| Abstract Scope |
More than 120 million tonnes of Alumina are produced annually, with the vast majority used for the production of Aluminium and minor amounts used for the production of brick and castable based refractories. On average Aluminium production has a carbon footprint of about 13 - 18 kg of CO2 per kg of Aluminium, with the majority used for the Aluminium reduction process. Long term usage of low carbon footprint energy sources such as Hydroelectricity has resulted in about 25 % of world Aluminium production with carbon footprints lower that 4 Kg/kg Al, the residual carbon content comes mainly from carbon anode block production and consumption as well as the conversion of Bauxite to Alumina. Breakthrough technologies such as inert Anodes seek to mitigate the carbon footprint related to the anodes, however with no existing mature “zero carbon solution “ for Bauxite to Alumina conversion, best operating practices and technologies still remain to be the most viable solution. |