Apple Paves Way Towards Carbon-Free Aluminum Smelting Process as Latest Environmental Pledge

[MacRumors]

The aluminum used in Apple products ranging from iPhones to MacBooks could be more sustainably manufactured in as early as six years.

The first aluminum manufactured with the new process​

Apple today announced it has helped facilitate a collaboration between two of the world's largest aluminum producers, Alcoa and Rio Tinto, on a new carbon-free aluminum smelting process. Together, the companies have formed a joint venture called Elysis, which will work to develop the patented technology further.

Alcoa and Rio Tinto aim to achieve larger-scale production and commercialization of the process, with plans to license the technologies beginning in 2024. If fully developed and implemented, it will eliminate direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional aluminum smelting process developed over 130 years ago.

Instead of carbon dioxide, the new process releases oxygen, per Apple's press release:

Aluminum has been mass produced the same way since 1886, when it was pioneered by Alcoa's founder, Charles Hall. The process involves applying a strong electrical current to alumina, which removes oxygen. Both Hall's original experiments and today's largest smelters use a carbon material that burns during the process, producing greenhouse gases. [...]

Alcoa has designed a completely new process that replaces that carbon with an advanced conductive material, and instead of carbon dioxide, it releases oxygen.

Alcoa said it has been producing aluminum at its facility near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with the new process, to varying degrees, since 2009. The process resulted from decades of research and is described as the most significant innovation in the aluminum industry in more than a century.

In Canada, for example, Alcoa and Rio Tinto said the new process could eliminate the equivalent of 6.5 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, if fully implemented at existing smelters in the country. That is supposedly roughly equal to taking nearly 1.8 million light-duty vehicles off the road.

Apple said its involvement started in 2015, when three of its engineers went in search of a better way of mass producing aluminum. Apple ultimately helped bring Alcoa and Rio Tinto together, and has now pledged an investment of $13 million CAD to the joint venture, along with continued technical support.

Apple CEO Tim Cook:

Apple is committed to advancing technologies that are good for the planet and help protect it for generations to come. We are proud to be part of this ambitious new project, and look forward to one day being able to use aluminum produced without direct greenhouse gas emissions in the manufacturing of our products.

Elysis will be headquartered in Montréal, Québec, with the Governments of Canada and Québec each investing $60 million CAD. Alcoa and Rio Tinto will invest $55 million CAD cash over the next three years.

Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and Premier of Québec, Philippe Couillard, were on hand for today's announcement.

Trudeau's statement:

Today's announcement will create and maintain thousands of jobs for Canadians, significantly reduce Canada's carbon footprint, and further strengthen the aluminum industry in North America. It is a truly historic day for the aluminum industry - and for all Canadian aluminum workers - who play such an important role in our economy and our country's future.

Today's news follows Apple's announcement last month that all of its facilities are now powered with 100 percent clean energy and 23 of its suppliers have committed to do the same. Apple also introduced Daisy, a robot that can more efficiently disassemble iPhones to recover valuable parts for recycling.

This initiative is a testament to Apple's commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its products through continued innovation.

Article Link: Apple Paves Way Towards Carbon-Free Aluminum Smelting Process as Latest Environmental Pledge

 

[twistedpixel8]

I don't know why, but I love the word smelting.

 

[Glmnet1]

could be more sustainably manufactured in as early as six years.

I'm glad aluminium cases are not going away soon!

 

[AngerDanger]

Yeah, sure, but there are other ways in which Apple isn't environmentally conscientious, so who cares? When it comes to sustainable business practices, it has to be all or nothing!

/s

 

[Anarchy99]

I don't know why, but I love the word smelting.

Me too , For some reason I always think of chocolate even though it has zero to do with smelting.
It's probably because it has smell and melting in the name

Honestly though if Apple really cared about the environment and sustainability they would be pro right to repair instead of user hostile.

Much better for me to either replace a capacitor or whatever part/component (or pay someone to do so if I can't ( because Apple geniuses won't)
than replace an entire top case or bottom case etc.

Not that I'm saying this news isn't important, it just feels like reporting on it and stories like it is just glorifying Apple and sidestepping the real issues.

 

[oldhifi]

another gimmick

 

[twistedpixel8]

Me too , For some reason I always think of chocolate even though it has zero to do with smelting.
It's probably because it has smell and melting in the name

Honestly though if Apple really cared about the environment and sustainability they would be pro right to repair instead of user hostile.

Much better for me to either replace a capacitor or whatever part/component (or pay someone to do so if I can't ( because Apple geniuses won't)
than replace an entire top case or bottom case etc.

Not that I'm saying this news isn't important, it just feels like reporting on it and stories like it is just glorifying Apple and sidestepping the real issues.

Totally agree. I'd happily take an extra 2 or 3mm thickness on a phone if I could just repair the thing without needing tools designed for Smurfs because everything is wafer thin, crammed-in and prone to breaking from just looking at it.

 

[JosephAW]

There would be a better environmental benefit moving away from batteries and towards fuel cell energy.

 

[rcread]

I've been waiting to weigh in on carbon-free aluminum smelting.

I'm kidding. I don't know a thing about smelting.

 

[Tech198]

Totally agree. I'd happily take an extra 2 or 3mm thickness on a phone if I could just repair the thing without needing tools designed for Smurfs because everything is wafer thin, crammed-in and prone to breaking from just looking at it.

lol so big hefty phones ? Didn't we just away from that? The only one still like that is the iPhone SE, and who knows, with Apple updating it, THAT could even be changing.

 

[Mitochris]

Yeah, sure, but there are other ways in which Apple isn't environmentally conscientious, so who cares? When it comes to sustainable business practices, it has to be all or nothing!

/s

Well, what it allows you to do is point the fingers at those that do not do it. Once this is in place, other companies can’t argue that it can’t be done. It increases pressure.

 

[tipoo]

another gimmick

Life on the coastlines, what a gimmick eh?

 

[apb87]

Super exciting news. They could also, you know, stop gluing components together, requiring users to buy new devices every two years since they aren't upgradable.

 

[kironin]

Great but even if you completely converted all primary Aluminum production to this process, that would only reduce the current annual human production of CO2 by about 0.25% !
(24 million tons CO2)
Total world human production of CO2 annually is about 10 billion tons.

Fossil Fuel & Cement accounts for 90% or so of the total.
The variation in this number from year to year is greater than the total from aluminum production.

From another source, has the cement manufacturing CO2 production at 5% of the total. I've seen various proposals about making cement carbon neutral, that would have a much bigger impact.

Of course, even a slight drop in CO2 production from fossil fuel would also have a bigger impact.

So this news story is mainly feel good and little else.

 

[wlossw]

I don't know why, but I love the word smelting.

Because it makes you think of the possibility of hiding small fish in and around someone’s area and the resulting hilarious hijynx.

 

[Arty6]

Super exciting news. They could also, you know, stop gluing components together, requiring users to buy new devices every two years since they aren't upgradable.

There are probably like 4 nerds that would want to buy an upgradeable phone and it's a far stretch to say that users are required to buy new devices every two years.

 

[Sasparilla]

Nice to see Apple helping make this happen. I love that they do this stuff proactively, nobody else in the hardware tech industry would even think of doing such a thing.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

another gimmick

What an awful take.

 

[Anarchy99]

lol so big hefty phones ? Didn't we just away from that? The only one still like that is the iPhone SE, and who knows, with Apple updating it, THAT could even be changing.

You're acting like we had a choice and chose to get away from hefty phones, Or For that matter a wanted to in the 1st place.

I bet if you ask the average North American Apple user
Would they take a slightly thicker phone that could be cheaply repaired or the one where any repair would cost half if not more the cost of an entire device

Most would choose the former.

In fact if you asked if they wanted more ports or less ports only an idiot would choose getting less for the same amount of dollars.
And many may even say please double the thickness if it means double the battery "because I want all Day battery life regardless of my usage"

Instead Apple redefined all day to mean 10 hours to give the perception of value instead of what people actually want.

 

[sunapple]

Great but even if you completely converted all primary Aluminum production to this process, that would only reduce the current annual human production of CO2 by about 0.25% !
(24 million tons CO2)
Total world human production of CO2 annually is about 10 billion tons.

Fossil Fuel & Cement accounts for 90% or so of the total.
The variation in this number from year to year is greater than the total from aluminum production.

From another source, has the cement manufacturing CO2 production at 5% of the total. I've seen various proposals about making cement carbon neutral, that would have a much bigger impact.

Of course, even a slight drop in CO2 production from fossil fuel would also have a bigger impact.

So this news story is mainly feel good and little else.

If every company would go to such lengths to decrease their CO2 production, that would have a great impact. Apple is leading the change, they don’t pretend to resolve the whole problem.

 

[Millah]

Me too , For some reason I always think of chocolate even though it has zero to do with smelting.
It's probably because it has smell and melting in the name

Honestly though if Apple really cared about the environment and sustainability they would be pro right to repair instead of user hostile.

Much better for me to either replace a capacitor or whatever part/component (or pay someone to do so if I can't ( because Apple geniuses won't)
than replace an entire top case or bottom case etc.

Not that I'm saying this news isn't important, it just feels like reporting on it and stories like it is just glorifying Apple and sidestepping the real issues.

How is that more pro environment? Yea, the argument is for device longevity. But if Apple forces repairs to go through their stores or authorized repair centers, then they have control over the recycling process. If they replace an entire top case, well guess what? Apple knows what happens with the defective part, since they control that process. It goes through Apples recycling program, and precious resources get extracted with their fancy robots.

Open that up to non-authorized third parties or individual users, and Apple no longer controls the recycling process. A user may replace the battery and toss it in the trash, while Apple extracts lithium from dead batteries.

So conversely, I would argue Apples approach does support a pro-environment stance.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Super exciting news. They could also, you know, stop gluing components together, requiring users to buy new devices every two years since they aren't upgradable.

You're acting like we had a choice and chose to get away from hefty phones, Or For that matter a wanted to in the 1st place.

I bet if you ask the average North American Apple user
Would they take a slightly thicker phone that could be cheaply repaired or the one where any repair would cost half if not more the cost of an entire device

Most would choose the former.

In fact if you asked if they wanted more ports or less ports only an idiot would choose getting less for the same amount of dollars.
And many may even say please double the thickness if it means double the battery "because I want all Day battery life regardless of my usage"

Instead Apple redefined all day to mean 10 hours to give the perception of value instead of what people actually want.

Mmmmnah. I'll take my water resistant, magically thin device that lasts all day even with my usage over some clunky brick that will short circuit if I sneeze on it.

 

[baine]

Great but even if you completely converted all primary Aluminum production to this process, that would only reduce the current annual human production of CO2 by about 0.25% !
(24 million tons CO2)
Total world human production of CO2 annually is about 10 billion tons.

Fossil Fuel & Cement accounts for 90% or so of the total.
The variation in this number from year to year is greater than the total from aluminum production.

From another source, has the cement manufacturing CO2 production at 5% of the total. I've seen various proposals about making cement carbon neutral, that would have a much bigger impact.

Of course, even a slight drop in CO2 production from fossil fuel would also have a bigger impact.

So this news story is mainly feel good and little else.

You gotta start somewhere

 

[Atearen]

Me too , For some reason I always think of chocolate even though it has zero to do with smelting.
It's probably because it has smell and melting in the name

Honestly though if Apple really cared about the environment and sustainability they would be pro right to repair instead of user hostile.

Much better for me to either replace a capacitor or whatever part/component (or pay someone to do so if I can't ( because Apple geniuses won't)
than replace an entire top case or bottom case etc.

Not that I'm saying this news isn't important, it just feels like reporting on it and stories like it is just glorifying Apple and sidestepping the real issues.

That's the job of any PR, tell everyone and their dog about your specific environmental friendly action, but only to quietly distract from your big cost-saving electronics disposal

 

[PeterL111]

Good, but I think I can contribute more to the environment by not buying an iPhone every year. My bank account will thanks me too.