European scrap aluminum market recovery processing applications need to be improved

Scrap aluminum recycling is largely an industry that needs to rely on its own strength. It also needs a mature market, which is to make aluminum alloy from recycled aluminum scrap and trade on the London Metal Exchange.

At present, the benefits of raw materials and the role of aluminum scrap recycling must all be emphasized. In many areas, scrap aluminum products are effectively recovered. However, as a part of the entire raw material supply of aluminum alloy producers, some products will be easily forgotten. In particular, the recycling of aluminum scrap used in packaging materials needs to be improved. The European scrap aluminum recycling infrastructure must be consolidated and expanded. Since the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009, casting aluminum alloy producers have had to reduce their production by more than 30%. This situation has not yet been improved. Whether it is Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, or the entire EU 27 countries can not be excluded.

However, the recycling of scrap aluminum is not the same in all European countries. Germany's scrap aluminum recovery industry has recovered particularly well. The production of cast aluminum alloy has increased by 8.9%. The use of scrap aluminum to produce forgeable alloys, ie extrusion of billets and cutting Slab remelting plants are less affected by the economic crisis. European countries will recover further. Although prudent companies have shied away from making long-term commitments, and more analysts believe that there will be further improvement, European countries that waste aluminum recycling is not successful should be aligned with other European countries.

Scrap aluminum recovery can not keep up with aluminum demand

The scrap aluminum recycling industry consists of three parts, namely collection, sorting and processing, smelting and casting. Ultimately, deep processing of waste aluminum material becomes a once again usable aluminum alloy, which is also a “value chain” for waste aluminum recycling.

Collection, including manual collection, DSDEoLV, WEEE, charity collection system. Sorting and processing, including crushing, settlement and flow high temperature processing, eddy currents. Smelting and casting, including remelting and refining.

Each individual part can be further divided, adding such links as dismantling, mainly for a large number of electric vehicles, which is an important step for the recycling of all materials, since these materials are initially installed in electric vehicles. Above.

One thing is certain: no company active in the value chain claims to be a "recycler." The waste aluminum recycling industry is relatively young. The principle of primary aluminum production technology was established in 1886. Since then, it has gradually been allowed to scale production in industry. The breakthrough in the production and use of primary aluminum was realized only after the Second World War. Since the aluminum industry began in 2011, the total amount of primary aluminum produced has reached 1 billion tons, of which 75% is still in use and has not been provided to recycling agencies.

Every kilogram of aluminum scrap recovered has made important contributions to the protection of raw materials. Therefore, every effort must be made to find aluminum scrap. Any aluminum product that goes into the final waste processing after completing its life cycle can only go to the recycling agency. . If we abandon aluminum scrap that reaches the end-use point of production and processing, as long as these materials are still in the cycle, it is a crime.

Even if there is an efficient recycling system in the next 10 years, the recycling of scrap aluminum can only meet the global aluminum demand of 35% to 40%, because the global demand for aluminum is growing faster than the aluminum scrap produced. The growth rate has been confirmed by the calculation model developed by the Global Aluminum Recycling Committee. The committee has updated this figure for seven consecutive years, which shows that in the future, the demand for aluminum will not be better than it is now by recycling scrap aluminum. Only when the use of aluminum ceases to increase can this situation change. .

The future of waste aluminum recycling and how will European industry develop? Some of the parameters that have a significant impact on the future may have already been recognized. These parameters include changes in raw materials, living habits of residents, and order changes in so many ways around the world.

The scrap aluminum recycling industry has a complex structure and many factors will affect the scrap aluminum recycling industry. The most important are the legal conditions, availability of aluminum scrap and international competition conditions.

Loss of aluminum scrap in Europe

In Europe, waste is, in principle, a “waste” in the legal sense, and many waste rules must be observed. However, the European Union has recently adopted a standard to end wastes. If waste can meet certain conditions, it can be considered as a commodity.

The European scrap aluminum recycling industry still faces difficulties because European scrap aluminum recycling companies are concerned about exporting aluminum scrap to countries that have reclaim legal requirements that are significantly lower than the EU standards. Having sufficient aluminum scrap supply is a prerequisite for the aluminum recycling industry to play a role. The EU has been a net exporter of aluminum scrap for several years. In 2010, the EU exported approximately 1,093,300 tons of aluminum scrap to third-party countries, and imported about 270,000 tons of aluminum scrap from third-party countries. Therefore, there was a net output of 733,300 tons of aluminum scrap. At present, the EU wants to be a recycling society. Aluminum is a valuable renewable raw material. If it only makes greater efforts to collect aluminum scrap, it will transport the recycled aluminum scrap to places outside of Europe. This applies to European countries. It is hard to accept the fact. In the view of the European scrap aluminum recycling industry, the production of related alloys using aluminum scrap is the first step in the European value chain.

Europe also needs to work harder on aluminum scrap processing applications

From an international perspective, the European scrap aluminum recycling industry is facing competition. When the competition takes place under different conditions, problems arise. The EU's environmental standards are higher than many other countries' environmental standards, which has caused aluminum in the European Union. There are still many countries' trade barriers and the trade barriers are still increasing.

Russia and Ukraine, which were once the source of important raw materials for the European aluminum scrap recycling industry, went to Russia in 2002 to increase taxes on exports of aluminum scrap, and Ukraine began to implement the ban on the export of aluminum scrap. The situation has suddenly undergone major changes, and some countries have Take advantage of the changes, such as China.

China’s aluminum prices are usually higher than the aluminum prices in the international market. The difference between the quotes between the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange can reach a maximum of US$500 per ton, so Chinese buyers can accept higher prices for aluminum scrap. As a result, aluminum scraps have flowed more to China and other places, and European refineries have been unable to obtain enough aluminum scrap.

For Europe, the issue that needs to be considered is the development and research of new applications for aluminum scrap. From the metallurgical point of view, pure aluminum cannot be separated from the aluminum alloy. Highly alloyed aluminum alloy casting scrap is not suitable for producing wrought alloys, which involves a decline in the grade of aluminum alloys. From the global perspective of the growth of demand for cast aluminum alloys, this decline in grade may lead to an excess supply of aluminum scrap. For example, if automobiles are mostly powered by electric motors, large amounts of cast aluminum scrap will be produced because of the internal combustion engine body and the car engine head. Its demand has decreased. Therefore, countermeasures must be taken to study the new application fields of aluminum scrap and whether the highly alloyed aluminum alloy can be used in general applications. If so, what approach? If selective separation is used as an indicator to develop sorting and processing technologies to achieve optimization, this may have economic value.

For the automotive industry and the construction industry, the aluminum recovery rate is high, but unlike the recycling potential of the packaging industry, there is little potential for further improvement of the aluminum recovery rate in the automotive industry and construction industry. Everyone is talking about electric cars. The impression of public advertising on people is not confirmed by reality. The waste aluminum recycling industry has to take electric vehicles as a sample and fully examine the possible impact on the waste aluminum recycling industry. Each car drive system now uses an average of 50 kg of aluminum. This includes cylinder heads, pistons, engine bodies, bases, auxiliary devices, and gearboxes. Every year in Europe, 14 million cars are produced using traditional technologies. If many cars are equipped with electric motors only, this will affect the use of about 700,000 tons of aluminum. However, when the development of power storage equipment still has technical and economic conflicts, it is still doubtful whether this situation will occur. However, in spite of this, at least casting aluminum alloy manufacturers should consider how to reduce their long-term reliance on automobiles, and study and develop the application of secondary aluminum alloys, which are now the primary aluminum alloys.

Also, the use of other machines, furniture, office accessories or electrical and electronic equipment is part of the source of aluminum scrap, but to a large extent these end markets do not know what the recovery rate is, the study conducted by the European Aluminum Association will collect these Aluminum flow data in the field and available aluminum recovery data, but should be based on the data obtained for analysis and collation to form a systematic study.