DJ Hydro Opens 50,000 Ton Aluminum Remelt Unit At German Plant

LONDON, Nov 13, 2009 (Dow Jones Commodities News Select via Comtex) -- NHYDY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY.OS) Friday opened a 50,000 metric ton a year aluminum remelt facility at its Alunorf plant in Neuss, Germany, raising the company's total German annual recycling capacity to 150,000 tons. The new EUR16.6 million recycling furnace processes scrap metal into high-quality aluminum Hydro said, and will help cut the company's carbon emissions. Recycling aluminum uses only 5% of the energy needed to produce primary aluminum, saving around 1 million tons of carbon dioxide compared with average European primary aluminum production. Alunorf is the world's biggest aluminum remelting and rolling facilities, and is a joint venture between Hydro and Novelis. The new unit improves the flexibility of the Alunorf plant and will create 25 new jobs, Hydro said.