Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, a bauxite, alumina and aluminum products provider, recently agreed to supply France-based Nexans, a cable producer, with aluminum.
“Alcoa is well positioned to supply low carbon aluminum for the world’s transition to renewable energy, as we know that the true impact of decarbonization will also include the choice of materials used to build the infrastructure for generation, transmission and distribution networks,” Renato Bacchi, Alcoa executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said. “While we are developing ELYSIS for the future, we are also supplying low-carbon aluminum today with our EcoLum metal, which can help customers meet their own sustainability goals and lower their carbon footprints.”
The ELYSIS process replaces all greenhouse gas emissions with oxygen.
Nexans will be the first cable manufacturer in the world to use the metal. The company will use the aluminum at several of its facilities in Western Europe and Scandinavia to start qualifications for the metal’s use in various types of cables.
Alcoa supplies Nexans with EcoLum, an aluminum with a carbon footprint nearly three times lower than the industry average.
Alcoa launched ELYSIS in 2018 as a technology partnership with Rio Tinto, a mining group.
Nexans employs approximately 28,000 people in 42 countries.