Aluminium Life Cycle

Aluminum has a life cycle that few other metals can match. It is corrosion resistant and can be recycled over and over again, requiring just a fraction of the energy used to produce the primary metal.

This makes aluminum an excellent material – reshaped and repurposed to meet the needs and challenges of different times and products.

Aluminum value chain

1. Bauxite mining

Aluminum production starts with the raw material bauxite, which contains 15-25% aluminum and is mostly found in a belt around the equator. There are around 29 billion tonnes of known reserves of bauxite and at the current rate of extraction, these reserves will last us more than 100 years. There are, however, vast undiscovered resources that may extend that to 250-340 years.

2. Alumina refining

Using the Bayer process, alumina (aluminum oxide) is extracted from bauxite in a refinery. The alumina is then used to produce the primary metal at a ratio of 2:1 (2 tonnes of alumina = 1 tonne of aluminum).

3. Primary aluminum production

The aluminum atom in the alumina is bonded to oxygen and needs to be broken by electrolysis to produce aluminum metal. This is done in large production lines and is an energy-intensive process requiring a lot of electricity. Using renewable power and continuously improving our production methods is an important means to meet our goal of being carbon neutral in a lifecycle perspective by 2020.

4. Aluminium fabrication

Henan lichen supply kinds of aluminum product, aluminum sheet, aluminum foil, aluminum Coil 

Recently Henan Lichen Aluminum initiated an initiative to the world’s major aluminum suppliers to jointly recycle aluminum materials around us. So far, more than 5.560 kilos of aluminum has been recycled and given new life, thanks to eager students. Well done.

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Are you looking for large aluminum panels? Really large? We make panels that are up to 18 meters long and 3.5 meters wide. Email to us first