Hydro, MIT Jointly Developing Program to Boost Aluminum Recycling

 Recycling Today Jan 24--Hydro has entered into an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology （MIT） to develop modeling and analyzes to optimize the recycling of aluminum.

Hydro operates 19 plants that remelt aluminum throughout the world. The company notes that at many of their facilities the company is focused on recycling, in addition to the remelting of process scrap. In 2010, Hydro remelted more than 1 million metric tons of aluminum. Of that amount, more than one-fourth came from post-consumer sources.

Going forward, the company’s strategy is to increase its post-consumer consumption tonnage to 1 million metric tons per year by 2020.

To accomplish this, Hydro has announced plans to build a recycling center in Karm?y, in western Norway. The company notes that using recycled aluminum requires just 5 percent of the energy needed to produce primary aluminum.

In addition, the sources of aluminum for recycling are near Hydro’s remelting plants, making for efficient transport – and giving rise to the phase “urban mining.”

“Recycling as effectively and profitability as possible can be a new, important competitive advantage for Hydro as an integrated aluminum company,” says Hans Ole Riddervold, a researcher for Hydro.

“Post-consumer material comes from many different sources, consists of a number of different alloys, and the composition of scrap varies over time. The question is: How can we plan and handle this as effectively and profitability as possible?”， Riddervold says.

To answer that question, Hydro is working with MIT on a research project that is a continuation of a 20-year-long history of cooperation between the company and the university.

Says Helge Jansen, head of R&D in Hydro’s Extruded Products business: “We have a lot of faith in this project. Among other things, we want to find how problems, in the form of various alloys, can be turned into advantages in the handling of recycled materials.”

The big variations in various alloys is at first glance a challenge. At the same time, alloy components, such as silicon, have considerable value if we are able to extract them effectively.