Hydro Building German Aluminum Recycling Furnace

Hydro, headquartered in Norway, announced plans to invest 14.3 million euros (US$22.3 million) in a new aluminum recycling furnace in Germany. The furnace will have an output capacity of 50,000 metric tons per year. The furnace will be part of a new recycling center at Alunorf, a joint venture between Hydro and Novelis in Neuss, Germany.

Alunorf is the world's largest aluminum rolling mill, jointly operated by Hydro and Novelis. The company has applied to local authorities for permission to build and operate the new facility alongside the existing complex for aluminum rolling and remelting, the world’s largest of its kind.

The facility is expected to be operational by 2010. Raw material for the new facility will include a mix of used product returns and process scrap from customers and its own fabrication facilities.

"Due to its various application benefits, the demand for aluminum is continuously growing. Today, most aluminum fabricated in Europe is already recycled metal. By adding further capacities, we open up for ever new life-cycles, at only 5 percent of the energy required to primarily produce aluminum," says Oliver Bell, head of Hydro's Rolled Products sector.

Last year, Hydro inaugurated a recycling furnace at its primary aluminum plant in Neuss, next to Alunorf. In addition, a similar furnace is under construction at the rolled products plant in Hamburg.

The complete concept is expected to have a capacity of about 150,000 metric tons per year.

Meanwhile, Norsk Hydro has completed the sale of the two subsidiaries Production Partner and Production Services to Bilfinger Berger Industrial Services. Hydro will retain a 15 percent share of the two companies until the end of next year.