The Quebec joint venture Elysis, led by metal giants Alcoa and Rio Tinto, has sold the manufacturer Apple aluminum produced in a completely carbon neutral way and which will be used to manufacture the new iPhone SE of the Californian brand.
“Working alongside Apple on this breakthrough has the potential to bring lasting change to the way aluminum is produced,” Elysis CEO Vincent Christ said in a statement. “This is the first time that aluminum has been produced without any greenhouse gas emissions and on an industrial scale. The sale to Apple confirms market interest in aluminum produced using our revolutionary carbon-free aluminum production process. »
Apple’s purchase of an unspecified amount of the aluminum produced through the Elysis process is part of a larger US$4.7 billion program set up in 2016 by the California giant to help the its entire supply chain to reduce its carbon footprint. Apple says carbon-free aluminum produced by Elysis will go to making the just-released version of the iPhone SE. This is in addition to aluminum also supplied by Elysis which is already found in the casing of some of its laptops.
“Our investment is advancing the development of new technologies that help reduce the carbon footprint of the materials we use, with the goal of using only recycled or renewable materials for all of our products,” said Vice. -President of Environment and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson. In all, Apple calculates that its investment will help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by its manufacturing operations by 2.9 million tons.
Aluminum and oxygen
Thanks to financial participation from the governments of Quebec and Canada, Elysis set up a research and development center in Saguenay at the end of 2020 to eventually market a carbon-free aluminum production process. In the spring of 2021, the joint venture received $20 million from Quebec to demonstrate the large-scale feasibility of its process by applying it to the aluminum smelter owned by Rio Tinto in Alma.
Elysis’s process notably uses inert anodes which produce aluminum and oxygen as a by-product, rather than greenhouse gases. The company is currently still in the demonstration phase of its technology, which should last until 2023.
The more formal commercialization of the technology developed by Elysis should take place from 2024. The company estimates that large-scale industrial production of carbon-free aluminum will take place from 2026.
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