The Green Metal - Aluminium Advantage
The growing concern for the environment has given aluminium an advantageous position in the metal industry where the increasing thrust is on reducing the impact on climate and cutting down emission of greenhouse gases.
With a low melting point, recycling of aluminium is an easy process and a mere 5% of energy needed to produce primary aluminium is used in the recycle procedure. The original characteristics of the metal remain intact in recycled aluminium that can efficiently serve a plethora of industrial applications. It is owing to these traits that eco-friendly aluminium is also referred to as ‘Green Metal’ with justification. Recycling therefore is the crucial factor as far as sustainability of ‘Aluminium’ is concerned.
Another environment friendly feature of this green metal is reduction in the amount of greenhouse gas emission. The fuel efficiencies of automotive have been profitably raised by deploying aluminium. Euro 6 norms enforces that cars have to be made lighter by 20%. Thereby they have to increase the usage of aluminium in them. Aluminium is one-third the weight of steel. Aluminium is an everlastingly renewable and 100% recyclable resource the only condition is that it has to be collected and recycled at the end of a product’s life.
Some of the statistical facts that reaffirm the status of Aluminium as green metal:
- According to a survey held recently in Northern Australia, 89% of land after bauxite mining was restored to native forest, it has been established globally that land rehabilitation is easily possible after bauxite extraction.
- Estimated 40% of Primary Aluminium all across the globe is produced using clean and renewable hydro- electric power
- Aluminium is corrosion-resistant metal that has long service life. It develops coating of aluminium oxide once exposed to oxygen that makes it corrosion proof
- During 2000 – 2005, there have been 20% increase in the production of primary aluminium but the total direct emission of the greenhouse gases from the production was reduced to 14%.
- Recycling of aluminium further reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 95% and only 5% of the total energy indigent to produce primary aluminium used in recycling it.
- Aluminium often termed as ‘Energy Bank’ as all the original qualities are retained every time the aluminium product is recycled.
- The amount of recycled aluminium production in Europe reached around 4.3 million tonnes in 2010, 2.2 millions of which produced by refiners. Worldwide, some 7.7 million tonnes were produced by aluminium refiners.
- 1Kg of aluminium is used in any vehicle eradicates 20 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions in its lifetime.
