Reducing CO2 & PFC Emissions
The aluminium industry has worked successfully to reduce its gas emissions. Voluntary industry initiatives and continuous technological advances have ensured we have made significant progress – emissions of CO2 have been reduced by 50% and PFCs by more than 90% compared to 1990 levels.
We achieved this by drastically reducing the direct CO2 emissions of production processes and natural resource use, by fostering workers safety and training, increasing recycling rates and many other initiatives.
Reducing Emissions from Smelting
Most smelters operated by International Aluminium Institute (IAI) members now have powerful scrubbing equipment which can remove up to 99% of all gas emissions from the pots. The materials removed by scrubbing can then be reused in the smelting process.
As a result, the current average levels of emissions to the atmosphere are now as low as 1kg of fluoride per tonne of aluminium. This is a significant improvement compared to 3.9kg per tonne in 1974 (Source: International Aluminium Institute).
