RUSAL pioneers an eco-friendly petroleum pitch in aluminum production

For the first time in the industry’s history, RUSAL is transitioning its aluminum production to industrial-scale use of anodes made with eco-friendly petroleum pitch. Globally, aluminum production has traditionally relied on coal tar pitch for anodes, and the large-scale use of petroleum pitch—which significantly reduces harmful emissions—was previously deemed unfeasible. RUSAL has invested approximately 100 million rubles in research and development of this innovative petroleum pitch.

The entire Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Smelter (KrAZ) will switch to anode mass containing petroleum pitch, marking a world-first for the aluminum industry. Until now, coal tar pitch or coal-petroleum was exclusively used in industrial anode production.

RUSAL spent several years developing the eco-friendly petroleum pitch. The company analyzed technological processes at Russian oil refineries (NPRs) processing crude oil from various regions of Russia, identified the optimal crude oil composition, and selected the best processing partner. The resulting petroleum pitch underwent successful industrial testing as part of anode mass.

RUSAL plans to replicate this breakthrough across its other aluminum plants like KrAZ. The company continues to research ways to expand the list of NPRs whose byproducts can be used for pitch production and to discover fundamentally new raw material sources for this product.

RUSAL, a leading company in the global aluminium industry and the world’s largest producer of low-carbon aluminium, is a participant in the International Industrial Exhibition "Metal-Expo".