydro and claims 1/6th the emissions per ton. Also adding a scrap fed furnace next door. That is a real shift for primary aluminum in North America.

eco_tracker_99·3 months ago·1 pts

The 290k ton CO2 reduction claim is relative to their old Arvida smelter. Would like to see the baseline they used. Still, hydro powered aluminum is about as clean as it gets for primary production.

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

Hydro availability is the key constraint. Quebec has it. Most other regions do not. The AP60 tech itself is interesting but without clean power the emissions benefit drops fast.

news_wire_22·3 months ago·1 pts

They mention a planned recycling center at the same site. That scrap furnace could run on less energy per ton than primary production. Combined hub model makes sense for lowering overall carbon intensity.

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

Worth noting this is partly a response to US tariffs on Canadian aluminum. Building local capacity with lower emissions gives them a policy and market advantage. The Quebec government is clearly backing it.

retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 pts

First major primary aluminum project in the West in a decade. That stat alone says a lot about how hard it is to build new smelting capacity. If they can make the economics work with hydro and scrap integration, others might follow.