Spectro Alloys invests in upgrades

Spectro Alloys, a Rosemount, Minnesota-based aluminum recycler, says it will invest nearly $10 million in plant upgrades that include a new warehouse and new pollution0control equipment. The upgrades should be completed in early 2022, according to a news release from the company.

Founded in 1973, Spectro purchases a range of aluminum scrap, such as aluminum cast, sheet, extrusions, turnings, mixed low-copper clips (MLCC), rims and zorba. Spectro also purchases radiators, painted aluminum siding, twitch and tweak.

In 2015, Spectro installed a scrap sorting plant at its facility. The company also operates two reverberatory (reverb) furnaces and employs continuous casting, which allows it to constantly add scrap to the furnace while tapping out specification metal, a delacquering kiln to remove coatings from the aluminum scrap it processes, a shredding system and a rotary furnace it has been operating since November 2018.

Spectro Alloys says it will break ground this week on a new 70,000-square-foot building on its property near Highway 55 in Rosemount. The warehouse will reduce truck traffic in and out of the facility while streamlining the production, shipping and receiving processes for safety and efficiency, the company says. The building, which will be completed in the spring of 2022, will be optimized for solar power and will use process heat to reduce the company’s energy consumption. The project will include trees and native prairie landscaping. 

Spectro says it already has invested more than $3 million in equipment and baghouse upgrades that were completed in August to enhance its process automation and controls and expand the company’s environmental benefits. Baghouses are traditionally attached to furnaces within plant environments to capture and clean emissions. While these air filtration systems are standard for the recycling process, Spectro’s new equipment improves emissions control beyond industry standards, according to the company.

The baghouse upgrades are a result of a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and an administrative consent order related to alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. The order required Spectro to install a new baghouse to control emissions from the furnace, including the hearth; upgrade the dryer baghouse; install new capture hoods; and make additional improvements to the dryer closed vent system. The company also must increase emissions monitoring and make improvements to the facility’s operations, maintenance and monitoring plan. The consent agreement and final order also require Spectro Alloys Corporation to pay a $110,000 penalty to the federal government. 

Spectro Alloys provides recycled aluminum alloys to regional die casters and foundries, where it is made into new products for the automotive, power sports, home, turf and snow maintenance and other industries.  

*This article was updated Sept. 24, 2021, to add information about the administrative consent order related to alleged Clean Air Act violations.