According to Thomas, such a capability would result in more flexibility for the recycler. Bringing More Value John Green, vice president of technology of The Aluminum Association, believes these technologies will give automotive companies an incentive to commit to aluminum for sheet applications by ensuring that recycling wrought aluminum into higher-value applications is feasible. Vehicles in North America today have about 250 pounds of aluminum, according to the Aluminum Association and other industry sources. However, mixing larger quantities of wrought alloy scrap with cast aluminum would result in lost value, he added, and could even cause compositional problems in castings. It's much easier to handle, you know what its chemistry is, and you can use it better than if you blend it into something else.
Segregated scrap is the only way of getting the scrap back into the same alloy.
It's also a way of preserving expensive alloying elements, such as magnesium, he added. Since processing recycled aluminum takes only 5 percent of the energy required to work from primary ingot, using recycled aluminum makes sense for automobiles, said Green. If and when that should happen, recycled wrought aluminum alloys could bring more value into those products.