Novelis, a leading American aluminium rolled products company and recycler, has extended its partnership for two more years to support carbon-neutral aluminium manufacturing at the Net Zero Lab Valais. The collaboration includes HES-SO Valais-Wallis, EPFL and OIKEN, showing Novelis’ ongoing commitment to sustainable aluminium production.
Image source: Novelis
What is Net Zero Lab Valais?
With its inception on February 14, 2022, Net Zero Lab Valais is an R&D (research & development) facility established by Novelis with the focus of developing carbon-neutral solutions applicable to aluminium manufacturers.
The main reason behind developing this facility is to reduce the company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions within the operations of their Sierre (Switzerland) plant. “Together Towards Carbon Neutral Production” with this being their motto, this facility is developed in partnership with HES-SO Valais-Wallis, EPFL and OIKEN.
The major work of the lab is identifying and implementing solutions that support neutralising the company’s carbon footprint concerning manufacturing operations and neighbouring communities.
Extended agreement for two years
Previously, the company launched several key energy projects aimed at enabling Scope 1 and 2 carbon-neutral production in the Sierra plant. However, the company plans, by the end of 2025, to begin the operations of an electrical pusher furnace, enabling the plant to feed the furnace with hydro power. This supports the company to save around 4,500 CO2eq per year with 180,000 CO2eq over the furnace’s lifetime.
From 2023 to 2024, the lab partners involved in this had completed a project to transfer waste heat from Novelis’ casting process to the nearby Technopole, meeting about one-third of its energy needs with 200 KW power. Novelis and OIKEN aimed to expand this system to cover a significant portion of Sierre’s energy demand by 2030. At present, the company plans to continue with the initiative to utilise the waste heat generated from the casting process, which provides heating for nearby buildings.
Future Plan
In the upcoming years, the Net Zero Lab Valais will explore diversified opportunities with the vision of decarbonising high-temperature melting processes including plasma, biomass, oxyfuel and hydrogen. They are developing a holistic approach towards decarbonisation by developing a transformative strategy to achieve 75 per cent recycled content across the organisation’s products. Furthermore, it is trying to achieve the goal of emitting less than 3 tons of CO2 per tonne of flat-rolled aluminium shipped with advanced circularity by the end of 2030.
Serge Gaudin, Director of Automotive Operations Novelis Europe and Plant Manager Sierre said, “Extending our partnership with HES-SO, EPFL, and OIKEN is a testament to our shared vision of a more sustainable future. Collectively, we are driving innovation, reducing Novelis’ carbon footprint, and making meaningful progress toward carbon neutrality while also supporting our communities.”
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