On October 2, Hydro celebrated the expansion and relocation of its technology center from Zeeland, Michigan to Cassopolis, Michigan. The new technology center is located next to the state-of-the-art aluminum recycling plant Hydro opened in November last year.

“Our technical resources have been instrumental in our success and growth in the U.S. for many years. Having this best in class technology center next to our newest recycling plant in Cassopolis will strengthen our ability to deliver on our future growth plans at Cassopolis and throughout the U.S.,” says Duncan Pitchford, President of Hydro Aluminum Metals USA.

The new technology center allows Hydro to continue to meet the growing demand for low-carbon aluminum products in the U.S. with the appropriate technical resources.

Enhanced technology, closer to business and operations

The technology center has a state-of-the-art laboratory with the capability for advanced testing of mechanical properties, corrosion, and metallurgical investigations, and has an updated design to improve process flow and safety conditions for employees.

The technology center and the recycling plant are connected by sharing the same administration building, fostering closer collaboration between operators, engineers, technical, and R&D personnel. This will not only benefit Cassopolis, but also Hydro’s recycling plants in Henderson, Kentucky and Commerce, Texas. 

Critical performance testing to support Hydro’s production facilities and customers

As part of Hydro’s global network of laboratories and R&D centers, the Hydro Aluminum Technology Center (HATC) in Michigan provides critical performance testing data to support Hydro’s production facilities and customers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in offering high performance aluminum products into demanding end markets such as automotive.

This industry leading global R&D and customer support network also includes in-house research scientists at Karmøy and Sunndalsøra in Norway, and university partners in the U.S. and Europe.

"Being part of Hydro's global R&D network is crucial for our work. We run year long performance testing of our aluminum products to demonstrate compliance with the standards of leading automakers. Additionally, using the knowledge we have gained over decades in serving the automotive industry, we can use models that accurately predict the performance of aluminum products in new structural or crash management applications," says Dr. Stig Tjøtta, Head of Technology for Hydro Aluminum Metal.

Accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, HATC serves as the only testing laboratory in the Hydro system capable of providing third-party certified testing for strength, corrosion resistance and other aspects of aluminum performance.  In addition to HATC, Hydro also operates a technology center in Troy, Michigan supporting Hydro’s extrusion plants throughout North America.

Specialized products to demanding customers

After the Cassopolis recycling plant reached full capacity, Hydro now has the ability to produce over 2.2 billion pounds of recycling based aluminum billets each year in the U.S. Recycling scrap aluminum requires only 5 percent of the energy used to produce primary aluminum, saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The expanded capacity will include significant volumes of Hydro’s proprietary HyCrush and HyBeam automotive alloys, made possible by the technical expertise of the HATC team. Hydro can also produce variants of these alloys as Hydro CIRCAL, containing at least 75 percent post-consumer scrap and the lowest carbon footprint in the aluminum industry.  Cassopolis also utilizes Hycast’s proprietary LPC casting technology to enhance capabilities toward this end market.

Image description above:
Front left: Esma Senel, Head of Laboratories, Beatriz Remigio, Lab Engineer, Sanna Frew, Operations Director, Stig Tjøtta, Head of Technology, Emilie LaGrow, Village Manager, Duncan Pitchford, President of Hydro Aluminum Metals, Devin Jones, Senior Lab Engineer.
Back left; Danyell Quintero, Senior Lab Technician, Eskild Hoff, HATC Director, Corey Stansfield, Lab Technician, Darren Williamson, Vice President, Cassopolis Vandalia Chamber of Commerce, Dave Allen, Vice President MEC, Terry Rubenthaler, President & CEO MEC, Eystein Vada, Research Scientist.