Aurubis renovates recycling site in Lunen, Germany

Copper producer Aurubis AG, which is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, is upgrading its site in Lunen, Germany, and has started work on the second phase of the tankhouse overhaul. Aurubis says it is spending 60 million euros, or $70.7 million, on the project, which includes the demolition and reconstruction of the tankhouse basins that will occur over three years and other improvements to the production facility.

At the end of the overhaul, the capacity of the tankhouse, where the most energy-intensive part of the copper production process takes place, will be expanded by 10 percent because of an increase in efficiency, the company adds.

Aurubis says the facility can be operated at 80 percent of its original capacity during the time it takes to rebuild the tankhouse.

The tankhouse is the last step in the copper refining process, in which anodes – plates weighing about 400 kilograms with a copper content of up to 99.5 percent that is recovered by melting down recycled raw materials in multiple steps – are dissolved in an electrochemical process. The copper ions are deposited on steel plates, resulting in copper with 99.99 percent purity, Aurubis says. The other substances contained in the anode, such as precious metals, are precipitated in this process, separated from each other through additional procedures and refined in the Aurubis Group network.

According to the company’s website, 250,000 metric tons of recycled material out of 350,000 metric tons of total material enters the Lunen site annually. The facility produces 190,000 metric tons of copper cathodes annually.  

“Following the construction of the new training center, ATASI (The German acronym for Training, Technology and Occupational Safety), which was inaugurated in March 2019, this investment is Aurubis’ latest clear affirmation of its largest recycling site here in Lünen,” Plant Manager Michael Jordan says. “At the same time, with the capacity expansion, we are strengthening the significance of our plant within Aurubis’ integrated smelter network and contributing to a sustainable circular economy.”

Aurubis AG Executive Board Chairman Roland Harings says, “Aurubis is committed to Germany as an industrial location. We will continue to expand metal recycling as a key contribution to sustainability and the circular economy while enhancing efficiency. This secures raw materials that are necessary for the energy transition. To implement large-scale investments, we need long-term planning security – regulation with foresight – especially when it comes to energy.”