The specific process of Aluminum recycling mainly includes the following steps:
1. Collection
Discarded aluminum products are collected through various channels, such as homes, businesses, industrial sites, etc. Common ones include aluminum beverage cans, food packaging, building materials, auto parts, etc. The collection method can be that residents classify the waste and put it in designated recycling points, or a special recycling company can collect it on site, or recycling containers can be set up in some public places for unified collection.
2. Classification
The collected aluminum products will be transported to the recycling plant for classification. This is because different types of aluminum products may have different compositions and properties, and need to be sorted and processed to improve recycling efficiency and quality.
3. Pretreatment
The sorted aluminum products need to be pretreated to remove surface impurities such as oil, paint, labels, etc. Common methods include mechanical cleaning, chemical cleaning, etc. For some larger aluminum products, crushing, shearing and other treatments are also required to reduce them to smaller sizes for subsequent smelting.
4. Smelting
The pretreated aluminum waste is put into the furnace for smelting. At high temperatures, the aluminum waste melts into liquid aluminum. In order to reduce the smelting temperature and improve the smelting efficiency, some flux is usually added. At the same time, some gas is introduced during the smelting process to remove impurities and gases in the aluminum liquid and improve the purity of the aluminum.
5. Refining
The aluminum liquid after smelting may still contain some trace impurities and needs to be refined. There are many refining methods, such as refining with chemical agents, or further removing impurities through physical methods such as filtration to obtain higher purity aluminum.
Casting: The refined aluminum liquid is cast into different shapes as needed, such as aluminum ingots, aluminum bars, aluminum plates, etc. These recycled aluminum products can be re-invested in various industrial productions to manufacture new aluminum products.