Hydro is up and running in Hungary

Norway-based Norsk Hydro says it has started production at a recycled-content aluminum production facility in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, designed to supply metal to Europe’s automotive industry and other sectors.

Hydro says at the outset the Hungarian plant will convert about 15,000 metric tons of postconsumer scrap annually into new metal, “increasing over the years to come in line with the growing customer demand for recycled, postconsumer aluminum.” The plant’s total aluminum output is estimated at 90,000 metric tons.

“Our most ambitious customers in key industries like the automotive industry are pushing demand for low-carbon and recycled aluminum upwards,” says Hydro President and CEO Eivind Kallevik.

Kallevik adds, “To serve this growing market and strengthen Hydro’s position as the leading provider of low-carbon and recycled aluminum solutions in Europe, we are set to grow our capacity for aluminum recycling towards 2030. This plant will strengthen Hydro’s capacity to provide our customers with advanced components in recycled aluminum.”

The new production facility has been built next to Hydro’s aluminum extrusion plant in Szekesfehervar, which the company refers to as “the most advanced of its kind in Europe, with six presses and extensive fabrication and surface treatment capabilities.”

Production scrap from that facility will “go right back into the melting furnace in the new recycling plant,” Hydro says.

“Our customers are not only asking for recycled and low-carbon aluminum, they also need us to recycle their process scrap, so we can create closed loops,” says Paul Warton, executive vice president of Hydro Extrusions. “With our new and modern recycling facility in Hungary, we are now able to offer that.”

Regarding construction and installation at the site, Warton says, “The project team has worked extremely hard since we announced the investment decision in December 2021. They have kept the highest quality and safety standards, so they should be proud.”

A new extrusion press for automotive products also is being installed at the Szekesfehervar plant and is also planned to start production next year.

Hydro says its recycling network now consists of 34 facilities in Europe, North America and South America with a combined capacity of more than 2.3 million metric tons of aluminum production annually.

The company’s recent investments in North America include a 120,000 metric tons per year facility in Michigan and the deployment of new technology in Kentucky.

In Europe, Hydro says it plans to build a greenfield aluminum recycling plant in Spain that will add another 120,000 metric tons of capacity to its recycled-content metal network.