Eural to produce high-performance alloys from various sources of scrap
Italy’s Eural Gnutti outlines how aluminium scrap can help alleviate supply chain shortages while driving energy savings and CO2 reduction. The growing difficulty in sourcing primary aluminium increases the strategic value of secondary aluminium, obtained from the recycling of scrap.
Giorgio Di Betta, Commercial Director of Eural Gnutti, said: “The measures the European Union is preparing to adopt can contribute to a more resilient and circular production system, creating the conditions for sustainable industrial growth in the long term.”
Eural is able to produce high-performance alloys from various sources of scrap.
To this end, Eural Gnutti has, over the last two years, stepped up its dialogue with the European institutions, actively contributing to the debate on industrial and trade policies affecting the aluminium supply chain.
The aim is to highlight the strategic value of scrap aluminium for industrial competitiveness and the sustainable transition of European industry.
The company has developed processes capable of utilising both foundry scrap and scrap from in-house extrusion – the so-called ‘run-around’ process – as well as secondary material sourced from predominantly Italian and European supply chains.
Thanks to this production model, Eural is able to ensure regular deliveries to its customers.
At the same time, the company is working to keep the presence of residual elements – particularly lead – under control.
In the development of lead-free alloys, the complexity lies not so much in eliminating lead and replacing it with other elements, but in the possibility of using scrap from different sources, which may contain elements not required for the specific formulation.
The challenge is to keep their concentration within controlled limits, so as to expand recycling opportunities without compromising the performance and quality of the final product.
Today, the lead content in aluminium alloys is steadily decreasing, and developments in the European regulatory framework – in particular the RoHS Directive – will help to further accelerate its gradual elimination.
Although this element will continue to be present for a few years in materials derived from products with a long-life cycle, such as automotive components, standard recycling processes will gradually reduce its concentration, until it becomes only a residual presence in future generations of alloys.
