Investigation on Resource-Efficient Aluminium Recycling – A State of the Art Review

Abstract

Recycling is an important area to improve to reduce negative impact on the environment. With increased material recovery, less virgin materials are needed to provide the same benefits for the society. Aluminium is an important metal in the efforts to reduce negative climate impact. Demand for wrought aluminium will heavily increase with electrification of vehicles. However, with today’s recycling, contamination of aluminium alloys results in significant losses where wrought aluminium products are downcycled to cast aluminium with lower value and performance. This paper review the state of the art of aluminium recycling and investigate the current knowledge on the recyclability of current important aluminium alloys and their alloying elements. Future implementations and research are explored to find possible road maps for a sustainable circular economy of aluminium products. The findings indicate that closed-loop recycling trough better developed sorting and separation processes are one of the primary improvement directions. Also, improve utilization of the alloys and their alloying elements in the making of new aluminium alloys.