EGA to expand German aluminium recycling capacity more than six-fold

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) on Saturday announced a significant expansion of EGA Leichtmetall in Germany.

The new facility, located near Hannover, will increase EGA Leichtmetall’s recycling capacity more than six-fold, adding 110 thousand tonnes per year of scrap sorting capacity and 153 thousand tonnes per year of melting and casting capacity.

The project represents an investment of approximately $170 million, with first hot metal expected in 2028.

EGA Leichtmetall’s existing Hannover site has melting and casting capacity of around 30 thousand tonnes per year.

The planned new facility will be among the first in the world to combine a state-of-the-art scrap sorting system, advanced furnace technologies, and an integrated salt recovery process in a single location.

EGA also operates EGA Spectro Alloys in Minnesota, in the United States, where the first phase of an expansion was recently completed featuring similar sorting technologies. A second phase is underway that will increase the EGA Spectro Alloys plant’s total capacity to 200,000 tonnes per year during 2027. In the UAE, EGA’s construction of the country’s largest aluminium recycling plant is nearing completion.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said, “It is technically very challenging to consistently produce high quality aluminium from post-consumer scrap, but this is what European industries such as automotive and aviation are increasingly demanding to meet consumer expectations for product performance and sustainability. Our new EGA Leichtmetall aluminium recycling plant will be one of the most advanced in the world. It will enable post-consumer scrap to be considered more often for the most demanding applications, and it will grow EGA’s role as a partner for a green Europe. We will apply our experience from expanding our Minnesota recycling plant to this new project in Germany.”

Europe is the third-largest recycled aluminium market globally, after the United States and China. Recycled aluminium currently meets around 40 per cent of Europe’s total aluminium demand, with consumption of approximately 4.9 million tonnes annually. According to CRU, demand is expected to grow to 7.2 million tonnes per year by 2033.

EGA is also a key supplier of primary aluminium to Europe, shipping over 600,000 tonnes annually. The European automotive industry is the largest consumer of EGA’s CelestiAL solar aluminium.

The new EGA Leichtmetall plant will feature advanced sorting systems using X-ray and laser technologies to separate scrap by alloy, grade, and impurity level. This will increase flexibility in scrap input and allow EGA Leichtmetall to apply its decades of blending expertise to produce high-quality aluminium from post-consumer scrap for the first time.

The facility will deploy energy-efficient melting furnaces, designed to convert to hydrogen use in the future. Its casting line will produce secondary ingots in nearly all wrought alloys, as well as low and high iron content foundry alloys.

In aluminium recycling, salt is used to bind impurities during melting, generating salt slag as waste. At EGA Leichtmetall’s new facility, salt will be almost entirely recovered for reuse. The only solid waste expected is aluminium hydroxide, which can be used in cement production, and non-aluminium scrap fractions.

In October, Emirates Global Aluminium announced the launch of a metallurgical testing laboratory as part of the expansion of the EGA Spectro Alloys aluminium recycling plant in Minnesota, United States.

The laboratory conducts metallographic analyses and mechanical testing of EGA Spectro’s finished products to ensure customers receive the highest quality recycled aluminium at the precise specifications needed. The facility will offer sample testing from customer castings or extrusions to help troubleshoot and optimise downstream quality. The lab adds improved and faster sample analysis services for customers.

EGA Spectro’s expansion adds 55 thousand tonnes of secondary billet production capacity in the first phase. The expansion takes EGA Spectro Alloys’ total production capacity to 165 thousand tonnes per year of recycled aluminium ingots and billets.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said, “The new laboratory strengthens EGA Spectro Alloys’ ability to meet the quality expectations of our customers and support them in improving their own products. As demand for low-carbon aluminium grows, our focus is on delivering the metal our customers need with the quality and reliability they expect from EGA.”

WAM