TOMRA promotes environmentally friendly and efficient aluminum recycling to neutralize emissions

Aluminum recycling offers endless benefits to producers, recyclers and converters alike, from the recycling process itself to the innovative technologies that support it.

Frank van de Winkel, director of metals market strategy at TOMRA Recycling, describes Current panorama of aluminum processing and explains how to use By adopting the most advanced sorting technologies, many industries can pave the way to a more circular economy.

Aluminum recycling: a fundamental solution

In an era of heightened environmental awareness and strengthened global sustainability goals, the aluminum industry is emerging as a dynamic force for positive change. As companies look to reduce carbon emissions and adopt more sustainable practices, aluminum recycling has become a critical solution. Found in everything from beverage cans to aircraft parts, this versatile metal offers a unique opportunity to save resources, minimize environmental impact and improve operational efficiency.

Aluminum comes in two main forms: cast aluminum and forged aluminum. Cast aluminum has a high silicon content, while forged aluminum contains minimal amounts of silicon. By combining cast and wrought aluminum, the resulting alloy is primarily used in the production of cast aluminum, since there is no simple or widely used method to completely remove the silicon. This process, sometimes called “under-recycling”, results in products different from those found in scrap metal.

The origin of aluminum significantly influences its composition. Aluminum scrap raw materials can be divided into two main types: post-production and post-consumer. These two categories, although critical to sustainable practice, differ significantly in their origins and characteristics.

Post-production scrapas the name suggests, it is generated during the manufacturing process itself. It typically occurs as a byproduct or reduction in the production of manufactured goods such as automobiles, building materials, and household appliances. This type of scrap is usually in a relatively clean state since it has not yet been exposed to general use.

Against, post-consumer scrap occurs at the end of a product’s life cycle. It is created by consumers who have used aluminum-based products and subsequently abandoned them. This type of scrap can come from a variety of sources, such as end-of-life vehicles, homes, businesses, and public places. Unlike industrial waste, consumer waste is often contaminated with various substances such as food waste, dirt and other debris.

Recognizing these differences in scrap origin allows recyclers to tailor their sorting and processing methods accordingly, ensuring that recycled aluminum meets the standards required for different applications.

Problems of aluminum processing

One of the main obstacles to aluminum recycling is the difficulty of separating it from other metals once combined into alloys. Given the wide range of aluminum alloys—hundreds of different varieties available for casting and forging—it is vital to keep aluminum scrap as close as possible to its original composition, or at least to the desired composition of the final product.

Different aluminum alloys have different properties such as hardness, corrosion resistance and ductility.

Identifying the specific aluminum alloy to be recycled allows recyclers to optimize the recycling process to retain these valuable characteristics and ensure efficient and cost-effective recycling of the material. This knowledge allows recyclers to produce recycled aluminum that is equivalent in quality and performance to virgin aluminum, thereby expanding its potential applications and increasing its market value.

Knowing the origin of aluminum is critical to optimizing recycling efficiency. By identifying potential contaminants or impurities, recyclers can use special cleaning and sorting techniques to remove these unwanted materials. This not only improves the quality of recycled aluminum, but also reduces energy consumption and minimizes waste.

The power of accurate classification

Advanced metal sorting solutions are revolutionizing recycling by turning scrap metal into valuable resources. These sophisticated systems use advanced technologies such as X-ray transmission technology (XRT)—a powerful tool used to classify and analyze materials based on their atomic density—and artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately identify and separate different metals, ensuring extremely pure results.

This precise classification allows recycled aluminum to be used as a direct replacement for virgin raw materials in a variety of industries. From beverage cans to building materials and automotive components, recycled aluminum can be easily integrated into manufacturing processes without compromising product quality or performance. This not only saves valuable resources, but also reduces the environmental impact associated with aluminum production.

AUTOSORT® PULondon Stock Exchange from TOMRA is an excellent example of such a solution. Using advanced laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIBS) technology, this innovative sorting system can quickly analyze the composition of metal objects, distinguishing between different types, qualities and even alloys, eliminating another gap on the path to complete roundness of materials. This enables high-throughput production of alloy scrap fractions, maximizing their economic value and paving the way for a more sustainable aluminum supply chain.

Another key advantage of AUTOSORT®. PRESS lies in its ability to minimize pollution and therefore increase the value and competitiveness of recycled materials. The system’s precise sorting reduces the risk of cross-contamination, protects the integrity of recycled materials, and ensures that recycled materials are fit for their intended use.

High purity of aluminum scrap fractions supplied by AUTOSORT®. PRESS allows the material to be used in the process of smelting and producing aluminum without degrading the quality of valuable materials. Through extensive material testing carried out at TOMRA test centers and customer plants, AUTOSORT® PRESS consistently achieves purity levels of 95% or higher.

Vision of the future

Growing demand for recycled aluminum is driven by a shift to lighter, greener products, especially in the automotive and construction industries. The shift to electric vehicles has further increased the demand for recycling. Government regulations and industry initiatives such as the EU ban on CO2 emitting vehicles.₂ and the ambitious targets of the European Green Deal are also driving demand for recycled aluminum as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote a circular economy.

As many countries and regions strive to meet their pledges to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the role of recycling in achieving these goals cannot be underestimated. Among the various materials that can be reused, aluminum is a particularly valuable resource. The recycling process provides a significant reduction in energy consumption compared to primary production, resulting in a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Key industries that rely heavily on aluminum, such as automotive, transportation and construction, have a unique opportunity to lead the transition to a circular economy, minimizing environmental impact and accelerating progress towards carbon neutrality.

The future of aluminum recycling involves not only recycling industrial scrap, but also replacing feedstock with recycled scrap. This will require significant and ongoing improvements in processing technologies, especially in alloy classification. Some of our customers are already taking this approach with our range of advanced metal sorting solutions to enable more efficient and accurate recycling.

New e-book about aluminum

To highlight the opportunities offered by aluminum recycling, TOMRA recently published e-book which also describes a range of sensor-based sorting technologies that can be used and configured to create a clean aluminum fraction tailored to the specific requirements of processors.

He e-book can be downloaded at https://www.tomra.com/green-revolution-aluminum.