Aluminum Integrated Minimill to Transform Aluminum Processing
By MPI February 10, 2014
Energy Research Company and wTe Corporation (members of the Center for Resource Recovery&Recycling (CR3)) along with Materials Strategies LLC have won an award from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program to develop an Aluminum Integrated Minimill (AIM). AIM will use 100% mixed aluminum scrap as the input to produce a specification cast product in a single facility, using an integrated process that requires only a single melt. The key benefits of using AIM over current recycling methods are:
- Low-value mixed-scrap is used as the feedstock thereby retaining a U.S. resource.
- Reduces scrap-to-product energy by 84%, saving the aluminum recycling industry 9.8 billion kWh yearly.
- Reduces carbon dioxide emissions industry-wide by 2.7 million tonnes/year.
- Saves the U.S. aluminum recycling industry $1.1 billion yearly through a combination of energy savings, increased metal yield, and use of lower-cost materials.
ACRC member Mercury Marine (along with Victaulic and Hatch) is partnering with AIM for the beta trials and commercial scale-up.
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