The environmental protection cost facing a huge increase after aluminium dross as hazardous waste

The environmental protection cost facing a huge increase after aluminium dross as hazardous waste

The environmental protection cost facing a huge increase after aluminium dross as hazardous waste

According to the latest “National Hazardous Waste List (Revised Draft)”, the main issues related to the aluminum industry are the following:

In short, the aluminium slag in the electrolytic aluminum production process and the various aluminum dross generated by the whole aluminum industry’s processing, transfer and recycling have been added to the catalog of hazardous waste.

The entire aluminum industry is facing the problem of increased environmental protection costs.

Current status of aluminum dross treatment

In the process of electrolytic aluminum melting, aluminum processing smelting and scrap aluminum smelting, a kind of solid waste-aluminum dross, is inevitably produced, and its annual output is as high as 2 million tons.

Among them, because aluminum scraps contain more impurities, the aluminum dross produced during the smelting process is the main source of aluminum dross.

Generally speaking, in order to improve the recovery rate, most aluminum factories will install hot aluminium dross processing machine to process the hot dross generated from the furnace, so that the content of aluminum in aluminum dross drops to around 5-10%.

At this time, the aluminum dross still has economic value, some factories will apply dross cooling machines, ball mill and sieving machines for further processing.  

Some factories will sell the dross to the dross processing factories for further processing.  

After extraction, the main component of secondary aluminum dross is usually alumina, and its content is mostly 40% to 60%, and its treatment needs to be treated by qualified enterprises for harmless treatment.

According to the latest “National Hazardous Waste List (Revised Draft version):

1. Waste dross from repair and replacement of the cathode lining of the electrolytic cell during the aluminum electrolysis process (overhaul slag)

2. The floating dross generated on the surface of the melt during the process of electrolytic aluminum process melt transfer, purification and impurity removal

3. The floating dross (salt slag and aluminum dross) generated on the surface of the melt during the transfer, purification and impurity removal of aluminum scraps smelting

4. The salt slag and secondary aluminum dross are produced in the process of recovering metallic aluminum from aluminum dross and aluminum slag by the molten salt method

They are all hazardous wastes, and should be processed by the enterprises with a “Hazardous Waste Business License” for harmless treatment.

Thoughts on the cost changes brought about by the hazardous waste of aluminum dross:

1. Processing qualification issues

The overall hazardous waste treatment capacity is insufficient in the short term, and some hazardous waste may need to be stored.

If aluminum dross will be hazardous waste, the number and production capacity of enterprises with aluminum dross processing qualifications will inevitably be insufficient in the short term, and it will take time to increase production capacity.

2. Warehouse storage problem

Then there is only one method for the continuous production of aluminum dross, which is to establish a dedicated warehouse for storage.

The problems are as the following:

First, does the company have a place to expand the factory building?

Large companies can still have this condition.

How about small and medium-sized enterprises?

Whether there will be warehouses dedicated to small businesses for the centralized storage of aluminum dross.

Second, even if there is such a warehouse, security and risk issues will also cause high costs.

3. Transportation problem

The companies with the qualifications for handling hazardous waste in some areas have insufficient production capacity, and short-term processing costs are at a premium risk.

Because the trans-regional transportation of hazardous waste requires the permission of the local environmental protection department,

Generally speaking, it is difficult for some regions to be willing to accept hazardous waste.

Therefore, it is relatively difficult to treat hazardous waste across provinces.

Locally qualified production capacity for handling hazardous waste is likely to be insufficient, causing the processing costs in some areas to be drove up.

4. Technical problem

The current technology for processing aluminum dross is still progressing.

Right now, Aluminium dross processing machine, dross cooling machine, ball mill and sieving system or integrated automatic aluminium dross processing systems are the most popular technology for dross recovery.

We think the processing technology still has a lot of room for improvement and new processing technology development has a vacuum period, which will exacerbate the problem of short-term processing capacity shortages.

5. Cost problem

At present, most of the aluminum dross treatment method is to sell the dross to dross processing factories to produce aluminium ingots.

In other words, the current method for enterprises to deal with aluminum dross is to sell it out.

Once aluminium dross as hazardous waste, the aluminum factories need to spend extra money to deal with it, the cost will increase more than a little bit.

Taking the current aluminum dross price of about 145.00USD/ton, taking the secondary aluminum industry as an example, each ton of secondary aluminum smelting will generate about 3%-10% aluminum dross, which is calculated based on an average of 6.5% aluminum dross production.

If the cost per ton of aluminum dross processing reaches 600.00 USD/ton, the cost of recycled aluminum per ton will increase by 50.00 USD/ton.

hazardous waste

According to the EPA, Simply defined, hazardous waste is waste with properties that make it dangerous or capable of having a harmful effect on human health or the environment.

Hazardous waste is generated from many sources, ranging from industrial manufacturing process wastes to batteries and may come in many forms, including liquids, solids gases, and sludges.

According to Wikipedia, Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment.

According to the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes”, hazardous wastes refer to solid wastes with hazardous characteristics that are included in the national hazardous waste list or identified in accordance with the hazardous waste identification standards and identification methods prescribed by the state.

Obviously, once aluminum dross is included in the “National Hazardous Waste List”, it is classified as hazardous waste.

Transportation of hazardous waste:

According to the latest “Administrative Measures for the Safety of Road Transportation of Dangerous Goods”, “the shipper shall provide the carrier with electronic or paper form of hazardous waste transferring issued by the competent department of the ecological environment when consigning hazardous waste (including medical waste, the same below).”

Hazardous waste transfer form:

According to the “Measures for the Management of Hazardous Waste Transfer Forms”, the five forms of hazardous waste transfer usually refer to the five forms of hazardous solid waste transfer, involving hazardous waste producing units, receiving units, transportation units, competent authorities, etc, this form must be filed in 5 units.

Hazardous waste treatment:

All units engaged in the collection, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste within the territory of our country shall receive them in accordance with the relevant provisions of the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste” and the “Administrative Measures for Hazardous Waste Business Permits” Hazardous waste business license.

That is to say, the treatment of hazardous waste in China is implemented in accordance with the “hazardous waste business license” system, and the hazardous waste treatment must have a hazardous waste treatment experience license.