On May 13, 2024, Eivind Kallevik assumed the role of President and CEO at aluminium and renewable energy company Hydro. Since taking on the position, Kallevik has been clear that Hydro’s strategic direction towards 2030, “Pioneering the green aluminium transition, powered by renewable energy,” is fit-for-purpose and a strong foundation for the company to capture the long-term value creation opportunities in the market for low-carbon and recycled aluminium products and solutions. A key element in Hydro’s 2030 strategy is the ambition to grow in recycling.

Hydro’s strategy is to increase its recycling of post-consumer aluminium scrap to between 850,000 and 1.2 million tonnes per year by 2030. With production of 443,760 tonnes last year, which was 38 percent higher than in the previous year, the company is already more than halfway there. Hydro recycled 195,000 tonnes of PCS in 2020.

“These increases in recycling and in recycling capacity are enabling us to make the products the world needs for the green transition. The more post-consumer scrap we use in our products, the lower the carbon and environmental footprint, and the better for our customers. This is a vital part of our decarbonization agenda. It is the fastest way to zero,” says Kallevik.

Meeting the challenges of recycling post-consumer aluminium scrap

Hydro recycles process scrap from its own aluminium production and from other companies, and it recycles post-consumer scrap from the market. Process scrap carries a carbon footprint that is dependent on its metal origin, while PCS, a discarded metal entering its next lifecycle, has none. That said, recycling PCS is considerably more challenging than recycling industrial process scrap.

One of the main challenges is identifying the alloys and properties of the used metal and preserving the quality of the metal in the recycling process. This requires the metal to be collected and properly sorted prior to recycling. Hydro’s patented technology in scrap shredding and sorting, HySort, has enabled the company to meet the challenge and produce high-quality products from post-consumer building and automotive scrap.

Pioneered in Europe, the technology is also used by Alusort in the U.S., owned 50/50 by Hydro and PADNOS. With an annual sorting capacity of 20,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap per year, it is important for the production of high-quality, recycled alloys aimed at key U.S. markets.

Hydro has also invested in a state-of-the-art scrap sorting facility at the recycling plant in Wrexham, UK. The plant will have the capacity to source and sort over 30,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap annually, enough aluminium for over 100,000 electric vehicles. The plant is expected to be operational by January 2026.

Another challenge when recycling PCS is metal loss. This can occur when the pieces are too small or thin, which can lead to dross. To address this issue, Hydro developed a “screw extruder” to handle thin gauge scrap such as chips, swarf or shredded material. The screw compacts the scrap and the larger metal pieces, thereby reducing dross generation in the recycler.

Kallevik says Hydro’s PCS target for 2030 will require the company to improve its processes to combine process scrap with PCS recycling. One way Hydro is advancing toward this goal is rolling out the technology to its remelting and recycling plants, which can raise PCS capacity by 20 percent per plant.

Ambitious target for production of recycled aluminium

The growth in demand for low-carbon and recycled aluminium is expected to outpace the rest of the market in the years to come, according to internal and external estimates, with these products accounting for more than half of demand in North America and the European Union by 2030. Part of that growth will come from the automotive industry, where aluminium content per car is projected to rise from 205 kg/car in 2022 to 256 kg/car in 2030, according to global consultants Ducker Carlisle.

Hydro recycles aluminium at around 35 plant facilities in Europe, North America and South America, with production handled by the company’s upstream and downstream aluminium business areas.

More PCS usage and near-zero aluminium

Last November, Kallevik opened the company’s 120,000 tonnes-per-year aluminium recycling plant in Cassopolis, Michigan. One-third of the capacity will be produced under the Hydro CIRCAL brand, which includes products made with at least 75 percent PCS. Earlier this year, both at Milan Design Week and the London Design Festival, seven renowned industrial designers presented furniture made from Hydro CIRCAL 100R, the world's first aluminium made entirely from recycled post-consumer scrap on an industrial scale. Its carbon footprint is near zero.

“As we grow further within recycling, optimize the input mix and further develop alloys, I expect our secondary production as well as our PCS share to increase throughout our portfolio,” says Kallevik.