All in on decarbonization

A session at Scrap Expo, Sept. 17-18 in Louisville, Kentucky, explored recent investments in recycled-content aluminum production and their effects on recovered aluminum demand.

“Decarbonization is everything in the market now,” said moderator Greg Wittbecker, president of Florida-based Wittsend Commodity Advisors. He added that the decarbonization trend is here to stay and will only get more attention from the ultimate consumers in the market.

He mentioned that further sorting zorba, the shredded mixed aluminum grade, is the “holy grail” that could help to meet growing demand. While the technology that has been developed works, it’s not that fast, Wittbecker said.

Matt Meyer, nonferrous commercial manager at David J. Joseph Co., Cincinnati, said, “A lot of people are chasing that mouse trap.”

“We need to be careful that we protect scrap, or we will see the bankruptcy of some companies in the future.” – Beatriz Landa, vice president, metal procurement and recycling, Novelis North America

Atlanta-based Novelis is one such firm.

The company is constructing a $2.5 billion, 600,000 ton-per-year recycling and rolling plant in Bay Minette, Alabama, that it broke ground on in 2022

Beatriz Landa, vice president, metal procurement and recycling, Novelis North America, said two-thirds of the coil produced at the site will be for the can market, with the remainder going to automotive, construction and some niche markets.

“We will be selling commercial coil by the end of 2026,” she said, noting that the site’s volume largely is contracted. “Now, it’s a matter of executing.”

She said a deficit exists between scrap supply and demand, which the company is trying to address through technology and partnerships.

Novelis has invested in and partnered with Markel, Indiana-based Sortera Technologies, which has developed artificial intelligence, image/data analytics and advanced sensors for sorting scrap metal.

The company is sorting mixed clips with Sortera, Landa said, and the technology is performing well, segregating 5000-series aluminum from 6000-series.

“We are pretty much there with the cast,” she added, acknowledging that economic viability remains an issue.

In other partnerships, Owl’s Head Alloys, Bowling Green, Kentucky, has been awarded a long-term agreement to provide services to the Steel Dynamics Inc. aluminum rolling mill, Aluminum Dynamics LLC, Columbus, Mississippi.

Owl’s Head provides tolling services, melting aluminum products and byproducts into sow, ingot or molten form.

Owl’s Head President Mike Boyle said its new site in West Point, Mississippi, will support Aluminum Dynamics by providing 450 million pounds of processed metal per year by processing the scrap Aluminum Dynamics can’t handle and its dross. The plant is expected to start up in late November or early December.

When Wittbecker raised the possibility of whether the U.S. government could ban scrap exports, Landa said, “We need to be careful that we protect scrap, or we will see the bankruptcy of some companies in the future.”