Hydrogen as Natural Gas Replacement
Novelis Inc., a leading provider of sustainable aluminium solutions and a global leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, has announced that its Latchford plant in the UK has received £4.6 million to conduct hydrogen burning trials.
This funding is part of the UK Government’s £55 million Industrial Fuel Switching Competition, which falls under the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) and the broader regional HyNet project.
Since joining HyNet in 2017, Novelis has been actively involved in supporting the development of the regional infrastructure project and conducting its own technical feasibility studies on the use of hydrogen as a direct replacement for natural gas.
Emilio Braghi, Executive Vice President of Novelis Inc. and President of Novelis Europe, stated, “Transitioning to renewable energy sources is a crucial initiative in our journey towards carbon-neutral production. In addition to decarbonizing our own facility, this collaboration drives the industrial decarbonization of the entire North-West region in the UK.”
With the grant recently awarded by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, Novelis’ Latchford plant plans to conduct a demonstration phase in 2024, testing the use of hydrogen on one of its recycling furnaces.
“We take pride in being pioneers in the use of hydrogen within the aluminium industry, and these trials at Latchford will further advance research on the feasibility of integrating hydrogen power in our recycling operations worldwide,” said Allan Sweeney, Plant Manager of Novelis Latchford.
The trial is being conducted in collaboration with Progressive Energy, an independent UK energy company, and involves the installation of new burners and regenerators capable of operating with hydrogen or a blended hydrogen/gas input.
The furnace lining material will also be replaced with a suitable material for hydrogen.
Depending on the final configuration, replacing natural gas with hydrogen in the remelting furnace could potentially reduce CO2eq emissions by up to 90% compared to using the same amount of natural gas.
“Decarbonizing our melting processes is a critical component in achieving our sustainability goals of reducing our carbon footprint by 30% by 2026 and becoming carbon neutral by 2050 or earlier,” said Suzanne Lindsay-Walker, Vice President of Sustainability at Novelis Inc.
In addition to its involvement in HyNet, Novelis’ research and development teams worldwide are exploring the use of plasma, electricity, and biomass to power its manufacturing operations.
