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Let us start with the life cycle of aluminium can. Metals
don't have life anyway. To make this passage interesting, let's assume that
metals are living things
Here in a processing unit, an aluminium-can is born. Meanwhile let me tell you
a fun fact, every 3 seconds, a human baby is born, in mean time 140 cans are
born! Alright here a new born aluminium can goes to the self of a beverage
store and ready to be sold. Someone purchases the beverage, enjoys it, and the
empty aluminium can is thrown in a recycle bin. This scrap
aluminium can is easily separated from other scrap and are taken for the
recycling process. There he is melted in a furnace, rolled into sheets in mills
and then new beverage can is made.
However this recycling process
completes within 60 days. So after 60 days, the old dead beverage can gets a
rebirth. He is back on the self again for business, yelling “I am back.” Yes
the fact is aluminium never wears out, it can be recycled forever. “Aluminium
never dies!” And the important fact about aluminium is that it never looses its
properties. So a scrap aluminium-can becomes a new one in 60 days, it’s “can to
can in 60 days”
Though this story is imaginary, the facts told about aluminium are true. That
is, the scrap aluminium-can can be recycled within 60 days and reused as a new
can without any loss in the metal properties. And aluminium can be recycled for
many number of times. So if anyone sees an aluminium-can lying in roadside, it
is not just a waste, but it is a living aluminium-can crying that “I am still
alive”. So “SAVE THEM!”
THE RECYCLING PROCESS
The recycling of Aluminium can is a simple four stage process.
1. Shredding- Aluminium cans which arrive in bales are shredded into pieces to
the size of a walnut in a shredder. The shredded pieces are then passed to a
magnetic separator to remove the impurities.
2. Decoating- Decoating is done to maximize energy efficiency. Lacquer from the
branded and decorated cans is removed by blowing hot air (around 500ºC) through
the shreds in a decoater, on a slowly-moving insulated conveyor.
3. Melting- The hot, shredded, decoated aluminium is fed into the furnaces and
melted. The furnaces have state of the art regenerative burners and a burner
management system to reduce the amount of energy used.
4. Casting- Ingots are cast by tilting the holding furnace and pouring the
molten metal- via a two-stage process to remove any remaining minute
non-metallic particles and gases - into a vertical casting unit. Chemical
composition and metal cleanliness are then tested on each cast. As the metal
flows into the mould, it is chilled by jets of cool water being pumped around
the mould, and a solidified outer shell is formed. The ingot solidifies
gradually during the casting process, which takes approximately three hours.
The ingots, which each contain around 1.6m used drinks cans, are then shipped
on to a mill for rolling into the sheet from which can makers subsequently
produce new cans.
Aluminum cans distinguish them as the most recycled and most recyclable
beverage container in the world. An awesome 105,784 cans are recycled every
minute nationwide. |
About the Author
About the Author:
More information on aluminium
scrap can be found at www.recycleinme.com
. You can also find daily aluminium
prices and charts at the fast growing scrap portal.
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