Aluminum Recycling
Aleris is a global leader in aluminum recycling because of our emphasis on superior technology, product quality and customer service.
We offer a wide range of metal recycling services and specification-alloy products made to order. Our recycling facilities can process both primary and secondary scrap aluminum, giving us a great degree of flexibility to respond to customer needs and industry trends.
Industries served:
- Rolling and extrusion mills
- Can sheet
- Transportation
- Steel
- Automotive
- Packaging
- Engineering
- Building and construction
- Electronics
Scrap Processing
Aluminum that is recycled by Aleris includes many types of post-consumer and industrial scrap, new scrap from the manufacturing of cans and other products, and dross which is skim from the aluminum melting process. Aleris sorts, crushes, shreds, cleans and melts the scrap, then delivers it to metal customers in ingot, sow, or molten form.
Examples of the materials that we process include:
- Dross -- Aluminum dross, one of the principal materials recycled by Aleris, forms on the top of material in reverberatory furnaces during the melting process.
- New Scrap -- New scrap is generated from the manufacture of auto wheels, engine blocks and heads, can stock, extrusions, building materials and other items.
- Old Scrap -- Old scrap includes things like used beverage cans, vehicles, building components and other types of industrial and consumer scrap.
Milling
The Aleris milling operations recycle black dross and saltcake through proprietary dry and wet milling processes to separate the components of the materials, thereby reducing the overall volume of waste material produced and returning a portion to re-usable products, including aluminum and various mineral oxides.
Melting
Aleris operates both reverberatory and rotary furnaces. Solid scrap aluminum is converted into liquid form during the melting process. Throughout the melting process, additional alloying elements can be added to achieve a specified chemistry required for various end-use needs. The molten metal can be cast into various shapes such as ingot, RSI or Deox.
Manufacturers rely on Aleris for recycled aluminum material that is processed in a consistent, high-quality manner. In a process known as tolling, Aleris accepts, inspects, shreds, separates, de-lacquers and melts aluminum owned by its customers. After the melting process is completed, Aleris casts the aluminum and delivers it to the customer. Products can be delivered to customers in the following forms:
- Molten
- Ingot
- Sow
- Deox cone
Casting Process
In casting, the molten aluminum from the melting process is poured into a mold allowing it to solidify into particular shapes:
- Low-profile sow
- Several sizes of ingot
- 2-way sows
- 4-way sows
- Deox cones
Aluminum Deoxidizers
Aleris produces a full range of aluminum deoxidizers for use in iron and steel production. All grades are produced to conform to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Specification B-37-96 and meet steel industry standards. Aluminum deoxidizers are available in a wide variety of shapes including:
- Briquettes
- Cones
- Pyramids
- Shot
- Shreds
Products are provided in a variety of packaging styles to meet any customer’s unique requirements:
- Boxes
- Bundles
- Bags
- Super sacks
- Truckloads
Magnesium Recycling
The recycling of magnesium scrap is a very demanding process. Maybe that’s why magnesium recycling is not very widespread.
Aleris is a leader in this market segment, and is particularly focused on recycling magnesium and aluminum composite castings. We are also able to recycle magnesium swarf and dross --- even more difficult to process -- thus achieving a closed-loop recycling system where the emphasis is on further utilization, rather than disposal.
Magnesium can be effectively recycled without loss of quality. The energy required for recycling is only about three percent of that required for primary manufacture. For recycling, the waste products that occur in the foundries -- gatings, rejects, swarf, dross – are sorted into different quality categories (Classes 1 to 9, depending on composition and the level of contamination of the scrap), then melted down again after any necessary treatment.
The ability to recycle 100 percent of all types of scrap makes Aleris a leading recycling specialist for magnesium.