The Norwegian industrial group Hydro has presented a new technology, HalZero, which it says could eventually allow aluminium to be made without carbon dioxide emissions, NRK reports.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre saw the process at Hydro's research centre at Herøya in Porsgrunn on Monday and called it a potentially historic industrial breakthrough. Hydro has worked on the method since 2016 as a replacement for the smelting technique patented in 1886. The company says carbon would be kept in a closed loop so that only oxygen is released.
Hydro said many years of research and testing remain before the technology can be used commercially, with a possible pilot plant the next step. The state agency Enova is providing almost 82 million kroner for the next phase, after 141 million kroner in 2023.
Source: NRK
