A New Energy-Efficient and Environmentally-Friendly Process to Produce Aluminum

The Hall-Heroult process to produce aluminum is more than 125 years old. Larger more-efficient cells have been developed and process control has improved but the process is basically unchanged. A new process has been under development since 1990 which promises 20 % lower capital cost and 20 % lower operating cost and no CO2 or fluorocarbon emissions. A new cell design, new anode and cathode materials, new electrolyte, and new operating conditions are based on experience over the past six decades. The evolution of this technology is described here.