Hydro lifts recycling capacity with new center

2009-11-13

Hydro inaugurated its new 50,000-tonne remelting facility at the part-owned Alunorf plant in Neuss, Germany. This brings Hydro's total recycling capacity in Germany to 150,000 metric tonnes of high-quality aluminium and helps to reduce carbon emissions.

The new furnace is the third in three years that has been built as part of the new recycling center at Alunorf, the world's largest aluminium remelting and rolling facility, which is a 50/50 joint venture between Hydro and Novelis, the aluminium rolling group.

Hydro, Europe's leading integrated aluminium company, is owner of the global aluminium building systems brand Wicona.

Christa Thoben (pictured), Minister for Economy, Medium-Sized Businesses and Energy of Germany's largest state Northrhine-Westphalia, lauded Hydro and Alunorf for their contributions to climate protection and economic strength of the region. Thoben officially inaugurated the twin-chamber furnace together with Hydro's Oliver Bell.

As recycling only requires some 5 percent of the energy needed to produce primary aluminium, the new capacities amount to annual C02 savings of more than 1 million tonnes compared to the average European primary aluminium.

The new facility, which represents an €16.6 million Euro investment, also saves energy by burning lacquer, as attached to the scrap metal, and directly using the emerging gas to power the remelting process.

The center stands out with numerous environmental features, such as a regenerative combustion system, most modern cleaning of exhaust gas, the complete re-utilization of process remains, and indoor scrap handling.

"Aluminium is serving society and the environment in many applications, and by recycling, can be used anew, again and again," says Bell. "Thus it is renewable energy in solid form."