Strategy to Improve Recycling Yield of Aluminium Cans

Millions of canned drinks are consumed everyday globally and
their wastes create an enviromental issue. Fortunately, the cans are made
from aluminium (Al) so that it can be recycled. There are two main
keypoints existing during the recycling process of Al cans, i.e. the
aluminium loss or low Al-yield and low recycling yield. This work
outlines the strategies to improve the recycling perfomance for Al
beverage cans, i.e. by adding drossing flux, applying improved melting
strategy, and cans decoating prior to melting. Drossing flux was added to
assist the detachment of Al from the slag. Another improved melting
strategy was worked out by decreasing exposure time cans to the furnace
atmosphere during melting. All those above strategies result in an increase
of recycle yield in a range of 4 % to 5 %.