95% of all aluminum is produced by Hall-Heroult technology. The production technology is characterized by low productivity and huge energy costs. Therefore, aluminum plants are built near large sources of electricity – hydroelectric power plants and nuclear power plants. But the main damage to nature is due to polluting emissions of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, the volume of which is 2% of the global generation of CO2, toxic fluoride compounds and sulfur dioxide. The territories adjacent to the factories are zones of ecological catastrophe. With the increase in production volumes, these territories are constantly expanding.
If we get rid of CO2 emissions in the aluminum industry, then the problem of climate warming will be solved.
The savings in the introduction of technologies are impressive
Huge electricity consumption, reaching 4% of global generation, the need to support the entire carbon anode manufacturing industry, spending huge amounts of money on pollution control and reclamation can be avoided by introducing new technologies and optimizing production. The estimated amount of total savings on electricity alone from the introduction of new technologies is about 32 billion dollars a year. If you add the savings on neutralization of polluting emissions, reclamation, waste disposal and the production of carbon anodes, the amount doubles!
Alumina is expensive and dirty
In the modern world, the possession of resources comes to the fore, the struggle for resources intensifies. For the production of aluminum, an intermediate product of the processing of bauxite ores, alumina, is used. The most common technology for producing alumina is the Bayer scheme. It has many drawbacks, the main of which are a large amount of toxic waste, low alumina extraction efficiency, and the impossibility of extracting additional elements: iron, titanium, silicon, and rare earth metals.
Nature protection – we make a profit
In the mining technology industry, new technologies are introduced very slowly when compared to the electronics and pharmaceutical industries. Alumina production technology – the Bayer method, developed more than 120 years ago, is used almost unchanged. The economic efficiency of production is extremely low. It’s time to deal with losses! Savings in the implementation of new technologies is up to 30% of the cost of production. Additionally, we obtain semi-finished products for the extraction of useful elements – iron, titanium, quartz, rare earth materials. Technologies make it possible to use production waste – red mud, and thereby restore huge areas of polluted soil, while receiving enormous profits.