Project to Develop Technology for Recycled Aluminum Ingot Production

Growing demand for resources and energy and mounting environmental concerns underscore the need to transition to resource-autonomous circular economy, establishing a circular economy that maximizes added value while minimizing resource use and consumption. Aluminum—lightweight, strong, and corrosion-resistant—is used in fields from automotive to construction to consumer products, and demand for aluminum is expected to continue to grow in the future.

Producing recycled aluminum ingots from scrap requires less energy than producing primary aluminum, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It can also mitigate the risks associated with dependence on imported resources. However, the use of recycled aluminum has been limited mainly to cast products that can tolerate contamination with different metals. Further efforts are needed to expand its use in wrought products.

This project aims to contribute to the realization of a domestic aluminum circular economy. Advanced sorting technologies will be developed to establish a production process that enables scrap aluminum collected from end-of-life products to be recycled into aluminum ingots suitable for wrought items.

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  The Future of Aluminum Recycling

R&D Item: Development of Advanced Sorting Technologies

This R&D requires collaboration among multiple entities including recyclers, secondary alloy manufacturers, and aluminum rolling mills. Due to the complexity of the supply chain and the size of the downstream recycling sector, private companies would face significant risks if they undertook the R&D necessary to make progress by themselves. Therefore, this will be implemented as a project entrusted by NEDO and will promote collaboration among industry, academia, and government, using knowledge accumulated at universities and public research institutions.