High share of biomass fuel in the Bayer process
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Technology Description
The Bayer process - the main method to refine bauxite into alumina (the input to aluminium smelting) - requires 100 to 250 °C heat and steam for digestion and 1000 °C heat for calcination, which are currently delivered using fossil fuels. Testing is underway to use biomass for both digestion heat in boilers/co-generation and for calcination.
Relevance for Net Zero
Alternative fuels provide a good prospect for reducing alumina refining emissions. Alumina refining is a key source of the sector's emissions, so it will be important to develop technologies to reduce them in moving towards net zero emissions. For the scale of Alumina refining, biomass potentially has lower applicability than other heat sources.
Key Countries
Australia, Brazil
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