Research On Greenhouse Gases Reduction Countermeasures Of Aluminum Production

The study focuses on aluminum production, the process which contributes the mostenergy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions during the life cycle of aluminumindustry. Considering the movement of the aluminum industry to west China for lowerelectricity cost, small-scale plants with aluminum-electricity joint-operation located inwestern China are chosen as the research subjects. Through case study, the processes ofelectricity supply, carbon anode production and aluminum smelting are systematicallyanalyzed, and greenhouse gas emissions in2010are accounted following2006IPCCGuidelines. Within the boundry, emissions from5kinds of greenhouse gases nearlyreached410thousands tons CO2equivalent totally, among which CO2contributed96.40%. Emissions from aluminum smelting account for81.9%and emissions causedby electricity consumption account for83.4%. Furthermore, several successfully appliedGHGs reduction technologies or measures on power supply and production processesare filtered out. According to their best practice separately,11reduction scenarios areset and compared using the cost-effectiveness analysis. Some main conclusions are:gas-fired units have the best GHGs reduction potential; anode carbon block chamferingtechnology and ultra-supercritical units are suitable for large-scale promotion because ofbetter economic benefits; the cost of process reduction technologies which need largescale electrolyzers replacing are relatively higher.