How to make money on aluminum cans. Aluminum cans for scrap

It's no secret that the recycling of human waste is practically a gold mine, and it is quite problematic to objectively assess the volume of this market, in particular in our country. But, in order to at least general outline To understand the existing volumes, just consider a simple example. Have you ever thought about how many people are doing this at the same time as you around the world when throwing out another soft drink can into a bucket? to the globe? Simply put, there are millions of them, and that is why recycling aluminum cans is not only a profitable business, but also creates a significant contribution to conservation environment And rational use natural resources.

General view of the problem.

According to statistics, the capacity of the Russian aluminum can market is estimated at approximately 2-3 billion. Taking into account the weight of even a small can, which is about 15 grams, we get the amount of aluminum consumed, which is approximately 30-40 thousand tons of pure metal. And if we take into account the energy resources necessary for the production of metal from primary raw materials, the prospects for the development of the processing industry become obvious.

This option will also have a beneficial effect on the environmental situation. An example of the effective use of recycling technologies is the North American company Novelis, which in 2009 was able to recycle more than 39 billion aluminum cans, which made it possible to obtain more than 530 thousand tons of pure metal from melting.

Technology for recycling aluminum cans.

The current level of development of recycling of secondary raw materials allows the use of several methods for obtaining pure aluminum from cans. The most common are the following:

  • The simplest, and therefore most often used, is pressing. The source material undergoes primary sorting and purification from household waste. Afterwards, the raw materials are crushed with simultaneous cleaning of various iron components using an electromagnet. The resulting substance is pressed, forming briquettes of a certain weight, and sent for smelting to a metallurgical plant. The disadvantages of this method include the high content of various impurities due to imperfect purification methods.
  • Another, more advanced method, providing better cleaning, is based on similar principles. Its difference lies in the use of multi-stage grinding and impurity removal schemes. As a result of processing, aluminum powder, or material in the form of small metal flakes, is obtained. Despite the higher quality processing, it has a significant disadvantage. To organize such chains of this type, extensive production areas are required. Also, the use of a multi-stage cycle significantly increases the cost of the product.
  • Recycling aluminum cans based on pyrolysis is the most effective method. The additional costs required for the appropriate equipment are offset by the cost of the material obtained as a result.

The initial stages of processing are similar to existing steps in other methods.

Prikol.ru - jokes, pictures, photos and practical jokes!

Recycled raw materials are washed, sorted, and various impurities are removed. Small pieces of aluminum obtained by grinding are subjected to pyrolysis in special installations.

The essence of this process is to heat the elements of crushed cans to a temperature that is 100 degrees or more higher than the melting point of aluminum, up to approximately 750 degrees. During the heating process, all organic and some inorganic impurities decompose, and the resulting liquid aluminum is poured into pre-prepared forms. The product obtained in this way is distinguished by the minimal presence of various inclusions, and can be processed at metallurgical plants without additional purification, which makes it a highly competitive material.

Considering the economic feasibility of processing such raw materials, we can conclude that organizing enterprises of this type is quite a profitable undertaking. The only problematic issue due to the peculiarities of the mentality of the majority of residents of our country is the issue of waste sorting by each person. In most countries, this method of waste collection has already proven its effectiveness, and for a resident of, for example, Japan, it is considered unacceptable to throw an aluminum can into a waste container. food waste. The introduction, and most importantly the acceptance by the population of such a separate method of collecting waste, will significantly increase the economic efficiency of processing any secondary raw materials.

How to melt aluminum cans

Re: Melting Aluminum :)

at the chipmaker they melted it on a gas stove using household gas.

In general, I’m copying it here so that we can have it too.

So, the task: melt a small amount of aluminum (to begin with) to obtain a stable liquid phase and cast it. Budget: 0 rub. Only a gas stove and available materials are available. Time before wife arrives: 2 hours. Go!

1. Oven - a tin can with a diameter of 100 mm. At the bottom there is a hole for the flame to enter, the crucible stands on three pillars of bolts inside the jar, 20mm from the bottom (Fig. 1). The flame must flow around the crucible, creating a thermal air cushion - this solves problem No. 1: colossal heat loss by radiation and convection when heating an open crucible with a burner.

2. Crucible - a tin can with a diameter of 70 mm. The crucible must be closed with a lid to reduce heat loss. There is a risk of burning through the bottom, so have water and sand at hand and pour water onto the stove (at the same time protecting the stove from overheating).

Melting aluminum beer cans

The crucible heats up more from the edges, the risk of burning through the center is minimal.

3. The burner is designed on the basis of a regular burner. First of all, the flame divider is removed and a piece of pipe is installed - I used a diameter

10mm and long

40mm (Fig. 2). The larger diameter of the outlet hole compared to the standard one allows the flame not to go out with a larger volume of gas supplied (this was problem No. 2). And now main secret burners - using a wire, the pipe is fixed further than the outlet! So

In this way, the gas sucks in air, and the gas-air mixture at high speed (this is important so that the mixture does not have time to burn) is thrown into the furnace and burns there, flowing around the crucible on all sides (Fig. 3). At the same time, the flame is transparent blue, without soot, etc. — burns very well (in photo 3 the burner is working at full capacity, although the flame is not visible). Just in case, the room is well ventilated.

The crucible heats up to red instantly. I add aluminum (wire), close the lid - melting begins (Fig. 4). The metal melts, slag floats and/or settles to the bottom. For safety reasons, the process is not left unattended for a minute. Metal is added in parts every 5 minutes. In total, it took about 20 minutes (it could have been faster, it took longer out of habit). Then I add salt, remove the waste, and voila! An excellent liquid metal (Fig. 5), suitable for casting small products. The metal is cast into a tin can, resulting in an ingot weighing about 100g (Fig. 6). Problem solved!

Results. According to preliminary estimates, melting up to 0.5 kg in such a furnace is easy, up to

1 kg (330 ml - jar volume) should be tried. In the future, since everything is working, it will be possible to improve the design and optimize the process: definitely replace the crucible with stainless steel, flux and degass the metal more correctly, consider casting issues, etc. Now we need to cover our tracks so that the wife can fry her cutlets there as if nothing had happened. I did it!

Brigadier Telepathov answers your questions!

Banks that provide a mortgage for a room

Which Russian banks are open on Saturday?

Banks whose license may be revoked in 2016

Bankers who changed the world

What to do if jars of cucumbers explode

» At home

How to melt aluminum at home

We melt aluminum at home

Date: 01/01/1970

It is extremely sad when small but important functional elements break down in the house: guides for roller shutters or sliding doors (burst), fittings (something fell off), etc. As a rule, such elements are made of aluminum. Finding a replacement is a difficult task, and it happens that it is necessary to fix a malfunction in the functionality of a door or window right now, at least temporarily.

Fortunately, if you know how to solder, many problems with aluminum fittings or profiles can be eliminated. However, such work requires experience and accuracy.

The main problem is to obtain the working material, that is, molten aluminum, which will be used to solder the broken parts.

At what temperature does aluminum melt?

That's right, at a temperature of 660 degrees. An ordinary gas stove won’t give us this, and we shouldn’t do such things at home - it’s better to take the work outside. Let's look at how you can prepare solder by melting aluminum at home. Let us remind you once again that if you are not handy with a soldering iron, then we would not recommend starting all this.

So, the price of aluminum ingots ranges from 55 to 150 rubles. per kg depending on the brand of alloy. If we are not aiming for a particularly high quality of work, then any will do. In principle, you can use scraps of the old profile.

To successfully complete the operation, we will need a portable gas torch or blowtorch. Depending on the model, they give a temperature of 1000 - 1300 degrees.

How to melt aluminum cans and make something unusual out of them

This is quite enough.

What are we going to melt in?

For this we need a refractory container, for example, made of stainless steel. You can use a scoop bowl if nothing else is available. We will also need a calcined steel plate or another container into which we will pour molten aluminum.

  • We make a small well out of bricks, so that our container can be installed on top (by the way, it can be placed on skewers, they are also quite refractory).
  • Before installing the container, light a fire in the well. It will help keep the container warm when we stop using the burner. In addition, the fire will help warm up the aluminum from below.
  • When a certain amount of hot coals is formed, we put our container with aluminum and heat it for about 15 minutes. Here you can leave the second container or plate to warm up.
  • After this, turn on the gas burner to maximum and heat the aluminum from above.
  • The metal will begin to melt in just a few seconds, however, our goal has not yet been achieved - we need uniform heating.
  • To do this, the container must be shaken periodically. This should be done extremely carefully, using pliers and thick gloves (for welders this is the best). In principle, the molten composition can be stirred with steel wire (just as carefully).
  • Please note that when using recycled materials (remnants of the profile), paint may evaporate, which is not recommended to breathe.
  • When melting, aluminum oxide is formed, which in turn forms scale.
  • After the formation of homogeneous (adjusted for scale) liquid aluminum, the container is carefully taken with pliers. The contents are poured onto a hardened steel surface. It should be poured in such a way that only the metal pours out, and the scale remains in the original container (in principle, this is not difficult - the main thing is not to tilt it too much).
  • That's it, your molten aluminum is ready for further work.

How to melt aluminum at home with a blowtorch?

Important! When melting aluminum, use protective equipment: gloves, protective shoes, overalls, a respirator, special tools to avoid contact of molten aluminum with your body. When molten metal comes into contact with water droplets, it can splash and cause very dangerous burns. Be extremely careful! Ready-made melting furnaces in this store.

The video shows how you can melt aluminum at home using a simple blowtorch. The method is quite simple; it does not require blowing, which is necessary in cases where firewood, coals and other solid fuels are used to create the required melting temperature of aluminum. The video clearly shows how the necessary aluminum materials are prepared and the smelting process itself.

In this video, another master will present his model of a melting furnace and explain how to make a crucible for melting aluminum and prepare it for work.

And here the actual smelting process is shown and practical advice is given. Notice how the master is protected from injury.

Here there are materials about how to make crafts from plaster, and here about the simplest oven for aluminum. There is another article on this topic here.

How to melt aluminum at home?

As you know, the melting point of aluminum is 660 degrees. This is a fairly low-melting metal that can be melted at home using a gas torch or blowtorch, which can produce temperatures in the range of 1000-1300 degrees (this is quite enough to completely melt aluminum).

This metal will need to be melted in a fairly refractory container, for example, stainless steel.

Under the container we make a small fireplace made of bricks, in which you will need to build a fire in order to warm up the aluminum from below and not allow it to cool.

The bowl with aluminum is placed not on the fireplace, but on top of it, we heat it with a blowtorch or burner.

Aluminum will begin to melt fairly quickly. In order for the molten composition to be homogeneous, it should be stirred periodically using steel wire or something else refractory.

This must be done very carefully. Be sure to wear protective clothing and boots, as well as thick gloves, as molten metal splashes on your skin can cause serious burns. Therefore, you need to take care of your protection first.

IN Lately the volume of supplies of imported soft drinks and beer in metal cans with a capacity of 0.33, 0.5 and 1.0 liters increased sharply. Domestic enterprises - producers of beer and soft drinks also began to use this type of packaging for their products. All this has led to a sharp increase in the share of metal in urban waste, the collection of which is not sufficiently organized.

Empty cans are scattered throughout the city, due to this the amount of garbage is increasing and the problem of recycling cans is becoming more acute, especially in summer months, which worsens not only appearance, but also ecological state cities.

According to expert estimates, Moscow consumes an average of about 800 thousand cans per day - about 300 million cans per year. Of these, approximately 210 million are aluminum cans and 90 million are tin cans, which are taken to landfills.

Aluminum cans are melted using traditional technology in electric furnaces. However, if you melt aluminum in the form of cans, the output is only about 20% of the metal. When melting compressed briquettes from solid cans, the aluminum yield is only 40%, and the rest goes to waste. The best technological indicators are obtained by remelting cans in the form of briquettes, pressed from pre-crushed and sorted can material. In this case, the aluminum yield reaches about 80%.

Therefore, mechanized can processing areas are equipped with small-sized crushers and presses, auxiliary and sorting equipment and are organized in crowded places (airports, train stations, stadiums, large hotels, restaurants, business centers, places of mass recreation).

The productivity of one such site is at least 8 thousand cans per day. The products of these sections should be briquettes sorted by metal type.

Cans are disposed of by crushing, separating and pressing into briquettes for subsequent use as secondary raw materials for metallurgical production.

Chemical analysis of ingots obtained after melting the cans, which is given

The aluminum can is the most recycled container on the planet. Most of All aluminum containers were subjected to secondary processing several times. In the majority developed countries Almost 100% of used aluminum products are recycled.

It will take at least five hundred years for an aluminum can thrown somewhere in the forest to completely decompose. But recycling aluminum and containers made from it generally requires much less labor and energy than processing plastic or paper. The mathematics of such recycling is simple: from one old can, approximately one new can is obtained, if you do not take into account cans with damage.

Now the volume of filling the Russian market with banks is estimated at approximately 2-3 billion. A standard can with a capacity of 500 ml has a mass of about 15 g. In total, the mass of all these cans is a figure comparable to the annual volume of aluminum production in Russia.

If you consider that not only cans are made from aluminum, and add to this the mass of used aluminum profiles, auto parts, various furniture and building accessories, waste aluminum capacitors, you get absolutely cosmic figures. And all this useful wealth in our country, for the most part, continues to be stored in landfills.

Processing methods

Aluminum is a fairly easy-to-recycle material. The amount of irreparable losses when recycling aluminum is low, but the benefits are high. And in comparison with materials of organic origin or glass, the number of aluminum recycling cycles is almost endless.

Recycling of aluminum cans and other products made from this metal can occur in several ways:


Important! If you decide to build a smelter, you need to study in advance the techniques for safely working with molten metal. It doesn't hurt to have a fire extinguisher.

Benefits from recycling and environmental benefits

Banks lying here and there idle are not toxic, like mercury lamps or batteries, but they do not benefit the environment. Firstly, it is unaesthetic: the areas of landfills could be used with a larger payload, scattered cans will not decorate any city, and in nature some animal may be injured by them.

On the other hand, aluminum has convenient properties: it is light, ductile, not afraid of rust, and most importantly, it can be processed repeatedly without losing its properties.

About seven hundred recycled cans would be needed to make a bicycle. Every kilogram of recycled aluminum saves 14 kilowatt-hours of electricity. By recycling all the disused cans stored in landfills in Russia, you can save 75% of the annual capacity of the Bratsk hydroelectric power station. This is exactly how much electricity is consumed every year by the Bratsk Aluminum Smelter, Russia’s largest producer of primary aluminum.

Note! If you decide to collect aluminum cans for delivery to collection points, it is best to compact them at home and store them until you have accumulated at least a few kilograms.

Even collecting aluminum with your own hands by one person can bring some benefit - a kilogram of aluminum will bring you a couple of extra hundred rubles, a feeling of involvement in a great cause - environmental protection, as well as the absentee respect of Greenpeace and a bonus to karma.

What is produced from recycled aluminum

The ability to be recycled repeatedly with virtually no loss makes aluminum a very convenient material. Aluminum can is the most recyclable container.

We can say with confidence that 99% of the cans of drinks in the store or your refrigerator have already been waste more than once.

Three-quarters of all aluminum produced since the 1980s has been recycled and is still in use today, with smelting of recycled materials using only 5% of the energy required to produce the same mass of primary aluminum.

Recycled aluminum is used in the production of furniture, building materials, automotive, and aircraft manufacturing. Another area of ​​application of recycled metal is the production of aluminum composite panels for cladding buildings and fasteners for them. Aluminum T-profile, used to fasten furniture and hard flooring together, is also made from recycled materials.

Recycled aluminum is also used to reduce the amount of oxygen in steel and to produce components for metal-plastic windows and radiators.

The following video explains how to assemble a mini-smelter for melting aluminum at home using improvised materials:

Most aluminum products can be made from recycled materials; in production, such recycled metal is sometimes even more valuable. It’s worth starting to recycle cans and sort through cabinets - the income from turning in scraps of aluminum profiles and pipes from an old vacuum cleaner is just enough for a dozen new cans of something tasty.


Recycling. List of what can and cannot be recycled

The problem of garbage has become one of the most serious problems of our present and future. We produce every day. And as the population grows, we will produce even more waste. Therefore, recycling them has become an obvious necessity, but not all materials are recyclable. Here is a basic list of materials that can and cannot be recycled. However, a specific processing enterprise may have its own list, different from this one, more detailed or reduced. It all depends on the equipment and processing technology. Before recycling, materials and items must first be cleaned.

Metals and tin

Plastic

  1. PET or PETE (PET) - polyethylene terephthalate. You can read more about PET recycling in the article.
  2. HDPE (HDPE) – high density polyethylene.
  3. PVC (PVC) – polyvinyl chloride.
  4. LDPE (LDPE) – low density polyethylene.
  5. PP (PP) – polypropylene.
  6. PS (PS) – polystyrene.
  7. OTHER - a mixture of various plastics or polymers not listed above.

The number inside the symbol indicates the type of plastic. Plastics with a recycling logo and identification number (such as PET or No. 1 in the recycling triangle) can generally be recycled; plastics without the markings cannot be recycled. Also, polystyrene food trays are not currently recyclable.

Glass bottles and jars

(79,253 views | 14 views today)

Recycling and disposal of mercury-containing lamps
Recycling CRT monitors into ceramic tiles Recycling of waste paper. Technology and rationale

Removal, processing and disposal of waste from hazard classes 1 to 5

We work with all regions of Russia. Valid license. A complete set of closing documents. Individual approach to the client and flexible pricing policy.

Using this form, you can submit a request for services, request a commercial offer, or receive a free consultation from our specialists.

Send

Recycling aluminum cans and other scrap is a necessary process for the aluminum can and automobile markets. This process has certain difficulties. However, recycling is necessary for humanity, both environmentally and economically. Recycling plants make a significant contribution to life modern society.Especially considering the fact that cans take about 500 years to decompose.

Processing stages

The process includes several main steps. Let's look at everything separately.

Sorting

Sorting of scrap waste takes place at the plant. At this stage, the resulting raw materials are separated based on the documentation attached to it. If documentation is missing, then division is based on the following criteria:

  • External signs (color, specific gravity, hardness, markings)
  • Chemical composition (spectrum analysis, analysis chemical composition alloys)
  • Size (carried out using dry or wet screening, depending on the properties of the raw material, its processing technology, requirements regarding the quality of the screening products)
  • Magnetic properties and behavior in the magnetic field area
  • Density (gravity sorting)

Grinding

Bringing the metal to a state suitable for further processing (changing dimensions, separating parts, removing traces of other metals). There are several operations at this stage:

  • This is followed by the second stage of the process at the plant - processing of large-sized scrap and oversized lightweight aluminum - cutting and crushing
  • Briquette shaping or packaging
  • Processing of raw materials containing aluminum (electric motors, cables)

Drying

Giving recycled materials the required moisture content. To remelt the charge, the moisture value should not exceed 4%. For slags and flux - no more than 1%. The following drying methods are used:

  • Drum drying
  • Chamber drying (for lump scrap and waste)
  • Induction drying (for crushed flux)

Melting

Factories carry out processing in smelting furnaces. There are two types of ovens:

  • Heated by fuel (fuel oil or gas): crucibles for production with low metal consumption and baths.
  • Electrically heated: resistance and induction furnaces

Benefits of Recycling

Why is it worth recycling raw materials? Recycling aluminum has the following advantages:

  1. Processing in factories consumes 95% less energy than producing primary raw materials. That is, the energy spent on producing 1 aluminum can from virgin ore can be spent on producing 20 cans from recycled ore.
  2. Primary production emits 95% more greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the emissions of 900 thousand cars over 12 months.
  3. Recycling 1 ton of cans avoids about 9 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
  4. Reduced use natural resources And chemical substances. Eliminates the need to mine bauxite. Landscape changes stop.

Why you need to recycle

As compelling as the numbers are for efficiency, it's clear why humanity needs to recycle aluminum cans.

More than 100 billion aluminum cans are produced annually in US factories, but less than half are recycled. Added to this number are cans produced in other countries that were burned or disposed of in landfills. Every year, about 1.5 million tons of aluminum cans are used worldwide. Almost all of these cans are being replaced by others made from virgin raw materials.

The aluminum industry emits millions of tons of greenhouse gases every year, contributing to the progression of global warming. Despite the fact that aluminum cans account for only about a percent of all waste, their production from virgin raw materials emits 14% of greenhouse gases from total production.

At the same time, this metal can be recycled an infinite number of times. Its disposal is not advisable. Thrown into trash can the can can be recycled and returned to store shelves in just 60 days.

mob_info