Escalating trade tensions further, Trump has also announced he’ll put an additional 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum in response to Ontario’s 25 per cent surcharge on electricity to three U.S. states.

With more than 90 per cent of Canada’s aluminum exports going to the U.S. — a market of $16.7 billion — the new tariff threatens to disrupt a critical trade relationship.

Almost 30 per cent of Canadian aluminum ends up being used as a durable, lightweight material in the automotive and transportation sector, which is itself under strain due to shifting U.S. trade policies.

In the face of this trade insecurity and a growing demand for green energy, a recent Canadian innovation that uses aluminum as a fuel could provide new opportunities for growth and diversification.

A new role for aluminum

Canada may seem an unlikely leader in aluminum production, given that it has no reserves of bauxite, the raw mineral that yields finished aluminum. However, the country’s huge supply of renewable hydroelectric power makes it the world’s fourth-largest producer of aluminum.

A new Canadian-developed process is reimagining aluminum’s role not just as a manufacturing material, but as a clean energy storage medium and fuel.

Instead of using aluminum to make goods like car parts, beer cans and foil wrap, the process uses aluminum as a vessel for storing energy until it is needed. This new process has the potential to significantly cut carbon emissions, open up new markets and increase energy security.

It works by triggering a reaction between aluminum and water that generates heat, hydrogen and aluminum oxide. In this reaction, just one litre of aluminum produces the same amount of heat as burning a litre of diesel fuel, while yielding the equivalent of four litres of liquid hydrogen, another useful fuel.

The process is circular — once the energy has been extracted from the aluminum, the leftover aluminum oxide can be turned back into aluminum using another clean process, which also happens to be Canadian.

Clean energy potential

Aluminum production is energy-intensive, requiring large-scale smelters that consume huge amounts of electricity. This has earned aluminum the nickname “solid electricity.”

The ability to reanimate this stored energy could help Canada more effectively utilize its abundant clean energy resources that have, until now, been challenging to capture and store.

Unlike fossil fuels, which can be shipped globally, energy from renewable sources is much harder to transport over long distances. Renewable energy is often in the form of electricity, and sending electricity through power lines over long distances results in significant line losses.

Aluminum is safe and stable, and Canada already has a robust infrastructure for making and transporting it. This positions the country to both meet its own energy needs with hydro, solar and geothermal power and export surplus energy.

For instance, Canada could use aluminum to export clean energy to Europe, which is actively looking for reliable energy partners to reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas.

What makes this potential especially attractive is a breakthrough process developed by the Canadian consortium Elysis that takes most of the carbon emissions out of the process of making aluminum.

The main contributor to carbon emissions in traditional aluminum production are carbon anodes. In this process, carbon binds with oxygen released during the smelting process to produce carbon dioxide, a major contributor to climate change.

Elysis’ carbon-free anodes eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the smelting process, leaving only aluminum and oxygen, effectively making aluminum a clean energy storage medium. This means Canada can now produce aluminum with near-zero carbon emissions.

A path to renewable energy leadership

This new aluminum energy cycle is particularly exciting because it combines two of Canada’s greatest strengths: its vast renewable energy potential and its well-established aluminum industry.

These advancements open up the opportunity for Canada’s aluminum sector to move beyond traditional markets and enter the global energy trade.

This innovation could create new demand for Canadian aluminum, diversify the industry’s customer base and reduce the uncertainty and risk of international trade. Ultimately, it could result in greater growth and stability for aluminum producers by reducing their reliance on U.S. trade policies.

Canada could expand its aluminum industry without the need for additional mining, since the aluminum can be reused indefinitely.

Using aluminum as a fuel source also has the potential to usher in a new era of energy security at home and abroad. Clean energy stored in aluminum could be stockpiled for use in remote regions or major centres during times of peak energy demand.

Turning this vision into reality will require investments in research and development to commercialize this nascent form of renewable energy technology. With the right support, Canada could unlock a new era of energy independence and become a renewable energy superpower in a post-fossil fuel world.

Keena Trowell is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University and Jeffrey Bergthorson is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.