Hydro to expand remelt capacity in Sweden

Norway-based aluminum producer Norsk Hydro ASA (Hydro) says it will increase aluminum remelt capacity at its Sjunnen extrusion plant in Sweden by 50 percent in a project with an estimated 11.3 million euros ($13.3 million) price tag. Hydro says the project will be completed before the end of 2022.

With the planned expansion of its cast house in Sjunnen, Hydro says its aluminum scrap melting capacity there will increase from 42,000 to 62,000 metric tons per year.

“By using more process scrap and end-of-life aluminum from local industries and our own extrusion plants in Vetlanda and Finspång [Sweden], we can supply more low-carbon aluminum to the local market,” says Jonas Bjuhr, managing director of Hydro Extrusions Sweden. “The recycling cast houses have an important role to fill in the transition toward a greener economy.”

The decision to expand the aluminum cast house in Sjunnen comes in response to an increased market demand for low-carbon aluminum profiles in all industries Hydro Extrusions serves, says the company.

The location of the plant in the south of Sweden is “ideal to capture available used aluminum metal from local industries which otherwise would have had to be transported long distances, increasing cost and carbon footprint of the final product,” the company adds.

Hydro has set an overall target of reducing its carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and says increasing capacity for recycling aluminum and producing more low-carbon aluminum products plays an important role in reaching the target. The expansion will allow the Sjunnen plant to increase production of Hydro low-carbon alloys including Hydro Restore and Hydro Reduxa.