Aluminium Smelter in Australia. Approximate location -23.82684, 151.15372.
Aluminium SmelterAustraliaCO₂ estimate (modelled)
Yarwun Alumina Refinery is an aluminium smelter in Australia. Its listed capacity is 3,400,000 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 Rio Tinto Ltd. By capacity it ranks #3 among 12 aluminium smelters in Australia. It emits about 4,459,950 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE, roughly comparable to the annual emissions of 1.0 million passenger cars. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 37% below the national median for this sector.
Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-43765108.
Source data, measured cross-checks and calculated values are kept separate. No confidence percentage is invented.
Same Climate TRACE subsector; closest non-placeholder modelled CO₂e values. Russia and Belarus excluded.
PowerAtlas operating assets, ordered by great-circle distance from published coordinates.
At 3,400,000 t of alumina/aluminum, Yarwun Alumina Refinery is well above the median aluminium smelter in Australia (1,107,004 t of alumina/aluminum). Subsector: aluminum. As aluminium smelter, it requires high process heat (typically 600–900°C) for its core industrial operations — heat that must be supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion, and losses through uninsulated vessels and piping represent wasted fuel. Removable modular insulation can cut those losses by 80–96%, surface-cooling equipment to ≤45°C, with payback often under 2 years. 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.
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.
At its reported 4.5M t CO₂e/yr (Scope 1), Yarwun Alumina Refinery carries no domestic carbon price — and as a CBAM-covered product, its 4.5M t at the EU CBAM rate (€75/t) is €336M/yr of exposure on EU-bound exports. CBAM share rises from 2.5% (2026) to 100% by 2034. The fastest decarbonization lever is energy efficiency: eliminating heat loss on hot equipment (removable insulation, steam & waste-heat recovery) typically cuts 2–5% of fuel-related CO₂ — here ≈89k t–223k t/yr, worth €6.7M–€16.8M, with payback up to 2 years. No domestic carbon price — but cement, steel, aluminium, fertilizer and hydrogen exported to the EU face CBAM at €75/t (rising to 100% by 2034).
Carbon price: EU CBAM €75/t · EU ETS €79/t, July 2, 2026, refreshed live via Carbon Hub. CO₂: Climate TRACE. Efficiency range: US DOE / ASTM C680 (method). Indicative carbon value, not the cash bill — free allocation applies; not compliance advice. Estimate the saving for this site →
Listed capacity (t of alumina/aluminum), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Rio Tinto Ltd. All facilities by this operator →
Yarwun Alumina Refinery sits in a humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen Cfa), at 23.8°S in the southern hemisphere.
Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
The local climate sets how fast unprotected steel, protective coatings and the insulation on hot process equipment degrade at this site. It sits in an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt corrosion the leading environmental stress.
In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1278 W/m² to ambient — roughly 0.98× the loss at a 20 °C reference; removable insulation recovers about 1214 W/m² of that. 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).
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
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.
The #3 largest of 12 aluminium smelters in Australia by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).
Coordinates -23.82684, 151.15372. View on OpenStreetMap.
For a aluminium smelter, the main modular-insulation targets are alumina calciner, casthouse furnaces, hot ducting (electrolysis itself is electric). Typical hot-surface ranges used for screening: 150–1,000 °C.
electrolysis is mostly electricity (Scope 2) + anode process; on-site combustion small - insulation mainly relevant to alumina refining/casthouse.
A first-pass insulation screen suggests about 4,200 MWh/year of recoverable heat-loss reduction and about 840 t CO₂e/year of avoided emissions. Screening estimate scaled from installed process-heat projects and surface-temperature reduction data.
See Inzonex Modular Insulation → Run the calculator →
Screening calculation from facility class, capacity and open emissions/energy context. Engineering survey required before procurement.
Start with a thermal survey of valves, flanges, doors and bends. Removable modular insulation keeps maintenance access open while lowering exposed-surface temperature and wasted heat.
For energy-efficiency projects around process heat, likely external funding channels include:
Sources: country climate-finance facilities and public development-bank programmes.
Yarwun Alumina Refinery is a aluminium smelter in Australia. 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.
The open dataset lists 3,400,000 t of alumina/aluminum of capacity for Yarwun Alumina Refinery.
The page uses about 4,459,950 t CO₂e/year from the open dataset It ranks #4 among facilities in Australia by estimated CO₂.
Yarwun Alumina Refinery is in Australia at approximately -23.82684, 151.15372.
The operator recorded in the open dataset is Rio Tinto Ltd.
