Aluminum Recycling and Processing for Energy Conservation and Sustainability
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ALUMINUM RECYCLING AND PROCESSING FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY JOHN A.S. GREEN EDITOR ASM International® Materials Park, Ohio 44073-0002 www.asminternational.org Copyright © 2007 by ASM International® All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright owner. First printing, December 2007 Great care is taken in the compilation and production of this book, but it should be made clear that NO WAR- RANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE GIVEN IN CONNECTION WITH THIS PUBLICATION. Although this information is believed to be accurate by ASM, ASM cannot guaran- tee that favorable results will be obtained from the use of this publication alone. This publication is intended for use by persons having technical skill, at their sole discretion and risk. Since the conditions of product or material use are outside of ASM’s control, ASM assumes no liability or obligation in connection with any use of this informa- tion. No claim of any kind, whether as to products or information in this publication, and whether or not based on negligence, shall be greater in amount than the purchase price of this product or publication in respect of which damages are claimed. THE REMEDY HEREBY PROVIDED SHALL BE THE EXCLUSIVE AND SOLE REM- EDY OF BUYER, AND IN NO EVENT SHALL EITHER PARTY BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHETHER OR NOT CAUSED BY OR RESULTING FROM THE NEGLI- GENCE OF SUCH PARTY. As with any material, evaluation of the material under end-use conditions prior to specification is essential. Therefore, specific testing under actual conditions is recommended. Nothing contained in this book shall be construed as a grant of any right of manufacture, sale, use, or repro- duction, in connection with any method, process, apparatus, product, composition, or system, whether or not covered by letters patent, copyright, or trademark, and nothing contained in this book shall be construed as a defense against any alleged infringement of letters patent, copyright, or trademark, or as a defense against liability for such infringement. Comments, criticisms, and suggestions are invited, and should be forwarded to ASM International. Prepared under the direction of the Aluminum Advisory Group (2006–2007), John Green, Chair. ASM International staff who worked on this project include Scott Henry, Senior Manager of Product and Service Development; Steven R. Lampman , Editor; Ann Briton, Editorial Assistant; Bonnie Sanders, Manager of Pro- duction; Madrid Tramble, Senior Production Coordinator; Patti Conti, Production Coordinator; and Kathryn Muldoon, Production Assistant. Library of Congress Control Number: 2007932444 ISBN-13: 978-0-87170-859-5 ISBN-10: 0-87170-859-0 SAN: 204-7586 ASM International® Materials Park, OH 44073-0002 www.asminternational.org Printed in the United States of America Contents Preface....................................................................................................................vii Chapter 1 Life-Cycle Engineering and Design ......................................................1 Life-Cycle Analysis Process Steps . 2 Application of Life-Cycle Analysis Results . 5 Case History: LCA of an Automobile Fender . 7 Chapter 2 Sustainability—The Materials Role ....................................................15 Some History . 17 The Materials Role in Industrial Ecology . 19 The U.S. Government Role—Organizational . 23 The U.S. Government Role—Technical . 24 The Role of Professional Societies . 28 Summary and Recommendations . 29 Chapter 3 Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis of the North American Aluminum Industry ................................................................................................33 Life-Cycle Inventory Methodology . 35 Inventory Analysis . 40 Primary Aluminum Unit Processes . 46 Secondary Aluminum Processing . 51 Manufacturing Unit Processes . 53 Results by Product System . 56 Interpretation of LCI Results . 60 Chapter 4 Life-Cycle Assessment of Aluminum: Inventory Data for the Worldwide Primary Aluminum Industry ............................................67 Data Coverage, Reporting, and Interpretation . 67 Data Quality . 68 Unit Processes and Results by Process . 73 Aluminum Life-Cycle Assessment with Regard to Recycling Issues . 83 Chapter 5 Sustainable Development for the Aluminum Industry ........................91 Recycling . 92 Perfluorocarbon Emissions . 94 Fluoride Emissions . 95 Energy Efficiency . 97 Aluminum in Transportation . 99 Natural Resources . 101 Chapter 6 Material Flow Modeling of Aluminum for Sustainability ..................103 Modeling . 103 Key Results . 105 Chapter 7 Recycling of Aluminum ....................................................................109 Industry and Recycling Trends . 110 Recyclability of Aluminum . 114 The Recycling Loop . 115 Technological Aspects of Aluminum Recycling . 116 Process Developments for Remelting . 118 Developing Scrap Streams . 119 Can Recycling Technology . 122 Automobile Scrap Recycling Technology . 125 Building and Construction Recycling . 128 Aluminum Foil Recycling . 128 Impurity Control . 129 Molten Metal Handling and Safety . 130 Chapter 8 Identification and Sorting of Wrought Aluminum Alloys ..................135 Sources of Aluminum Raw Material for Alloy Sorting . 136 Improving Recovery for Wrought and Cast Fractions . 136 Pilot Processes for Improved Wrought Recovery . 139 Chapter 9 Emerging Trends in Aluminum Recycling ..........................................147 Objectives and Challenges . 148 The Nature of Recycled Metal . 148 Recycling Aluminum Aerospace Alloys . 150 Alloys Designed for Recycling . 152 Developing Recycling-Friendly Compositions . 153 Conclusions and Looking Ahead . 154 Chapter 10 U.S. Energy Requirements for Aluminum Production: Historical Perspective, Theoretical Limits and New Opportunities ......................................157 Summary . 158 Aluminum Production and Energy Consumption . 160 Methodology, Metrics, and Benchmarks . 164 Aluminum Production . 168 Primary Aluminum Raw Materials . 171 Primary Aluminum Production . 178 Advanced Hall-Heroult Cells . 191 Alternative Primary Aluminum Processes . 197 Secondary Aluminum (Recycling) . 204 Aluminum Processing . 208 iv Appendixes ..........................................................................................................223 Appendix A Energy Intensity of Materials Produced in the United States . 223 Appendix B Energy Values for Energy Sources and Materials . 225 Appendix C Hydroelectric Distribution and Electrical Energy Values . 229 Appendix D Emission Data and Calculations . 231 Appendix E U.S. Energy Use by Aluminum Processing Area . 237 Appendix F Theoretical Energy Data and Calculations . 245 Appendix G Aluminum Heat Capacity and Heat of Fusion Data . 251 Appendix H Impact of Using Different Technologies on Energy Requirements for Producing Aluminum . ..