Fort William aluminium plant — United Kingdom

Fort William aluminium plant is an aluminium smelter in United Kingdom. Its listed capacity is 38,000 t of alumina/aluminum. Aluminium smelters use large electric currents to refine alumina into molten aluminium above 900°C, and the hot metal must flow through crucibles and casting equipment. It is operated by Alvance British Aluminium. It emits about 82,184 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 0.32% of the CO₂e from the 44 facilities in United Kingdom that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-3673062.

In context: how this facility compares

At 38,000 t of alumina/aluminum, Fort William aluminium plant is around the median aluminium smelter in United Kingdom (38,000 t of alumina/aluminum). Subsector: aluminum. As aluminium smelter, it requires high process heat (typically 600–900°C) for its core industrial operations, supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion. Aluminium smelters use large electric currents to refine alumina into molten aluminium above 900°C, and the hot metal must flow through crucibles and casting equipment.

Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.

What 82,184 t CO₂e a year looks like

This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:

Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.

Operator

Operated by Alvance British Aluminium. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

Fort William aluminium plant sits in a subpolar oceanic climate zone (Köppen Cfc), at 56.8°N in the northern hemisphere.

Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).

Site climate & environmental severity

This site sits in a moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1443 W/m² to ambient — roughly 1.11× the loss at a 20 °C reference. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby sites

Nearby industrial sites

• South Shian Fish Processing Factory, Connel · Food & Beverage
• Scotbeef Ltd, Longleys Farm, Bridge Of Allan · Food & Beverage
• Sandyford Abattoir, Sandyford Road, Paisley · Food & Beverage
• Soft Drink Factory, Glasgow · Food & Beverage
• United Biscuits Ltd, Glasgow · Food & Beverage
• INEOS Grangemouth Refinery · Refinery · 1,376,432 t CO₂

Location

Coordinates 56.82817, -5.0753. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions