Hydro unveils more capacity at Alunorf

Archiv – Germany / Norway | Europe’s leading aluminium company Hydro has opened a new 50 000-tonne remelting facility at its Alunorf plant in Neuss, bringing its annual recycling capacity in Germany to 150 000 tonnes. Germany / Norway | Europe’s leading aluminium company Hydro has opened a new 50 000-tonne remelting facility at its Alunorf plant in Neuss, bringing its annual recycling capacity in Germany to 150 000 tonnes.
The third furnace in three years has been built as part of a new recycling centre at Alunorf, the world’s largest aluminium remelting and rolling facility which represents a 50/50 joint venture between Hydro and US aluminium rolling group Novelis. Hydro says the Euro 16.6 million investment makes the Alunorf plant more versatile and viable, adding recycling to the portfolio of activities focused on sheet ingot casting for subsequent hot and cold rolling.
Christa Thoben, Minister for Economy, Medium-Sized Businesses and Energy for Germany’s largest state of North Rhine-Westphalia, lauded Hydro and Alunorf for their contributions to climate protection and to the economic strength of the region when officially inaugurating the twin-chamber furnace. Hydro’s Executive Vice President Oliver Bell said at the opening ceremony: ’Aluminium is serving society and the environment in many applications, and by recycling, can be used anew, again and again. Thus, it is renewable energy in solid form. Consequently, politics should support recycling, similar to renewable energies.’
The recycling centre at Alunorf comprises two halls covering more than 5600 square metres. The state-of-the-art facility saves energy also by burning the lacquer on the scrap metal and by direct use of emerging gas to power the remelting process.