Carbon-free Aluminum

[freebeard]

https://www.oann.com/apple-buys-firs...tinto-venture/

Aluminum is carbon-intensive to produce. The smelting process involves passing electrical current through a large block of carbon called an anode, which burns off during the process and releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The carbon-free move is a response to consumer, activist and investor demand that miners and manufacturers show they are working to lessen their impact on [cl*m*t* ch*ng*].

“For more than 130 years, aluminum – a material common to so many products consumers use daily – has been produced the same way. That’s about to change,” Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said in a statement.

Apple uses aluminum housings for many of its electronics, including iPhones, Apple Watches and Mac computers. Apple last year introduced Mac models that use recycled aluminum.

The Alcoa-Rio joint venture wants to commercialize a technology by 2024 that uses a ceramic anode to make aluminum and emits only oxygen, eliminating direct greenhouse gas emissions from the smelting process.

Five more days until we can talk about the implications of this, but this appears to be a fundamental shift in a 130 year old industry. By a consortium of aluminum companies, Apple and Canadian governmental bodies.

Similar to carbon negative concrete. It's too bad the world is going to stainless steel.

[oil pan 4]

How much more does it cost?
The few grams of aluminum used in an iPhone are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Just like a 30% more expensive battery that is 10% smaller doesn't scale up from iPhone size to the 640lb battery in the leaf.
Does it scale up to make solar panel frames or an all aluminum car body?

I say for something like a solar panel, make them as cheaply as possible, natural gas, coal who cares, they go carbon negative after a few years as long as they don't get smashed.

[freebeard]

This is the first I've heard of it. I didn't even wait for a 2nd source.

It does involve the first delivery of a pilot batch, by the two biggest aluminum companies in the world acting together. And IIRC Apple took the first delivery of Gorilla glass for their phones. Now they use it for windows in pickup trucks.

[NeilBlanchard]

There is a lot more aluminum in an ICE, than there is in an EV.

[oil pan 4]

Yeah this is the 3rd time I have seen a "carbon free aluminum" article.
This is the first one about a usable amount being made and filling an order.

[freebeard]

There's the 2nd sourcing I hadn't seen. Thanks.

Right now I'm listening to Jack Rikard going far into the weeds on Aluminum-Oxy-Nitride.

[2016 Versa]

make aluminum and emits only oxygen

They gonna put that stuff into the air we have to breathe?

[Xist]

Apple has sold an average of 218 million iPhones a year since 2007. If they just have 1 gram of aluminum each, that is 218,000 kilograms a year, plus waste, and 2,616,000 kilograms used to date.