The sustainable development agenda continues to influence the business models of the largest Russian companies. Despite serious economic difficulties, the issue did not fade into the background. For metallurgists, the desire to ensure the environmental friendliness of their products throughout the entire chain remains an economically important development vector: new advanced technologies can transform the industry and significantly limit the negative impact of production on the environment.
Russian aluminum giant Rusal approved its sustainable business development strategy until 2035 in the summer. The document stated that the fundamental condition for doing business is respect for the environment and a consistent reduction of the environmental “footprint” of the company’s activities.
The latest news from Rusal points to systematic work in this direction. Thus, the company announced that it started using Allow Inerta, the primary aluminum with the lowest carbon footprint in the world, in the production of Sayana foil. The first 20 tons of Allow Inerta aluminum were sent from the pilot industrial zone of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Smelter to the Sayanal foil rolling plant for subsequent use in foil production.
Rusal became the first company in the world to use inert anode instead of carbon anode in industrial aluminum production. Essentially, this allows us to talk about a new era in the aluminum industry that is significantly closer to the seemingly unattainable dream of a carbon-free future. The rapid development and gradual implementation of “green” technologies allows us to expect that this will happen sooner than expected even in the most bold predictions.
competitive advantage
The global industry is steadily moving towards carbon neutrality. Aluminum producers around the world are struggling to reduce their carbon footprint.
This usually refers not only to carbon monoxide emissions but also to greenhouse gases in general. Abroad, the sustainable development agenda is one of the main trends for the metallurgical industry; Relationships with counterparties and customers may depend on the success of companies in this regard.
Alexey Kalachev, an analyst at financial group Finam, says a lower carbon footprint becomes a tangible competitive advantage if consumers place increasingly higher demands on the purity of not only the primary metal, but also the final product.
According to research from McKinsey and NielsenIQ, sales of ESG-labelled products have increased by a cumulative 28% over the past five years, while sales of products without such labeling or related communications have increased by only 20%.
Breakthrough for the industry
Rusal states that they see potential in further systematic development of “green” technologies that will help the company move towards its ESG transformation goals despite the economic environment and market turmoil.
The company also sees the dissemination of materials that have the least impact on the environment among end consumers as an important area of work.
Experts believe that Rusal’s latest developments are a serious target for success. This is especially true for the use of inert anodes instead of carbon, which is a real breakthrough for the industry.
“Aluminum is produced through the electrolysis process, which is an energy-intensive production. Therefore, the first step on this path is the transition from using electricity obtained from coal production to energy obtained from renewable sources. In this regard, Rusal had an advantage before and had a low carbon footprint because it used hydroelectric energy,” recalls Alexey Kalachev.
Rusal’s experience in this regard differs significantly from, for example, China, which has switched to this path, but still has a very large share of coal production.
“In this sense, Sayanal’s products previously had a rather low footprint, since the plant uses primary metal from the Sayanogorsk aluminum smelter, which in turn is powered by energy from the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station,” points out Alexey Kalachev.
It is even more interesting, in his opinion, that Rusal has made more progress than its competitors in developing technology for the production and use of inert anodes, which is a global breakthrough in reducing emissions and the production of “green” aluminum.
original technologies
Rusal says its experience in developing inert anode technology is unique. Greenhouse gas emissions from the electrolysis process are only 0.01 tonnes CO2e. per tonne of aluminum (compared to the industry average of 12.5 tonnes CO2e). So it is almost completely excluded.
“These anodes last a long time, do not burn, and release oxygen rather than carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gases during the production process. So switching to inert anodes even provides a double effect. Aluminum thus obtained and products made from this aluminum will have a competitive advantage in markets where there are high requirements for environmental friendliness of goods,” explains Alexey Kalachev.
Rusal has been developing and testing its original inert anode technology for a long time and has now become the first company in the world to transition to industrial use.
“In principle, many manufacturers and scientific institutes around the world are now interested in obtaining inert anodes applicable on an industrial scale. For example, American Alcoa is actively engaged in this issue both independently and in cooperation with Rio Tinto. Norwegian Hydro is also exploring in this direction. But as far as I know, no one other than Rusal has yet achieved industrial application,” notes an analyst at Finam Financial Group.