Niche Technologies, Innovative Material

How reusing waste heat can take aluminium one step closer to becoming a greener industry

New waste heat recovery technologies can take the industry one step closer to achieving cleaner production methods. Aluminium is the second most highly produced metal and one of the most recycled commodities in the world. In some industries, over 90% of it is recycled and 75% of aluminium ever produced is still in circulation today. The production of aluminium leaves footprints on the environment that include acidification emissions. Recuperators, air preheaters or heat pumps are some of the alternatives they mention. heat pipes heat exchangers are the heart of the ETEKINA project, which aims to recover more than 40% of of accessible waste heat content in streams lost to atmosphere from energy intensive industries. The process requires such an intensive level of energy that, in the United States, it consumes approximately 5% of all the electricity generated in that country, according to the American Aluminium Association. Most of the processes use high temperatures, which means that a big share of this energy.