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Cooling slag increases recycling significantly
Stena Aluminium is working continually on upgrading its sustainability values in production. One of the innovations in recent years is the cooling of aluminium slag in the process. This allows us to reclaim an extra 1,000 tonnes of circular aluminium annually of the raw material we use.
Slag cooling is an excellent example of how we can create multiple sustainability values at the same time. It is not just more aluminium that is extracted from the recycled raw material. The process enables us to avoid a lot of long-distance waste transports to Germany.
The goal is to maximize the recycling of aluminium throughout the production process. The smelting process produces slag as a waste. The 700-degree hot slag still contains up to 10 percent aluminium previously lost when the slag cooled at a slower pace.
By cooling the aluminium slag quickly, the metals can be extracted through a separation process. In this way, it is possible to recycle approximately 1,000 tonnes more aluminium each year from the scrap raw material at the current production rate. As a bonus, we also recycle 450 tons of iron from the slag.
The slag cooling process is part of our vision of a product without any process waste and where we continually are creating new circular supply values for our industrial customers.
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