Pamplona (EFE).- The Navarrese plant of the company Hydro in the town of Irurtzun has managed to produce, for the first time in the world, the first batch of recycled aluminum using green hydrogen as an energy source.
Until now, the company has reported in a statement, the known tests carried out with hydrogen had only been carried out in the laboratory. Those now carried out at the plant are the first in the world to be successfully carried out on an industrial scale.
The aluminum produced will be used at Hydro Extrusion Navarra to manufacture the first extruded aluminum profiles that have used hydrogen in the recycling process.
Substitute natural gas
It is a pilot project in which they have replaced the natural gas that is usually used as fuel in the smelter for recycling aluminum with carbon-free green hydrogen.
“We are excited about carrying out these tests, which show Hydro’s commitment to the process of decarbonising the industry. By removing CO2 emissions from the energy source, we will be able to produce recycled aluminum from carbon-free post-consumer scrap,” says Paul Warton, Executive Vice President of Hydro Extrusions.
The tests were carried out and directed by the experts of Hydro Havrand, a Hydro company specializing in green hydrogen, in collaboration with Fives North America Combustion. It is an industrial engineering group with experience in hydrogen burner technology and the design of the components and controls necessary to operate safely and effectively.
A promising fuel
Green hydrogen is one of the most promising fuels to address those emissions that are most difficult to reduce in industry. In aluminum, for example, green hydrogen can replace the fossil fuels used in processes where high temperatures are necessary.
The tests carried out are also providing new perspectives on the substitution of natural gas for hydrogen and the effects it can have on the quality of the metal.
Hydrogen acts differently and burns at different temperatures than natural gas, so the research will analyze how these differences can affect the aluminum melting process during recycling and the quality of the aluminum obtained.
A technique applicable to other processes
The results of this analysis may be relevant for the use of hydrogen in other processes that require high temperatures, such as the cement, glass or primary aluminum industry.
Hydro and Fives will continue to analyze the results of this first project until the end of the year.