Techno-economic and life cycle assessment of aluminum electrorefining from mixed scraps using ionic liquid

Adhikari, Birendra; Lister, Tedd E; Reddy, Ramana G.

doi:10.1016/j.spc.2022.08.020

Techno-economic and life cycle assessment of aluminum electrorefining from mixed scraps using ionic liquid

Journal Article · Thu Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Sustainable Production and Consumption

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.08.020· OSTI ID:1898524

^[1]; ^[1]; Reddy, Ramana G. ^[2]

Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States)

Aluminum production from bauxite ore uses significantly high amount of energy and capital expenditure. Recycle and reuse of aluminum can be economical and minimize the environmental impacts. Smelter based recycle and reuse of aluminum is used in recent days, however, it also uses high amount of energy with high cost of production and yields high life cycle impacts. The University of Alabama has developed aluminum electrorefining technology from mixed scraps using ionic liquids as an alternative to traditional smelter based recycle and reuse. This study has explored the techno-economical, and life cycle viability of that technology. An excel-based techno-economic and life cycle assessment model was developed at Idaho National Laboratory for techno-economic and life cycle assessment. SimaPro was used to get the necessary database for the life cycle assessment. This study determined that a 20,000 kg/day ionic liquid-based electrorefining system can be profitable with a net yearly profit of $2.00 million. Further, in terms of net global warming potential, it emits 0.92 kg CO₂ equivalent per kg of aluminum recycled, whereas the traditional smelter-based recycle technology emits 1.57 kg CO₂ equivalent per kg of aluminum recycled, and the aluminum production from bauxite ore emits 17.8 kg CO₂ equivalent per kg of aluminum produced. In other life cycle assessment categories, electrorefining of aluminum emits >88 % less than aluminum production from bauxite ore and it is also better than traditional aluminum recycling in six out of ten categories studied. This makes ionic liquid-based electrorefining technology a very promising technology in terms of process economics and environmental sustainability.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 1898524

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU-21-65340-Rev000

Journal Information:: Sustainable Production and Consumption, Journal Name: Sustainable Production and Consumption Journal Issue: C Vol. 33; ISSN 2352-5509

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
42 ENGINEERING
aluminum recycle
electrorefining
global warming potential
ionic liquid
life-cycle analysis
sustainability
techno-economic analysis

Techno-economic and life cycle assessment of aluminum electrorefining from mixed scraps using ionic liquid

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