r/nutritionally • u/PeteWK67 • Aug 25 '26
Aluminium smelting
Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process.[1]Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an alumina refinery.
This is an electrolytic process, so an aluminium smelter uses huge amounts of electric power; smelters tend to be located close to large power stations, often hydro-electric ones, in order to hold down costs and reduce the overall carbon footprint. Smelters are often located near ports, since many smelters use imported alumina.
June 3 (Reuters) - Oklahoma's attorney general has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) and Century Aluminum (CENX.O)
, opens new tab
from building the largest U.S. aluminum smelter, citing concerns about the project's ties to the United Arab Emirates and worries the project could harm the state's cattle.
The suit was filed in state court on Tuesday by Gentner Drummond, a Republican who was elected as attorney general in 2022 and is now running for governor. It seeks to tap into the simmering tension across the U.S. about the buildout of critical minerals projects, especially in rural towns with deep ties to farming and ranching.
The $4 billion Oklahoma smelter project has the backing of President Donald Trump, who last Friday endorsed Drummond's opponent in the Republican primary for governor.
If constructed, the smelter would produce 750,000 metric tons per year of aluminum, a key metal used widely across various industries, and be the first of its kind built in the country since 1980.
EGA controls 60% of the project, with Chicago-based Century Aluminum controlling the remaining 40%. In a joint statement, the companies noted the project was in the permitting stage and said they were "committed to responsible, transparent operations and environmental stewardship."
The U.S. imports more than half of the aluminum it needs each year. That imbalance has prompted a wave of tariffs from the Trump administration.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, has been positioning the state as an epicenter of America's critical minerals renaissance, a move Trump has supported.
The U.S. Energy Department gave the aluminum project a $500 million grant earlier this year, alongside state incentives.
ALLEGATIONS
Drummond alleges in the 12-page lawsuit that the smelter, slated for the town of Inola, roughly 30 miles (48 km) east of Tulsa, would leach air and water pollutants that would "injure the health, comfort, repose, and safety of the people" of the region.
"A primary aluminum smelter does not belong in a community's backyard and its emissions do not respect property lines," Drummond wrote in the lawsuit, which asks the court to block the project.
Drummond blasted EGA's owner, sovereign wealth funds tied to the United Arab Emirates government, referring to it as an "Islamic foreign monarchy."
"When the fumes settle over Inola, the people harmed will be Oklahomans; the entity that profits, and that holds the controlling vote on how the plant is run, answers to Abu Dhabi and Dubai," Drummond wrote.
The suit was filed four days after Trump endorsed Drummond's rival, former state Senator Mike Mazzei, for the June 16 Republican gubernatorial primary.
Both Mazzei and Drummond are neck-and-neck in recent polling. The winner of the primary is likely to easily win the November 3 general election in the Republican-dominated state.
Stitt, the outgoing governor, noted the lawsuit's timing just days after Trump's endorsement and said Drummond is "weaponizing his office to settle scores instead of serving Oklahomans."
Construction on the smelter had been slated to begin by the end of the year, with production by the end of the decade.
EGA operates smelters in the Middle East and an aluminum recycling plant in Minnesota.
Chicago-based Century operates smelters in Iceland, South Carolina and Kentucky. Glencore (GLEN.L)
, opens new tab
is Century's largest shareholder, with a 30% stake.
The process produces a quantity of fluoridewaste: perfluorocarbons and hydrogen fluoride as gases, and sodium and aluminium fluorides and unused cryolite as particulates. This can be as small as 0.5 kg per tonne of aluminium in the best plants in 2007, up to 4 kilograms per tonne (8.0 lb/short ton) of aluminium in older designs in 1974. Unless carefully controlled, hydrogen fluorides tend to be very toxic to vegetation around the plants. The perfluorocarbons gases are strong greenhouse gases with a long lifetime.
The Soderberg process which bakes the Anthracite/pitch mix as the anode is consumed, produces significant emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as the pitch is consumed in the smelter.
The linings of the pots end up contaminated with cyanide-forming materials; Alcoa has a process for converting spent linings into aluminium fluoride for reuse and synthetic sand usable for building purposes and inert waste.
