2015 CMRA Convention: Seeking efficiency and eco-friendliness

Although prices are lower and margins are tighter, secondary nonferrous metals producers in China are investing to become both more efficient and more environmentally compliant. That was the message delivered by several presenters at the 2015 Annual Convention of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Recycling Metals Branch (CMRA), which took place in Ningbo, China, in early November

Huang Chongqi of the Shanghai Electrical Cable Research Institute (SECRI) said technology developed by his organization has helped create copper refining processes that have gained 60 percent market share in China. Key to SECRI’s technology, said Huang, is its ability to produce 99.9 percent copper using less energy and creating fewer CO₂ emissions.

“I think in the near future copper scrap will be broadly used [as feedstock] with the improvement of such [clean] technologies,” said Huang.

Those upgrades will be necessary according to Li Yanping of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences. Currently, the recycling sector “is one of the sources of environmental accidents,” she stated, referring to instances of severe air, soil or water pollution.

There are still “illegal, non-qualified” producers of secondary lead and other metals, said Li. According to research conducted by Li and the organization she belongs to, “only 30 percent” of copper smelting and refinery facilities in China meet environmental standards set by China’s MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) and MEP (Ministry of Environmental Protection).

“We have to coordinate our development with the pace of environmental needs,” she commented, especially since “preventing heavy metal pollution” is among the MEP’s highest priorities in China’s upcoming 13^th Five-Year Plan.

Better scrap feedstock preparation is one way to improve emissions, said Wang Rufen of the Baoding, China-based Lizhong Group. Inconsistent and low-grade scrap quality leads to “environmental pollution” said Wang.

The deployment of additional training and technology to identify and then remove impurities such as paint “can greatly improve efficiency and reduce pollution,” she stated. She said the Lizhong Group has invested to create “one of the most advanced systems in the world” for sorting its aluminum scrap.

Dr. Joachim von Schéele, of the Shanghai office of the Munich-based The Linde Group, provided an overview of Linde products that can help reduce emissions on smelters and refineries.

Linde systems installed at some aluminum production facilities have reduced nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by as much as 90 percent, said von Schéele. At secondary lead smelters, Linde systems have helped some operators reduce their energy consumption by as much as 60 percent, added von Schéele.

The 2015 CMRA Annual Convention was Nov. 7-9 at the Shangri-La Ningbo in Ningbo, China.