Metalpedia
Metalpedia
  • Aluminum: news
  • 1:Aluminum keeps craft beer fresh, portable and aids recycling
  • Once the packaging choice exclusively of the mass-produced beer brands, canning craft beer in aluminum has begun to make sense for breweries such as Boundary Bay; breweries that are committed to quality and to greater sustainability. While we want to be sure to recognize that the most sustainable way to enjoy beer is either in a taproom or from a refillable glass growler, aluminum turns out to be a more sustainable choice when beer is packaged for convenience.
  • Quality and convenience are all fine and well, but from RE Sources' point of view, if beer must be packaged, we need to do so in the most environmentally friendly way possible. If we can increase recycling rates dramatically, light-weight aluminum saves energy and carbon both in shipping and manufacture.
  • While producing aluminum the first time has an enormous environmental impact, it is 100 percent recyclable forever and doing so saves 95 percent of the energy, water and emissions each time it's recycled. However, it is an unfortunate fact that recycling rates for aluminum are only 58 percent nationwide. It's even more sobering to note that Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire airline fleet.
  • Fortunately, market rates for recycled aluminum are excellent and provide incentives to keep aluminum out of the waste stream. In fact, as a commodity, recycled glass is worth much less and in some parts of the country ends up in the landfill. By contrast, aluminum is worth $1,500 per ton, and is one of the most profitable recycled materials.
  • Source:Aluminum keeps craft beer fresh, portable and aids recycling BY CRINA HOYER AND JANET LIGHTNER June 20, 2014
  • 2:Study Finds Seven Out of 10 New Pickup Trucks Produced in North America Will be Aluminum-Bodied by 2025
  • Explosive Growth Expected for Aluminum-Bodied Cars and Trucks; Reaching 18 Percent Within a DecadeDetroit, MI – By 2025, more than 75 percent of all new pickup trucks produced in North America will be aluminum-bodied, according to a survey of automakers conducted by Ducker Worldwide. The study, which confirms a major breakthrough for automotive aluminum into high-volume vehicles, surveyed all major automakers and reports Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler will become the biggest users of aluminum sheet in the next decade. It also forecasts that the number of vehicles with complete aluminum body structures will reach 18 percent of North American production, from less than one percent today. Vehicle segments revealed as emerging aluminum content leaders are pickup trucks, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and both mid-sized and full-size sedans.
  • The study finds that every leading automaker will have numerous aluminum body and closure programs by 2025. As the material mix for body and closure parts continues tochange dramatically in the years to come, use of aluminum sheet for vehicle bodies will increase to 4 billion pounds by 2025, from 200 million pounds in 2012.
  • “The numbers tell a powerful story of aluminum’s explosive growth across the automotive sector,” said Tom Boney, chairman of the Aluminum Association’s Aluminum Transportation Group and vice president and general manager of automotive for Novelis in North America. “Within the next ten years, seven out of 10 new pickups produced in North America will be aluminum-bodied, and so too will be more than 20 percent of SUVs and full–sized sedans.”
  • The Aluminum Association’s Aluminum Transportation Group (ATG) commissioned global consulting and research firm Ducker Worldwide to conduct the “2015 North American Light Vehicle Aluminum Content Study.” Through detailed in-person interviews with automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), component suppliers and regulators, Ducker Worldwide maintains a comprehensive material use database to track material and mass of individual components for every vehicle model manufactured in North America. The findings of the “2015 North American Light Vehicle Aluminum Content Study” were compiled using data updated and verified between October 2013 and April 2014.
  • “Aluminum-bodied cars and trucks are coming in a big way – and soon. Consumers won’t visibly notice a different metal under the paint, but they’ll see greater savings at the gas pump and experience better performance and handling at the wheel,” added Boney.
  • Source:http://www.aluminum.org/news/study-finds-seven-out-10-new-pickup-trucks-produced-north-america-will-be-aluminum-bodied-2025
  • 3:Indonesian ban on mineral export forces China to find other bauxite sources
  • China, the leader in aluminium industry is facing an increasing shortage of bauxite after the Indonesia’s mineral export ban came into effect, said Wood Mackenzie, the advisory firm.
  • It was expected that China’s alumina refinery production would grow nearly 17 mn tons by the year 2018, followed by a growth of 40 mn tons by the year 2030.
  • According to Wood Mackenzie, China would require an additional 130 mn tons of bauxite over the 2013 levels and consume 240 mn tons of bauxite by the year 2030.
  • Till now, Indonesia has been the hub of China’s bauxite demand as it supplied around 65% of China’s total supply in 2013.
  • Julian Kettle, Woodmac head of metals and mining research, said Indonesia’s ban on mineral exports can bring a change to global bauxite market in the long run, but the impact in the short to medium term would be less significant owing to source diversification and swollen stockpiles.
  • “China is the main global player in the aluminium market representing between 40% of supply and 60% of demand. Our most recent forecasts indicate that global alumina refinery production will rise to almost 140-million tonnes by 2018, which means we'll see bauxite demand rise by almost 80-million tonnes to 350-million tonnes.
  • “With China's alumina demand set to increase so sharply, there will be huge implications for bauxite demand. We estimate China will need access to as much as 240-million tonnes of bauxite by 2030 and as it only produced 72-million tonnes domestically in 2013, huge uncertainty remains over the import versus domestic supply mix.”
  • Kettle noted that China would look for other alternatives such as import sources and also developing domestic mines.
  • He suggested China has been making efforts to diversify their supply of bauxite for some time as long as the ban persists.
  • Carl Firman, the aluminium analyst of Woodmac, pointed out China has been sourcing excess quantities of bauxite from other countries, especially India and Australia.
  • “This is a strategic move by China to ensure it can firstly meet the direct needs of the coastal aluminium refineries it's built up over the years, but secondly in preparation for the ban coming into force. We estimate that China has accumulated more than a year’s worth of bauxite supply. This works out at about 40-million tonnes, or four-fifths of the entire volume of bauxite exported by Indonesia in 2013,” Firman added.
  • Source: http://www.worldal.com/news/china/2014-05-06/139935745745631.shtml
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