Novelis: Using Hydrogen for Recycling at an Industrial Scale

Novelis, a leading aluminium producer and recycler, has successfully trialled hydrogen fuel in a recycling furnace at its Latchford plant in Warrington, UK.

The tests, part of a UK government decarbonisation initiative, highlighted hydrogen’s potential to transform the aluminium recycling process.

By substituting natural gas with hydrogen in the furnace, Novelis has proven that CO₂e emissions can be reduced by up to 90%.

“Exploring renewable energy sources such as hydrogen, making first mover investments and reducing energy intensity are part of our 3x30 vision to advance aluminium as the material of choice with circular solutions”, says Emilio Braghi, Executive Vice President at Novelis Inc. and President at Novelis Europe.

“With the significant expansion of our local recycling capacity, we are transforming the Latchford site into a prototype for high-recycled content and decarbonized aluminium production.”

Inside Novelis’ hydrogen project

Novelis’ hydrogen trials were conducted in partnership with Progressive Energy as part of a government decarbonisation programme.

The project involved major technical upgrades, including new burners, regenerators and furnace lining materials.

Multiple test series were run to assess the effect of different hydrogen-natural gas blends (30%-100%) on equipment and infrastructure compatibility.

During the trials, several hundred tonnes of 3000 series scrap aluminium alloy were successfully remelted and cast into sheet ingots.

The team carefully monitored all key parameters to evaluate impacts on the product, process, operating environment and environmental emissions.

The successful hydrogen trial is turning the Latchford site into a prototype for high-recycled content and decarbonised aluminium production.

This supports Novelis' wider strategy to boost recycled content to 75% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 or earlier.

Downstream processing, including rolling and finishing, will take place at other Novelis plants in Europe to define the full parameters of a hydrogen-powered recycled alloy production process.

“The use of hydrogen is not common in the aluminium industry today and we are very proud to be one of the pioneers to have tested this new fuel at an industrial scale and in a real-world environment,” says Allan Sweeney, Plant Manager at Novelis Latchford. 

“The results from Latchford will drive further research into the potential deployment of hydrogen in our recycling operations worldwide.”

The road ahead for Novelis Latchford

In July 2024, Novelis announced a US$90m investment to double the recycling capacity for used beverage cans at its Latchford facility.

The investment aims to increase beverage can recycling capacity by 85 kilotonnes per year.

It will also reduce Novelis Europe’s CO₂e emissions by more than 350,000 tonnes annually.

Novelis expects the project to begin commissioning in December 2026.

The UK government’s decarbonisation programme

This hydrogen pilot project forms part of the government’s Industrial Fuel Switching Competition programme, supported by a £4.6m (US$5.8m) grant from the £1bn (US$1.26bn) Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

It is also part of the regional HyNet project, which seeks to create a low-carbon future in the north west of the UK.

HyNet aims to cut the region’s CO₂ emissions by a quarter starting in the 2020s through carbon capture and storage and the use of locally produced low-carbon hydrogen power.

Novelis became a partner in the HyNet project in 2017 and continues to support the development of the regional infrastructure.

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