| Aluminium Industry |
 Aluminium, whose chemical symbol as Al, can be produced from natural resource, i.e. bauxite, or from recycled scrap metal. The first process is called the primary production, and the latter secondary production. The application of aluminium is almost always in the form of alloy despite it being primary and secondary metal and the demand for aluminium alloy make no distinction as to the origin of the metal. Aluminium is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust and the most abundant metallic element. It never occurs as a free element in nature. Aluminium smelting as an industrial activity is the youngest and largest activity of the non-ferrous metal industry, as it began only about a century ago. Aluminium is a material with a wide range of applications, e.g. transport vehicles, construction, packaging industry, electronic production, household appliances, etc., and consequently the economic activities of these industrial sectors determine the overall demand for aluminium. In 1997, the EU aluminium industry directly represented a workforce of about 200.000 people and its annual turnover was 25 billion Euros. Primary aluminium: aluminium produced by the primary production process using alumina from bauxite. Aluminium oxide, also known as alumina, is the main component of bauxite, the principal ore of aluminium. Secondary aluminium: aluminium produced by the secondary production process using the old scrap and new scrap. Aluminium scrap: scrap comes from either post consumption products containing aluminium, i.e. old scrap, or from the dross during the production process, and cut offs during semi and final fabrication of products, new scrap. Scrap from semi product fabrication is mostly remelt on site, i.e. internal scrap, therefore is often not recorded in trade of scrap and also often considered as part of primary aluminium. For this reason, internal scrap is not discussed in this paper. Aluminium is mainly used as input material to other industries, its products can be distinguished by semi products, ingots, sheets, etc., and final products, window frame, beverage cans, etc. The consumption in this paper refers to the quantity of aluminium in final products. In order to produce one tonne of final product, the needed input of aluminium is often much more than one tonne (the source of off-cut new scrap). Therefore, in order to satisfy the aluminium final product consumption, the aluminium demanded and production are always higher in quantity. Aluminium is produced in both primary form from alumina (Al2O3) and secondary form from scraps. The aluminium industry as a whole consists of four subsectors each having their own distinguished characteristics, production processes, technologies, resources and energy demand: • bauxite mining • alumina refinery • primary aluminium smelting • scrap recycling and secondary aluminium refinery The status of the currently prevailing technologies of the industry are well developed and widely accepted. They are readily accessible to any new producers and are adaptable in various economic conditions. Alumina and aluminium production requires certain economies of scale and is a capital intensive industrial activity. While efficiency has been improving continuously, especially in primary aluminium production, there has been no technological revolution in the past decades. |
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