Only ten months ago, Norwegian aluminum and renewable energy company Hydro partnered with scrap management enterprise PADNOS to create Alusort LLC. Alusort is owned fifty-fifty by Hydro and PADNOS, and is located to supply Hydro’s Cassopolis and Henderson recycling plants with raw material for large-scale production of low-carbon Hydro CIRCAL, which is Hydro's line of recycled aluminum with minimum 75 percent post-consumer scrap content.

The proprietary HySort technology, pioneered in Europe and now used by Alusort, allows more mixed and challenging types of post-consumer aluminum scrap to be sorted into fractions, before being returned to the recycling plants as feedstocks. This enables the aluminum recycling plants to achieve streamlined production of high quality, low-carbon aluminum.

“Aluminum is infinitely recyclable, but far too much of it ends up in landfills. The new sorting machine allows us to dig deeper in the pile and let more aluminum get a new lease on life. Advanced recycling is good for the environment, it’s good for the climate and it’s good for business,” says Duncan Pitchford, President of Hydro Aluminum Metals USA.  

Access to post-consumer scrap is becoming increasingly important for aluminum recycling companies like Hydro in the U.S. The establishment of Alusort and the USD 4 million investment in cutting edge sorting technology answers the call for putting valuable materials from cars, buildings, electronic equipment or other consumer goods to good use in a growing domestic market rather than sending it to landfills or exporting it overseas.

PADNOS personnel are responsible for running daily operations at Alusort, with Hydro personnel overseeing activities and providing technical support. With its annual sorting capacity of 20,000 tonnes of aluminum scrap per year, the HySort machine is important for the production of high-quality, recycled alloys aimed at the U.S. automotive, building & construction, and other key markets.

 “We at PADNOS are continually investing in new technologies that increase the accuracy and throughput of recycled materials. We are thrilled to begin commercial operations of the Hysort machinery in conjunction with Hydro. The ramp-up of production will make a real difference for American manufacturing and, we hope, encourage everyone in the recycling industry to continue innovating toward a more circular, sustainable economy,” says Sam Padnos, Manager of Nonferrous Trading at PADNOS.

Recycling is the fastest way to zero emissions

Aluminum is recyclable without loss of the qualities that make it an important enabler for the green transition and recycling requires only five percent of the energy used to produce primary aluminum in a smelter. This is why it is vital to recycle more post-consumer scrap to accelerate emission cuts.

Stepping up growth in recycling capacity is one of the key factors in Hydro’s overall strategy towards 2030 to meet the increasing demand for low-carbon, recycled products. Hydro is continuously exploring new possibilities, both to source post-consumer scrap and develop advanced sorting technologies, to allow an increased amount of used aluminum to be sorted, repurposed and given a new life.

“With the HySort technology now in operation we have reached yet another exciting milestone in our strategy to double the production and expand the portfolio of recycled products in the U.S. The sorted scrap from Alusort puts us in an even better position to bring more low-carbon aluminum to the U.S. market and help some of the most demanding customers in America reach their sustainability goals,” says Pitchford.