China's aluminum processing urgently needs to make up the waste tank to optimize the cycle short board

In 2015, the production capacity of 3104 alloy strips for cans in the world reached 3,100 kt, while that in China was about 400 kt, accounting for 12.9% of world production. The content of reusable waste cans in foreign tank strips has reached 54%, while the waste content in China is zero, and the waste cans produced by Nobelis Aluminum in the United States in 2020 will reach 90%, which is truly optimized. In the cycle, if China does not construct waste recycling tanks to recycle recycled 3104 alloy slabs as quickly as possible, the waste content of the can strips produced in China by the year 2020 will still be zero, and the gap with foreign countries will increase.

Since 2010, almost all aluminum processing companies that can produce cans in foreign countries have established waste cans recycling and recycling workshops or centers. The largest project has produced 3,004 alloy flat ingots with a production capacity of 400kt/a, and six cans in China. None of the production plants have built such projects. Why are foreign companies building such projects in raging fire, and domestic construction has been quiet? A single can making alloy has been researched in foreign countries, and with initial success, EvercanTM (permanent can-making) alloy and EvercleTM (full-cycle) alloy have been introduced. Their circulating waste content is more than 90%. However, Chinese can material manufacturers have It is indifferent to this.

China's waste tank recycling rate is the highest in the world, which is greater than 99%. However, none of the used waste tanks has been fully utilized. Instead of generating 3104 alloys, they are used to produce castings, which is a waste of resources. Therefore, it is hoped that relevant departments will issue relevant policies and measures to guide and support the optimization of waste cans.

China's aluminum industry urgently needs to make up for waste cans to optimize the recycling of this short board.

America

The renewable cans industry in the Americas, with the exception of one enterprise, is concentrated in the United States.

United States: The United States is the world's largest producer of cans, the birthplace of all-aluminum cans, and the largest waste container recovery country, but its recovery rate is not the highest. The recovery rate in 2015 was nearly 70%. The recycling rate of American waste containers in 1972 was only 15%. The quality of cans has been declining year by year. It was approximately 68g/can in 1972, but it decreased to 12.8g/can in 2015 and 81.2% in 43 years.

The United States has created many world firsts in the aluminum cans: the largest amount of cans production, 1380kt in 2015, accounting for 45% of the world's total output; the amount of recycling is also the world's largest, accounting for about 40% of the total recycling volume, 2013 In the United States, the recovered amount is 781 kt, and the world is 1950 kt. The thickness of the used can material is the thinnest, the thinnest thickness is less than 0.25 mm, and the wall thickness of the can is less than 0.08 mm. The potential for thinning is no longer significant unless There is a major breakthrough in the composition of alloys and manufacturing processes; the proportion of used cans in cans ingredients has reached 75%; Novelis' original “EvercanTM” alloy is a landmark, and EvercanTM alloys that make 120Z (oz) beer cans 70% recovery tanks, while cans of aluminum thin strips have up to 90% recovery tank contents.

At present, the Red Hare Beer Company decided in April 2014 to use the "EvercanTM" alloy tank. The company is a micro beer company and one of the fastest growing companies in the United States. Advantages of using the new “EvercanTM” alloy to manufacture beer cans: The freshness of the wine can be guaranteed during the shelf life, and the shelf life is longer than other materials; it is easy to transport and carry; it contributes to environmental protection, energy conservation, and development of circular economy. There are about 400 small breweries in the United States, producing more than 1300 different brands of beer. They are potential users of the “EvercanTM” alloy tank. The “EvercanTM” alloy tank beer will be popular in North America, Europe, South America and Asia, and the production of this tank will be a multinational canning company SCC. Red Hare is the first company to use the "EvercanTM" alloy tank.

Element 13 Recycling Plant

The Element 13 Recycling Plant of Wes Metal Alloys is a well-known large-scale enterprise engaged in aluminum scrap recycling, aluminum production and equipment manufacturing in the United States. It is headquartered in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Alabama. 4 wholly-owned subsidiaries: Wise Alloys, which is engaged in the recovery of waste cans and cans, Wise Recycling, which is engaged in the recovery and recycling of aluminum scrap, and 2 equipment manufacturing and repairs. the company. Wisdom Alloys is the third largest manufacturer of aluminum cans in the United States and covers an area of ​​404,700 m2 (100 acres). It has two plants: an alloy factory and an Element 13 plant that was completed in 2012.

Element 13 Factory specializes in aluminum can melting and casting. It was originally built by Reynolds Metal Company in 1969 and was acquired by Weiss Group in 1999. In 2011, Weiss invested 25 million US dollars to rebuild and expand it. It was already in March 2012. Completed, covers an area of ​​300km2. Wiss alloy factory is an aluminum strip rolling mill that uses the 3104 alloy slab produced by the Element 13 plant to roll the cans, in addition to packaging aluminum foil. At present, the total production capacity is 430kt/a, of which cans are 270kt/a.

The original Element 13 plant has a packed waste tank crushing line, two stripping kiln, and six smelting and holding furnaces. The additional equipment for the expansion project includes: one 113t smelting furnace, one stripping kiln production line, and one waste crusher with a capacity of 36t/h. The capacity of the entire factory to dispose of waste canisters reached 14.6 billion/a. After this expansion and expansion, not only the production scale of the plant has been increased, but also the waste treatment and smelting-purification treatment have been improved, making the plant the second largest waste in the world after the recycling and regeneration center of Germany's Nachtester. Cans smelting and recycling enterprises.

The Wisdom Group has established a large network of waste aluminum scraps and transportation scraps in the United States through Wisdom Recycling. Its business outlets are mainly concentrated in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, and New Mexico. , Texas, Virginia, etc. Wise Recycling will pack the collected aluminum cans into Element 13 plants for smelting and casting into slabs, and then transport them to the alloy plant for rolling cans. Weiss has formed a complete recycling of waste cans - smelting foundry - rolling - can making - consumer - waste recycling tank recycling economy industrial chain. Waste tanks are equipped with balers on the acquisition vehicles.

The main equipment of the Element 13 plant is:

Hammer crusher

A hammer mill is located at the front of the pretreatment line and is used to crush the waste tank to reduce waste volume and facilitate later processing. This crusher is the largest one in the waste canning industry and is supplied by Magna Technology Engineering Co., USA, with a crushing capacity of 36.3t/h.

Air knife and magnetic separator

Air knife separators are used to separate and “wash out” all kinds of impurities in scrap aluminum scrap, such as heavy metals, stones, plastics, paper scraps, and the like. Waste aluminum scrap is transported by a vibrating feeder through a high-speed air knife (air curtain). Vibrating allows fine and heavier materials to drop first from the gap between the screens, through the air curtain, to the bottom of the transfer bed, aluminum and other lighter materials are blown to the separation hopper, and then through the high-speed running magnetic suspension The machine and belt magnetic separator separate ferromagnetic impurities in aluminum scrap. Both separators are produced by Adams Brothers Inc.

Paint kiln

The surface of waste cans has a layer of paint and printing paint, as well as water. The quality of paints and coatings accounts for about 2.5%. They must be easily removed before entering the smelting furnace. To this end, the Element 13 plant uses a delacquering kiln from Thorpe Techonologies Inc. The coating contains various organic contaminants (oil, paint, coating, ink, plastic, rubber, etc.). Drying and stripping temperature at 538 °C, but should not exceed 580 °C.

Melting furnace

The factory has a 113t dual-chamber smelting furnace, which is provided by the North American Construction Services company. The furnace has a side chamber, the waste is installed in this chamber, and is connected to one end of an aluminum melt pump. There are two mechanical pumps in the smelting chamber, which mixes the loaded cold waste with the aluminum melt to accelerate the melting of the aluminum melt. The pump accelerates the aluminum circulation and accelerates the heat exchange between the solid waste aluminum and the aluminum melt. In addition, it is necessary to add a certain amount of refining agent to the furnace.

The smelted aluminum melt is poured into a large crucible containing 18t of liquid aluminum through a launder. The crucible is placed in a groove in the aluminum pit, and then transported to a Weis alloy plant to form a 14t slab. material.

Environmental protection measures

Wessium Alloy's Element 13 plant has perfect environmental protection equipment, gas and solid waste materials can meet the most stringent requirements of the current environmental laws and regulations, the plant is equipped with modern air pollution control system to monitor the discharge of pollutants. Crusher, paint kiln, reflection smelting furnace have dust removal device. Weiss Metals has built a closed-loop system for recycling, recycling, and production of cans from scrap aluminum cans, which fully reflects the recycling value of recycling cans and the recycling benefits of resources.

Alcoa Tennessee Rolling Mill

Alcoa established an Alcoa Recycling Business Unit in September 2013. Under the unified leadership of the headquarters, it organized and coordinated the recycling and recycling of waste aluminum from its member companies. Efficient closed-loop circulatory system, especially the recycling of waste aluminum cans and aerospace aluminum alloy scrap. In 2012, Alcoa recycled 635 kt waste cans. The estimated recycling volume in 2015 was 650 kt. It has a history of recycling and utilization of this waste. Over a long period of time, it has accumulated a wealth of experience and has a proven set of technologies and processes. Its rolling mill in Tennessee is its largest rolling mill, and it is also the largest tank material manufacturer and recycler of waste cans. It is one of the first companies in the world to produce cans. The average waste content of the cans currently produced accounts for about 90% of the total waste. The company's packaging aluminum has been manufactured from cradle to cradle for many years, that is, closed loop.

Novelis Aluminum Corporation

Nobelis Aluminum is the largest flat rolled aluminum product company in the world and in the United States. It is also the largest recycling and recycling company for waste cans, and it is also leading the world trend in the research and development of remanufactured aluminum cans. In November 2014, Nobelis Aluminum announced that until the end of 2017, the company's can body tapes will all be produced from high-quality recyclable evercanTM alloys. This is the first time in the world that 12oz can be produced. (Oz, 1 oz = 28.35g) The standard beer tank has 70% regenerated aluminum, while the canned aluminum belt has 90% recycled aluminum, while the current worldwide production of can-making aluminum has an average recycled aluminum content of 50. %. From the end of fiscal year 2014, a group of can-making companies in the United States, such as Redha Beer Company, Redbrick Brewers, Southstream Brewing Co., Second Independent Brewers, and Hilton Brewing Co., have promised to use Everest. Can body (evercan) cans can body. The selection of the alloy body for the can body not only has significant environmental significance, but also has considerable economic benefits, and has significant energy saving and emission reduction effects. Novelis not only pioneered the development of the alloy body of the can in the world, but also launched its new everever end alloy in the global market in 2015.

In March 2015, Nobelis Aluminum stated that the newly developed evercycleTM alloy is an alloy with a high content of recycled metal. It is used in the manufacture of food cans and has been approved by can-making companies. It consists of 90% of old waste. (Spent waste tanks recovered from the society) and 10% new wastes (process waste from tank rolling mills and can makers) are smelted.

Alloy Resources Company Muskegon Recycling Plant

In July 2013, Alloy Resources Corp. built and produced an aluminum and zinc recycling plant in Muskegon, Missouri, to process slag, waste construction materials, automotive wheels, aluminum cans, extrusions, and kitchenware. , other wastes. The plant classifies, inspects, cleans and smelts all zinc and aluminum wastes. It has a modern reverberatory furnace, a degassing system, and a casting device. Its reclaimed metal production capacity is 41kt/a.

Brazil

Novelis Brazil is the largest producer of aluminum cans in South America. At the same time, it is also the largest recycling and recycling enterprise for waste cans, forming the most complete circular economy industrial chain.

In 2014, the growth rate of Brazilian cans was 4%, and Brazil’s economic rate was 6% to 9%, making Brazil one of the fastest growing economies in the world. In 2013, the sales volume of Brazilian all-aluminum cans was 21.5 billion. In order to meet the demand for aluminum growth by the year 2025, the company’s decision to invest US$340 million was completed in 2014. The production capacity of thin strips has been From 400 kt/a to 600 kt/a, the recovery capacity of used cans has also increased accordingly. This is the largest investment made by Novelis in South America and its recovery capacity has increased from 200 kt/a to 390 kt/a.

Despite the pressure on Brazil’s domestic political situation, severe droughts in the early years and rising hydropower prices, a report published in November 2014 stated that the recovery rate of used cans in Brazil is still as high as 98%, which is only higher than 99% in China. The price of water and electricity reached a peak of US$350/mWh in February 2014, but it dropped to US$165/mWh later, but it is still much higher than the global average price. At the same time, labor costs are rising and taxes are rising. Nevertheless, the old The recycling rate of cans is still the highest in the world. At the same time, the aluminum consumption rate is increasing by two digits, and the consumption of extruded aluminum is also rising.