At a time of great change in global recycling, family owned businesses continue to invest. German family owned conglomerate, Trimet Aluminium, has invested in the modernisation of two of its recycling plants at Gelsenkirchen and Harzgerode to boost its annual aluminium production. The recycling investment program, believed to be several million Euros, will boost Trimet’s annual aluminium production, which currently includes more than 200,000 tonnes of recycled metal.
A company spokesman said that, “Recycling is becoming increasingly important, especially in view of new application fields and the increasing demand for aluminium. The upgrade will maximise productivity in a sustainable way”.
The new investment will embrace both new technical equipment and environmental protection measures. “You don’t get ‘off-the-shelf’ products from us, but custom-made alloys”. a spokeman said.
In the Gelsenkirchen plant, Trimet is installing a new rotary drum furnace that is expected to be in operation by the end of the year. With a capacity of around 40 tonnes, it will replace two existing furnaces. The new burner technology reduces the furnace’s energy requirements by 15% while increasing the proportion of recovered metal. The ‘intelligent loading technology’ enables quicker filling, increasing the quantity of material through the melting process.
The Hazergerode recycling site is about to unveil a new hearth shaft furnace that also features new and innovative burner technology. The furnace, with a melting capacity of three tonnes per hour, is said to be more productive and require less power than the previous generation.
Like Trimet, Recycal and is sister company CMA Ecocycle continue to invest in a range of recycling businesses and has invested over $20 million in their Tasmanian operation to ensure the most up to date treatment and processing of Copper, Zinc, Lead and Aluminium bearing metals, as well as processing and recovery of metal solids from various metals waste streams.
