Assessment of Recycling Potential of Aluminum in Japan, the United States, Europe and China

Global aluminum consumption has exhibited significant growth in recent years, due to its useful properties. As this will result in a large amount of aluminum accumulation as urban mines, the exploitation of these urban stocks will be an important issue in the future. To examine the recycling potential of urban stocks, a dynamic material flow analysis on aluminum was conducted focusing on Japan, the United States, Europe and China. The concentrations of the alloying elements were also investigated, since carryover of alloying elements during recycling results in off-specification secondary metals and alloys. The recycling of aluminum scrap was optimized from the results of dynamic material flow analysis using multi-material pinch analysis. It was estimated that Japan, the United States, Europe and China have the potential to reduce their primary aluminum consumption to 60%, 65%, 30% and 85% of their present levels, respectively. In 2050, it is estimated that 11400 kt of primary aluminum will be required among the four countries, while 12400 kt of obsolete scrap will not be able to be recycled due to high concentrations of alloying elements.