From looking it up, it seems like making new aluminum from alumina ore is a massively energy intensive process, whereas recycling aluminum is just about melting it so takes a lot less energy.
It seems like, if the demand were there, it would be easy to make ultra pure aluminum from beer cans etc. It’s just that right now there’s enough demand for lower purity aluminum that the recyclers aren’t bothering to chase the market for the ultra-pure stuff.
According to my friend who used to work with that stuff, the bigger “problem” is mostly with regulations and balancing the risks; the damage potential of an aircraft accident (loss of life, brand reputation, recalls, etc) is exponentially more expensive than however much you’d save in production costs. Closed-loop recycling is usually the focus instead. But it would of course be cool.
At least that’s kinda Airbuses viewpoint on it. Boeing on the other hand might be fine with delivering dodgy stuff and bribing away any possible fines ;)
From looking it up, it seems like making new aluminum from alumina ore is a massively energy intensive process, whereas recycling aluminum is just about melting it so takes a lot less energy.
It seems like, if the demand were there, it would be easy to make ultra pure aluminum from beer cans etc. It’s just that right now there’s enough demand for lower purity aluminum that the recyclers aren’t bothering to chase the market for the ultra-pure stuff.
According to my friend who used to work with that stuff, the bigger “problem” is mostly with regulations and balancing the risks; the damage potential of an aircraft accident (loss of life, brand reputation, recalls, etc) is exponentially more expensive than however much you’d save in production costs. Closed-loop recycling is usually the focus instead. But it would of course be cool.
At least that’s kinda Airbuses viewpoint on it. Boeing on the other hand might be fine with delivering dodgy stuff and bribing away any possible fines ;)