Capral Aluminium, Australia’s largest extruder, and Tomago Aluminium, a major aluminum smelter in Australia, signed an agreement for a closed-loop recycling program. Under the agreement, Capral will supply approximately 550 tonnes of annual production scrap to Tomago for remelting, paving the way toward access to low carbon aluminum for Australian manufacturers.
“As far as we are aware this is the first commercial scrap arrangement for post-production scrap aluminum to be remelted in Australia and we are very excited to be working on this with the team at Tomago Aluminium,” said Luke Hawkins, general manager of Supply and Industrial Solutions at Capral.
More than 95% of Australia’s scrap aluminum is exported for recycling, with the major buyers being in South Korea and Indonesia. Other main markets include European countries and India. In 2020, Australian exporters reported 119,075 tonnes of aluminum were sent overseas, an increase of 25.13% on the previous year, according to the Australian Aluminium Council (AAC) report, “Recycling Market 2021.”
“Australian customers are demanding access to more sustainable aluminum and we need to make changes as an industry to respond to this,” said Hawkins. “For Capral, that means working in close partnership with our suppliers to ensure we have access to Australian aluminum with recycled content.”
Closing the Recycling Loop
Capral has six extrusion and aluminum products manufacturing facilities throughout Australia, producing aluminum profiles for a diverse range of industrial, manufacturing, and construction applications. Aluminum billet for these extrusion facilities is largely supplied by Tomago.
Through the new recycling agreement, production scrap from Capral’s Penrith extrusion plant in New South Wals (NSW) will be baled and sent to Tomago’s NSW facility to be remelted and added to new aluminum products, including billet.
“We are delighted to be able to close the loop for Capral and Tomago in a true ‘cradle to grave’ aluminum alloy supply and recycle arrangement,” said Matt Howell, CEO of Tomago. “Best off all, the product that is made in NSW is now recycled in NSW. With global supply chains experiencing significant disruption and carbon footprint an increasing consideration, these new arrangements do not require international shipping through already congested ports.”
While scrap aluminum has long been collected for recycling within Australia, aluminum smelters in the country have had limited capacity for safe and successful remelting — until recently. This is largely due to the risk of contamination from aluminum scrap that is either the wrong alloy or otherwise contaminated. Since Tomago is already a billet supplier to Capral, the alloy mix of the production scrap is already known, which is critical to the recycling process. “We’ve worked closely with Tomago to define this arrangement to ensure we provide scrap content that is of value to Tomago and able to be successfully and safely remelted,” explained Hawkins.
The Value of Recycling
Aluminum smelting is an energy intensive manufacturing process. Within Australia, aluminum production largely relies on carbon intensive coal-fired electricity to power the process. While Australian aluminum smelters are working hard to reduce the energy intensity of their process and utilize clean energy sources, these smelters currently use approximate 14% of the power produced by the national energy grid, according to the Australia Institute. For example, Tomago uses around 10% of the NSW power supply to produce 590,000 tonnes of aluminum per year.
By comparison, recycling aluminum requires up to 95% less energy than production from ore, avoiding emissions, including greenhouse gases. Therefore, recycling aluminum alloys at Tomago will require a tiny fraction of the energy required to produce primary aluminum.
In addition, the use of production scrap can provide other benefits for the smelter. “Often the raw aluminum from our potlines must be cooled from ~950 degrees to ~720 degrees to be processed through the cast products department,” explained Howell. He noted that having clean, dry extrusion scrap from Capral that can be mixed in is a perfect way to safely drop the temperature for casting.
“This is a critical and important step for Capral and Tomago Aluminium; let’s call it the first significant step towards developing local circularity for Capral,” stated Hawkins. “We are excited to embark on this journey with such a progressive and committed supplier and look forward to developing opportunities to build a local market for low carbon aluminum in Australia.”
In addition to recycling of aluminum, Tomago is also currently working with Capral to investigate the feasibility of reusing the timber dunnage (from pallets) that the scrap product is strapped to for transport.