Aluminum Scrap Sorting | AISORT
Application Overview — Metal Recovery
Aluminum Scrap in Modern Recycling Facilities
Aluminum scrap sorting is one of the highest-volume metal recovery applications in recycling. Post-consumer aluminum — from UBCs (used beverage containers) to automotive castings to building profiles — arrives mixed with other non-ferrous metals (copper, brass, stainless), ferrous contaminants, and non-metallic waste. Optical and sensor-based sorting separates aluminum by alloy series where color alone is insufficient, enabling wrought-to-wrought and cast-to-cast recycling loops that preserve the energy savings of secondary aluminum production (95% less energy than primary smelting).
Material Characteristics and Sorting Challenges
Mixed aluminum scrap presents several sorting challenges: differentiating aluminum from magnesium and zinc alloys (similar density and color); separating cast from wrought aluminum (different silicon content but visually similar); removing free iron from shredded scrap; and handling varying thicknesses from foil to heavy plate. Eddy current separators provide bulk aluminum recovery, but achieve only 90-95% purity. For alloy-specific separation, XRT and LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy) provide elemental analysis at production throughput.
Recommended Sorting Technology Stack
XRT (primary separation by density) + eddy current (bulk aluminum recovery) + RGB (color-based alloy separation) + induction sensor (stainless and copper removal). For high-purity wrought aluminum recovery, LIBS or laser-based elemental analysis can achieve alloy-level sorting at 3-10 t/h.
Performance Benchmarks
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Recovery Rate | 92-98% |
| Purity Target | 95-99.5% Al |
| Throughput | 5-15 t/h per module |
| Particle Range | 5-200mm |
These benchmarks represent achievable performance with modern sensor-based sorting equipment, assuming properly sized, well-maintained equipment operating on representative feedstock. Actual results depend on specific material composition, throughput, and operating conditions.