Aluminum recycling is one of the most important tasks in the process of reusing waste, as well as Organic and inorganic garbage, because both are materials that are useful in almost everything that surrounds us, which causes gigantic pollution if they are not reused.
What happens when there is aluminum recycling?
The wonderful world of transformation where this material is converted into very diverse items that will fulfill a very important function in the life of man, goes through a remarkable process where it is melted with the intention of saving and spending less, taking into account that This process would arise through the electrolysis of alumina / Al2O3/ which occurs with the extraction of bauxite mine and then refine it very carefully.
Reused aluminum originates from the shavings of huge aluminum item manufacturing plants and plants, just like items found in our home or office, from soda pop containers, house building outlines, furniture, electrical links, bicycles, PCs and devices of various sizes and types.
El aluminum recycling it requires only 5% of the vitality it would take to create aluminum from the mine. Consequently, approximately 31% of all aluminum delivered from the United States comes from reused scrap.
It was a typical practice since the beginning of the XNUMXth century and it was used most of the time during the Second World War, so aluminum recycling is definitely not another pattern, because there has always been the Reusing.
It can be noted that only at the end of the year 1960 this process was a very minor task, arousing interest in a very remarkable way with the use of containers that came with products for various purposes, it was from then on that everything changed and gave way to the recycling of this portentous material.
Aluminum recycling process step by step
If you want to know how to recycle aluminum cans step by step, we show it here in a simple way:
collect aluminum
This is the initial phase in the process of reusing aluminum that is completed after saving in landfills or containers.
Move it to the reuse plant
It is completed in collection trucks, where the aluminum is isolated from different contaminating influences and deposits, scrubbed and then characterized and assembled into compacted squares.
aluminum solution
Through this procedure, it is sought in the plants that when melting the aluminum, it serves the purpose of making articles and a great diversity of items that are very useful for the home, companies, office and other centers that deserve it.
Advantages
El aluminum recycling for the most part it offers the favor of very good reserves and significant vitality, in any case, when the costs of collection, partitioning and reuse are considered. Likewise, they are used nationally due to the decrease in important capital to sponsor and transport the raw material.
The ecological benefits of reusing aluminum are also extraordinary. Only 5% of the carbon dioxide is created during the reuse process in contrast to the creation of aluminum from the raw material.
This being an even lower rate when the complete pattern of its extraction in the mine and its transport to the creation plant. Molding an aluminum container that is recycled requires 95% less vitality than would be expected from virgin materials.
Aluminum can recycling process
Now the question arises How is aluminum recycled? see this series of items that will allow you to do it in a well organized and complete way. If you want to do it with soft drinks that come in aluminum containers, they are generally reused in the following way:
- To perform the recycling aluminum cans, they are first isolated from strong residues normally using an electromagnetic separator.
- The containers are cut into small pieces of similar size to limit the volume and encourage handcrafted manufacturing by machines that work with the material.
- These parts are either synthetically or precision cleaned.
- These shards are made into large squares to limit the impact of oxidation when softened, as the aluminum surface oxidizes immediately when brought out into oxygen.
- The squares are stacked in high impact heaters and heated to 750°C ± 100°C to obtain molten aluminum.
- The slag and decomposed hydrogen are evacuated and degassed. Liquid aluminum rapidly separates hydrogen from water vapor and hydrocarbon contaminants.
- Tests are carried out for spectroscopic investigation that will depend on the final result that is sought, high virtue aluminum is added to the mixture to achieve satisfactory details for the amalgam.
- The 5 most used aluminum compounds are clearly 2024, 7075 aluminum, 1100, 6063 and 6061 aluminum.
- The high impact heater is opened, the liquid aluminum is removed and the procedure is repeated for another group of scrap.
- Depending on the last item, it may very well be cast into ingots, moldings, or bars as huge squares for subsequent coating, spraying, ejection, or transport in a liquid state to other assembly areas for handling.
Ingot production using reverberatory furnaces
Scrap aluminum is isolated in a range of classifications: alloyed aluminum, ferrous aluminum, clean aluminum. Depending on the details of the casting ingot required, the type of scrap to be used in the casting will depend.
Typically, the piece of metal is stacked in a reverberatory furnace (there are different strategies that are less prudent or increasingly risky) and dissolved to make what is considered a bathtub.
The liquid metal is checked using a spectroscope to determine what type of refinement the ultimate material is expected to create. After refining, the mix can be checked a few additional times to change the material to explicit indicators.
At the moment when the ideal amalgam is achieved, the heater is opened and dripped into ingot molds, through a cutting machine. The liquid material is allowed to cool, stack and be sold as aluminum ingot to different companies for reprocessing.
Secondary recycling of aluminum
The slag that is produced due to the essential creation of white aluminum and its optional reuse still contains a significant level of the metal that can be mechanically removed.
This process causes the aluminum to respond with water, thus discharging a gas mixture that incorporates hydrogen, acetylene and ammonia, which unexpectedly comes into contact with the air.
Contact with moist air induces the arrival of notable measures of ammonia gas. Despite these challenges, however, this waste has been used as filler for cement or asphalt concrete.
Fun facts about aluminum recycling
Aluminum is one of the three most used materials on the planet along with steel and iron. In addition, in general, it is usually one of the most problematic materials for us to reuse, since we imagine that due to its creation and what it seems it could not be used by reusing it.
However, this is wrong, aluminum is reused, not in the quantities we might want, however it is a progressive pattern that is taking off in numerous social orders, urban communities and networks around the world.
It is emphasized that aluminum recycling should not be done exclusively at a mechanical level with specific reuse devices, but doing it at home is also simple, you just have to put aside the containers, packaging, aluminum foil and the different things of this material that you find in your home, house, vehicle, school or university where you train.
The importance of reusing aluminum not only goes so far as to prevent aluminum from being left lying in the trash and decomposing for a considerable period of time or hundreds of years, but it also helps to lower the expense of extracting this material in the first place. .
Likewise, it is a material that does not lose properties after different forms of reuse. This implies for all intents and purposes that all of the aluminum used in the industry business is reused, regardless of how it is essentially not reused at the residential level.
Recycling of surplus aluminum
The additional aluminum in your unique creation is regularly called aluminum sparkles or aluminum sprinkles. In the same way, with the rest of the materials, it is also reused at a mechanical level as a result of isolating it from the contamination and garbage it may contain.
This procedure is often called optional reuse of aluminum, the item is collected, cleaned, packed and produced squares, finally softened in heaters at extremely high temperatures.
Documentaries about aluminum recycling
As you can see, the reuse of aluminum is something that we can do both from our home, office, school or university, with the aim that this material then jumps to the large production lines and is reused where it is cleaned, fixed, collected, crushed to finally dissolve and aluminum sheets can be made.
Due to this reuse, the carbon dioxide outputs are reduced to 95%, now you definitely know the main meaning of reusing this material. Like aluminum, it also happens with the reuse of batteries, where numerous metals are extracted and it is possible to reuse up to 96% of mercury, for example.
