Pathways to Reduce Operational Carbon Footprint in Secondary Aluminum Melting

Economic and environmental pressures are driving change in the modern aluminum industry, compelling manufacturing sites to optimize their processes to drive down costs and reduce environmental impact. Secondary aluminum melting (recycling) requires only 5-10% of the energy needed to produce primary aluminum-reducing carbon emissions and providing cost savings for the producer and consumer but is still a major source of greenhouse gases because of the growing size of the secondary market. Significant improvements in carbon footprint and energy efficiency can be made to aluminum remelting by using smart oxy-fuel burners, low carbon intensity fuels, and Industry 4.0 tools. In this paper, we discuss different pathways to reduce total CO2 emissions from secondary melting furnaces. First, a novel smart burner will be discussed. This next-generation oxy-fuel burner helps to reduce specific fuel consumption. The burner is a 'transient heating' burner that enables automatic control of energy into various locations of the furnace, based on feedback from furnace sensors. Second, we discuss how the use of low carbon intensity fuels like hydrogen and ammonia can help reduce or eliminate CO2 emissions. Finally, we present how the use of oxy-fuel combustion technology combined with low carbon intensity fuel can help optimize overall energy cost for secondary melting furnaces. These pathways can assist manufacturers in choosing the optimal solution to decarbonize their melting furnaces.