Processing of Aluminum Dross: The Birth of a Closed Industrial Process

This is the history of a modern aluminum dross recycling company, from its beginnings in the last years of the twentieth century to the present day. The vision of the founders was to build a local recycling plant and take full responsibility for sensitive environmental issues by recycling aluminum dross locally rather than shipping it abroad. The paper tells the history of the company from the environmental perspective, and gives an overview of some of the challenges and the decisions that followed from this vision, for instance the selection of technology. The company developed a closed industrial process for the recycling of aluminum dross, and the paper discusses some of their laboratory experiments and industrial trials. An important milestone has now been reached as the process in its present form is recognized by the environmental authorities in the country. Furthermore, it seems realistic that in the near future the final product from this process will be comparable to the product delivered in the processing of salt cake in specialized chemical plants, but at a fraction of the cost.