Aluminum Production Using Zirconia Solid Electrolyte

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Program:
METALS
Award:
$3,980,000
Location:
Natick, Massachusetts
Status:
ALUMNI
Project Term:
12/12/2013 - 12/10/2016

Technology Description:

INFINIUM is developing a technology to produce light metals such as aluminum and titanium using an electrochemical cell design that could reduce energy consumption associated with these processes by over 50%. The key component of this innovation lies within the anode assembly used to electrochemically refine these light metals from their ores. While traditional processes use costly graphite anodes that are reacted to produce CO2 during refining, INFINIUM’s anode can use much cheaper fuels such as natural gas, and produce a high-purity oxygen by-product. Revenue from this by-product could significantly affect aluminum production economics. Traditional cell designs also waste a great deal of heat due to the necessity of keeping the reactor open to the air while contaminated CO2 rapidly exits the chamber. Since INFINIUM’s anode keeps the oxygen or CO2 anode gas away from the main reactor chamber, the entire system may be far more effectively insulated.

Potential Impact:

If successful, INFINIUM would deploy low-cost, energy-efficient aluminum-production cells as a drop-in replacement into large production plants.

Security:

Light-weighting vehicles to improve fuel efficiency could reduce U.S. dependence on foreign fossil fuel resources used in the transportation industry.

Environment:

Transforming aluminum production could reduce harmful CO2 emissions by 50-90% and completely eliminate other emissions compared to conventional processing methods.

Economy:

Retrofitting existing aluminum plants reduces risk and capital costs, making light metals a more cost effective option in manufacturing. This technology also enables aluminum plants to replace expensive graphite with cheap, domestically available natural gas as a key component of light metal manufacturing.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Paul Albertus
Project Contact:
Dr. Adam Powell
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
apowell@infiniummetals.com

Partners

Boston University

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Release Date:
03/20/2013