Novelis Inc., a sustainable aluminum solutions provider and world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, has successfully tested using hydrogen fuel to power a recycling furnace at its UK plant in Latchford, Warrington.
The tests were carried out as part of a UK government decarbonization program and in collaboration with Progressive Energy, an independent UK energy company, and required the installation of new burners, regenerators, and furnace lining material. Using hydrogen instead of the same amount of natural gas when operating a melting furnace can reduce CO2e emissions by up to 90 percent.
“Exploring renewable energy sources, such as hydrogen, making first mover investments, and reducing energy intensity are part of our 3×30 vision to advance aluminum as the material of choice with circular solutions”, said Emilio Braghi, executive vice president, Novelis Inc., and president, Novelis Europe.
With safety as the top priority of the hydrogen pilot project, several series of tests were conducted by blending different percentages of hydrogen with natural gas (30 percent-100 percent) to evaluate the impact on existing infrastructure, and equipment compatibility. During the trial campaign, several hundred tonnes of 3000 series scrap aluminum alloy were remelted and cast into sheet ingots. In addition, all relevant parameters were measured to assess any impact on the product, process, operating environment, and environmental emissions.
Further downstream processing, including rolling and finishing, will be now completed at other Novelis plants in Europe to establish the real ‘end-to-end’ parameters of a hydrogen-based, recycled alloy production process. Following the full post-trial evaluation and assessments, a report will be released as part of the UK government’s Industrial Fuel Switching program later this year.
Novelis is also conducting its own technical feasibility studies into the use of hydrogen as a direct replacement for natural gas, and more generally, Novelis research and development teams worldwide continue to investigate the possibility of using plasma and electricity to supply energy to its production plants.
Novelis is investing approximately $90 million to double the recycling capacity for used beverage cans (UBCs) at its plant in Latchford. The project will increase the facility’s UBC recycling capacity by 85 kilotonnes per year and decrease Novelis Europe’s CO2e by more than 350,000 tonnes annually. The project is expected to begin commissioning in December 2026.
Furthermore, as part of its new Novelis 3×30 vision, the company has set new ambitious sustainability targets to achieve by the end of 2030, including increasing recycled content to 75 percent from today’s 63 percent, reducing carbon emissions to less than 3 tonnes CO2e per tonne aluminum shipped, and continuing to lead the industry to circularity through first-mover investments.
Published April 2025
