Elkem ASA has secured funding from the European Union for the groundbreaking Elkem Sicalo (silicon production with carbon looping) project, which aims to eliminate all carbon emissions from silicon production.
Elkem, SINTEF, and NORCE are completing the first pilot phase of Elkem Sicalo at Elkem’s technology park in Kristiansand, Norway. The project entails capturing the carbon emitted from the silicon furnace and reusing it as a reductant in the silicon production process. The EU has now granted funding for the Horizon Europe project MECALO, which builds on Elkem Sicalo. MECALO will develop the concept of carbon looping further for general metal production, with demonstration of zero carbon silicon and manganese alloys.
The manganese alloys producer Eramet, with its six smelters in Norway, France, the United States, and Gabon, is the other metallurgical company in the consortium aiming to develop and use the technology from MECALO. If successful and fully implemented in all European production of silicon and manganese, MECALO could save 33 million tons of emissions per year in 2050.