Alunorf has applied to local authorities for permission to build and operate the new facility alongside the existing complex for aluminium rolling and remelting, the world’s largest of its kind.

Upon approval, construction can start this summer, with the first metal expected to be produced in 2010. Hydro plans to feed the center with a mix of used product returns and process scrap from customers and its own fabrication facilities.

“Due to its various application benefits, the demand for aluminium is continuously growing. Today, most aluminium fabricated in Europe is already recycled metal. By adding further capacities, we open up for ever new life-cycles, at only 5 percent of the energy required to primarily produce aluminium,” says Oliver Bell, head of Hydro's Rolled Products sector.

In 2007, Hydro inaugurated a recycling furnace at its primary aluminium plant in Neuss, located next to Alunorf. In addition, a similar furnace is under construction at the rolled products plant in Hamburg.

“The new recycling center at Alunorf will strengthen the viability of this plant with its more than 2,100 jobs and further improve the leading performance of our aluminium cluster with the primary plant in Neuss and our rolled products plant in Grevenbroich,” adds Bell.

The complete concept envisages a capacity of about 150,000 tonnes per year. The total investment by the joint-venture partners would be about EUR 36 million and the project would utilize world-class environmental technology.

• Novelis, a leading aluminium rolling group, is a subsidiary of India-based Hindalco Industries Ltd., part of the world-wide Aditya Birla Group.