Hammerer Aluminium Industries (HAI), headquartered in Austria, is investing €4.5 million euros in a third melting furnace for recycling aluminum, which will be integrated into its existing casthouse at its facility in Santana, Romania. This will provide the company with increased capacity, enabling it to react to increased demand for lightweight aluminum construction products.
Supplied by Hertwich Engineering, the new ECOMELT-PR120 multi-chamber furnace will have a capacity of up to 130 tons per day — providing an annual capacity of 250,000 tons. The furnace has been designed to process various grades of scrap, even those with high contaminants. Prior to melting, the scrap is preheated by an intensive stream of hot gas for around 30 minutes to a temperature of around 500°C. As a result, the system features an unusually high-quality metal yield, because oxidation losses are avoided.
In addition to achieving a high metal yield, the furnace ensures low energy consumption. During the preheating stage, organic compounds and contaminants on the metal are converted into flammable pyrolysis gases, which are used to support the main chamber’s heating system. This allows the furnace to operate in an extremely energy-saving manner, while saving resources, such as gas as a fuel. As a result, up to 70% of the energy otherwise provided from natural gas can be replaced.
HAI serves the entire value chain, from casting to extrusion, to fabrication, and pursues an ambitious sustainability strategy throughout its operations — and the new furnace further contributes to this strategy. “Customers and investors demand a real transformation towards sustainable economic activities, both ecologically and socially,” said Rob van Gils, CEO of HAI. “The topics CO2 emissions and recycling economy will continue to gain importance. With a recycling rate of up to 80%, our company is a pioneer in the aluminum industry. We are highly motivated to press ahead with these processes.”
The new new furnace will go into operation at the beginning of 2022.
