New AB InBev Partnership Promises Ultra-low Carbon Aluminum Cans

(Credit: Absolute Beer)

Multinational drink and brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev announced yesterday that it will be partnering with three companies in the aluminum industry to produce a beverage can with the lowest ever carbon footprint for an AB InBev beer can produced in Europe.

The partnership’s pilot project is the production of five million Budweiser cans, which will be sold in the UK as early as this fall.

The other three companies in the partnership are:

1. Rusal, the metals segment of En+ Group that is the world's largest producer of low carbon aluminium.
2. Canpack, a global manufacturer of aluminum beverage cans.
3. Eval, a rolled aluminum products manufacturer.

The centerpiece of the effort is a novel smelting process that uses inert anode aluminum technology. Unlike conventional anodes, inert anodes do not produce carbon, preventing chemical reactions that generate carbon dioxide emissions. The new aluminum will be mixed with recycled aluminum.

Rusal will produce the emissions-free primary aluminum. Eval will then utilize it to manufacture aluminum coils. Next, canpack will make cans out of the coils. Finally, Budweiser will fill the cans at its breweries in Magor, South Wales and Samlesbury, Lancashire, which are powered by 100% renewable energy. Since January, Budweiser has brewed every one of its cans using electricity from its own wind turbine and two solar farms.

Once used, the cans are “infinitely recyclable.” Aluminum is the most valuable material to recycle, commanding the highest prices of any item in the recycling bin. Three quarters of all aluminium ever produced is still in use today.

For its part, partner En+ Group committed to a 35% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. To this end, it will be investing $284 million between now and 2026.

Its two principal strategies for emissions reductions are:

1. Shifting to pre-baked anode and inert anode technologies for smelters.
2. Shifting from carbon intensive fossil fuels to liquefied natural gas (LNG), natural gas, biofuels and green hydrogen, or using renewable power for heating processes.

98% of En+ Group’s aluminum production is already fueled by hydropower. The company plans to make its operations even more efficient, increasing the energy output from the same volume of water passing through hydropower turbines at its power plants.

Other strategies include “recycling, shipping, use of solar power and hydrogen, nature-based solutions and carbon capture.”