Rio Tinto, in co-ordination with Alcoa, announced that construction of ELYSIS Industrial Research and Development Center in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec has been completed.
ELYSIS is a joint venture between both firms and ensures carbon free production of aluminium, producing oxygen as a by-product during the aluminium smelting process. This technology was first developed at the Alcoa Technical Center in the US and has been moved to the Quebec center for industrial production. The ELYSIS center will produce smaller, industrial sized smelting cells. ELYSIS has been working closely with Rio Tinto and Alcoa’s technology teams and training a 25 member technical team. Production is expected to begin in a few months.
Additionally, Rio Tinto will also commission its Complexe Jonquiere, a similar research and development center, in H1 2021.