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(51-03) The economic and ecological effects of primary aluminium supply in Germany. Paulus, Andrea*,1, Kuckshinrichs, Wilhelm1, 1 Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, Germany, Juelich ABSTRACT- World wide Germany is one of the main demanding countries for primary aluminium. Its consumption depends to a substantial proportion on bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium imports. The paper focuses on the analysis of economic and ecological effects of alumina refining and primary aluminium smelting to meet German demand by domestic production and imports. Specifically, the creation of jobs, the application of different technologies for electrolysis, the use of energy and resulting energy related as well as process related GHG emissions expressed as GWP are taken into account. The analysis combines two approaches, i.e. the economic input output model and the process chain model. The first model implies the overall economic context of the domestic alumina and primary aluminium production in monetary values. It is a helpful tool for analysing linkages with other industrial sectors, e.g. in terms of direct and indirect job creation. Using additional physical balances for energy and GHG emissions it also allows to consider ecological effects. The official German input output tables assign alumina refining and primary aluminium smelting to the non-ferrous metal sector. Bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium have been extracted from the non-ferrous metals sector in order to study their economic and ecological effects. The second model is used to evaluate bauxite mining, alumina refining and smelting of primary aluminium for typical exporting countries like Norway, Russia and others. It takes into account direct job creation, different technologies for electrolysis, energy use and GHG emissions. Considering the whole process chain, in particular the primary energy carrier mix to generate electricity for electrolysis and the application of different technologies for this process, will influence the level of GHG emissions compared to Germany. Key words: input output model, process chain model, primary aluminium, GHG |
