Alcoa Corporation gets grant for potential use of renewable energy in alumina refining

Alcoa Corporation has received $8.8 million (A$11.3 million) grant from The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to test the potential use of renewable energy in a process known as Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR).

Alcoa of Australia intends to install a three megawatt MVR module with renewable energy at the Wagerup refinery to test the technology at scale by the end of 2023.

The MVR technology could reduce an alumina refinery’s carbon footprint by 70 percent.

“Alcoa of Australia is currently conducting technical and commercial studies to adapt MVR technology to refining. Electricity sourced from renewable energy would power compressors to turn waste vapor into steam, which would then be used to provide refinery process heat,” Alcoa said.

 “Already, Alcoa is the world’s lowest carbon intensity alumina producer, and the application of MVR, if proven successful, would be an important step forward in further reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Eugenio Azevedo, Alcoa’s Vice President for Continuous Improvement. “Using lower carbon alumina in the smelting process will reduce the overall carbon footprint of the metal, too, when considering the indirect and direct emissions across bauxite mining, alumina refining and aluminum smelting and casting.”

The company has filed provisional patent applications in Australia for the use of MVR technology in the alumina refining process. The patent applications cover a variety of MVR applications in retrofit and greenfield scenarios in refining.