Novelis successfully tests industrial-scale use of hydrogen for recycling

Novelis Inc., a sustainable aluminum solutions provider in the rolling and recycling industries, shared that it has successfully tested using hydrogen fuel to power a recycling furnace at its UK plant in Latchford, Warrington.

The tests were carried out as part of a UK government decarbonization program in collaboration with Progressive Energy, an independent UK energy company that assisted with the installation of new burners, regenerators, and furnace lining material. Using hydrogen instead of the same amount of natural gas when operating a melting furnace can reduce CO2e emissions by up to 90 percent.

With safety as the top priority of the hydrogen pilot project, a series of tests were conducted by blending different percentages of hydrogen with natural gas, 30 percent to 100 percent, to evaluate the impact on existing infrastructure and equipment compatibility. During the trial campaign, several hundred tonnes of 3000 series scrap aluminum alloy were remelted and cast into sheet ingots. In addition, all relevant parameters were measured to assess any impact on the product, process, operating environment, and environmental emissions.

Further downstream processing, including rolling and finishing, will be now completed at other Novelis plants in Europe to establish the real end-to-end parameters of a hydrogen-based, recycled alloy production process. Following the full post-trial evaluation and assessments, a report will be released as part of the UK government's Industrial Fuel Switching program later this year.

"The use of hydrogen is not common in the aluminum industry today and we are very proud to be one of the pioneers to have tested this new fuel at an industrial scale and in a real-world environment," says Allan Sweeney, plant manager, Novelis Latchford. "The results from Latchford will drive further research into the potential deployment of hydrogen in our recycling operations worldwide."

Novelis works with government initiatives 

The demonstration project at Novelis Latchford is part of the UK government's Industrial Fuel Switching program. Supported with a grant of £4.6 million (USD 5.8 million), as part of the £1 billion (USD 1.25 billion) Net Zero Innovation Portfolio and the wider regional HyNet project, the program is designed to support the industry to decarbonize operations through a switch from natural gas to low carbon hydrogen. 

HyNet will assist in decarbonizing the industry across the North West and North Wales through the production, transportation, and storage of low-carbon hydrogen, and through capturing the industry's carbon dioxide emissions through Carbon Capture Solutions. Novelis has been a partner in the HyNet project since 2017 and is supporting the development of the regional infrastructure project.  

Novelis is also conducting its own technical feasibility studies into the use of hydrogen as a direct replacement for natural gas, and more generally, Novelis research and development teams worldwide continue to investigate the possibility of using plasma and electricity to supply energy to its production plants.

Announced in July 2024, Novelis is investing approximately $90 million to double the recycling capacity for used beverage cans (UBCs) at its plant in Latchford. The project will increase the facility's UBC recycling capacity by 85 kilotonnes per year and decrease Novelis Europe's CO2e by more than 350,000 tonnes annually. 

Furthermore, as part of its new Novelis 3x30 vision, the company has set new ambitious sustainability targets to achieve by the end of 2030, including increasing recycled content to 75 percent from today's 63 percent, reducing carbon emissions to less than 3 tonnes CO2e per tonne aluminum shipped, and continuing to lead the industry to circularity through first-mover investments. These are in addition to the company's goal to be carbon neutral by 2050 or sooner. Along with using higher amounts of recycled content, decarbonization of the company's melting processes and energy sources are important levers to delivering lower-carbon, highly sustainable aluminum solutions.

"Exploring renewable energy sources, such as hydrogen, making first-mover investments, and reducing energy intensity is part of our 3x30 vision to advance aluminum as the material of choice with circular solutions", says Emilio Braghi, executive vice president, Novelis Inc., and president, Novelis Europe. "With the significant expansion of our local recycling capacity, we are transforming the Latchford site into a prototype for high-recycled content and decarbonized aluminum production."