The metal producer says its Astraea process can convert Zorba into high-purity aluminum.

Alcoa Corp., a Pittsburgh-based aluminum producer, said its new patented Astraea metal purification process has been developed to convert shredded aluminum scrap into high-purity aluminum. "This process can create a whole new value chain to economically produce aluminum with a purity far exceeding commercial grade aluminum produced by smelters," the company said.

Alcoa stated that the Astraea process can "purify any post-consumer aluminum scrap to a purity level of P0101, which exceeds the purity of P1020 aluminum produced by any commercial smelter." The company said, "There is a large supply of aluminum scrap due to its impurity mix , Can only be used for limited applications" and take the shredded zorba grade as an example.

According to Alcoa, the name P1020 stands for aluminum, which contains 0.1% silicon and 0.2% iron. With few exceptions, most smelters have the technical capacity to produce the most P0404, depending on how they deploy the technology. The company added that there are two currently available solutions on the market that can convert P0610 or P1020 to a higher level.

However, Alcoa stated that its Astraea process “will create a powerful solution that can treat any post-consumer aluminum scrap, regardless of alloy combination, and beneficiate it to P0101. Then, this ultra-pure metal can be compared with purity The low waste mix produces metals that meet the purity threshold, which greatly improves the supply of post-consumer waste that can be used as raw materials. For most rolling mill and extrusion applications, including aerospace applications, the purity is high enough."

Regarding zorba, Alcoa stated that because “the industry cannot remove trace metals from these scraps, most of the metals are used to make gasoline-powered car engine blocks, which can tolerate lower purity scrap as raw materials. However, Because of the growth of electric vehicles, the market is slowly shrinking, which requires higher purity aluminum for engines and other components."

The company continued, “Today, there is no commercially available process to [upgrade zorba] to a purity suitable for most rolling or extrusion applications. Alcoa’s Astraea process is the first and only one that can purify this low Value scrap technology."

The U.S.-based company stated that zorba produced in the U.S. is “frequently shipped in large quantities to Asia. The U.S. alone produces approximately 4 million tons of zorba each year, of which approximately 1.3 million tons are shipped to Asia.”

Alcoa cited the carbon emission reduction mix using the Astraea process. "According to the International Aluminum Association (IAI), by 2030, the industry needs to increase the post-consumer waste recovery rate by 55% from 2018 levels to achieve the decarbonization of the industry in the 1.5 degree scenario outlined in the Paris Agreement Goals. Alcoa’s patented technology can help achieve these waste recycling goals."

Astraea is one of the three concepts introduced by Alcoa in its November Investor Day technology roadmap presentation. The presentation can be downloaded from this web page.

"Our technology roadmap represents a series of next-generation solutions that can significantly reduce emissions throughout the upstream value chain while creating considerable value for shareholders," said Alcoa President and CEO Roy Harvey.

"Alcoa developed the aluminum industry more than 135 years ago. This innovative tradition has inspired us to create a better future for tomorrow-we are using our products, processes, and people to realize our vision of reshaping the aluminum industry, a sustainable Future,” Harvey added.

The plastic shower dispenser is made of PP recycled from the American Stadium.

EC30, the home and personal cleaning product line of Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, launched its first product-shower dispenser-made of recycled polypropylene (PP) supplied by PureCycle in Orlando, Florida. Ton

Mike Otworth, CEO of PureCycle, said: “There is no doubt that consumers want companies to provide sustainable products, but more importantly, ecologically-driven customers want real sustainable development, not corporate greening. We are at PureCycle What we create is not just a plastic that can be infinitely sustainable. In creating sustainable products that put our environment first, we are providing brands with a thoughtful and sincere opportunity."

David Brenner, Chief Commercial Officer of PureCycle, said: "PureCycled products available for purchase are another step in our journey, bringing us one step closer to our goal of creating a pure planet. EC30 is our first launch. The perfect partner for the product, because they also focus on providing a truly sustainable product with a minimal carbon footprint. This product is the first of many examples of products we think is being tested, and these products prove that our resins can provide excellent Aesthetics and mechanical properties not only meet sustainable development goals, but also satisfy consumers."

The product of EC30 is a swatch made of woven fibers, and the chemical substance in it contains a liquid product spun into soluble fiber. EC30 uses Procter & Gamble's patented technology, compared with traditional liquid cleaning products, carbon dioxide emissions generated during manufacturing, chemistry and transportation can be reduced by up to 50%. When it comes to emissions that the EC30 cannot reduce, the brand invests in proven forest restoration to offset its direct carbon emissions.

PureCycle Technologies LLC, a subsidiary of PureCycle Technologies Inc., holds a global license to commercialize the patented solvent-based recycling technology developed by P&G. Proprietary processes can remove colors, odors and other contaminants from recycled raw materials to produce "ultra-pure" PP suitable for any application.

This is the second year the company has received this rating, and it ranks in the top 1% of the 75,000 companies evaluated by EcoVadis.

Ineos Styrolution, based in Frankfurt, Germany, has received a platinum rating from EcoVadis, a business standards provider, for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. This is the second year the company has won this honor.

According to Ineos' press release, EcoVadis evaluates the company from four aspects: environment, human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. Ineos Styrolution said that its total score in these four categories is 77 points (out of 100 points), which is an increase from last year's 75 points. 

The increase in the score reflects the company's efforts to shift to circular solutions to reduce its carbon footprint and minimize plastic waste throughout the value chain. This year's external audit of Ineos Styrolene's CSR plan and report also helped improve scores. Ineos Styrolution’s structured sustainability approach, practical actions and transparent sustainability reports have been recognized by EcoVadis. 

"We are very happy to receive the second platinum rating, which confirms that we are on the right track," said Ineos CEO Steve Harrington. "EcoVadis is increasing their requirements every year, and we are very happy to keep up with this pace because we have improved the sustainability of our operations and products year by year. This comprehensive evaluation and rating will enable our customers to Sustainability work is benchmarked and tracked, and provides direction for our future development work." 

EcoVadis' sustainability assessment is based on leading international sustainability standards, such as the United Nations Global Compact, Global Reporting Initiative, ISO 26000 and CERES principles. The EcoVadis evaluation process and methods are supervised by the International Scientific Committee.

Ineos Styrolution stated that due to its responsible business performance, it had previously received the EcoVadis Gold rating in 2018 and 2019, which was the highest EcoVadis ranking at the time. The company received a platinum rating in 2020, a new rating launched by EcoVadis that year.

The facility will recycle end-of-life vehicles and electric vehicle batteries.

Chiho Environmental Group, headquartered in Hong Kong, plans to build a recycling facility in Taizhou, China. The company plans to invest 243 million yuan (38 million U.S. dollars) to build a 100-acre recycling plant in Taizhou to recycle waste products, end-of-life vehicles (ELV) and electric vehicle (EV) batteries, mainly through internal resource financing.

According to a press release from Chiho Environmental Group, the plant will process approximately 50,000 ELV and 10,000 tons of electric vehicle batteries at the plant.

Chiho Environmental Protection Group reported that China's car ownership has been increasing in recent years, and more cars need to be properly recycled to enhance the circular economy model. However, the proportion of cars recycled in China is still lower than the recycling rates of many other developed countries. Therefore, the Chiho Environmental Group stated that it sees "a huge direct and long-term opportunity" for the group and this new facility.

Chihe Environmental Protection Group stated that the new plant will be jointly operated by Taizhou Chihe Tiande Metal Co., Ltd. and Scholz China GmbH, both of which are indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of Chihe Group. Scholz is a major subsidiary of the Chiho Group and has extensive experience in metal recycling and ELV recycling. Chiho Tiande has been operating in China's mixed metal recycling industry for more than 20 years and has a huge supplier network and local market knowledge.

The weekly output has been declining at the end of October and beginning of November.

Weekly steel production data from the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) indicated a slight slowdown in production at the end of October and early November.

In the week ending November 6, the domestic production of raw steel in the United States was 1.84 million tons, a decrease of 1% from the week before October 30, when the output was 1.86 million tons.

The decline in production continued the trend that began in the week ending on October 23 this year, when it was down 0.6% from the previous week. It then fell another 0.5% in the week ending October 30.

During these three weeks, weekly production in the United States has fallen by 2.18%. During this period, the factory capacity rate measured by AISI's capacity utilization rate has dropped from 85.3% on October 16 to 83.4% on November 6.

Although steel prices have fallen in parts of the world, prices in the United States do not appear to have been affected by the small decline in production. The published report also indicates that scrap prices in the Midwestern United States will increase during the purchasing period in early November.

One scrap processor told Recycling Today that the hawkers flowing into his yard were "quite stable", while another said that "supply has met demand". The quality of the factory's products is sometimes an exception.

The small reduction in US steel mill output may be partially offset by stable (and sometimes strong) overseas scrap demand. A processor on the east coast said that buyers there paid nearly $500 per ton for shredded container paper. The Davis Index, a metal information service provider, said that quotations from Turkey were sluggish in early November, but buyers from the country and the Indian subcontinent placed stable orders in the second half of October.

Political events may play a role in the development of U.S. steel production. This is related to an agreement that allows some European steel to enter the U.S. duty-free, and the passage of the long-awaited infrastructure spending bill.

AISI agreed with these two political initiatives and thanked Biden government officials for reaching an agreement with the European Union, saying that this will help ensure that the United States can "establish a new partnership with the European Union to solve the problem of global steel overcapacity." AISI also stated that the Infrastructure Act will ultimately boost demand for American-made steel.