With a capacity of around 40 tons, the new furnace will be replacing two of the three existing systems.
The TRIMET Executive Board, headed by Chairman Philipp Schlüter, Plant Manager Jens Meinecke and the employees of TRIMET’s Gelsenkirchen plant ceremoniously put the new system into operation this Friday. “Around 90 percent of the aluminium in circulation is recycled, and the total quantity of recycled light metal continues to increase as a result of increasing demand. So it is only logical for us to consistently invest in expanding our capacities and modernising our plants,” said Philipp Schlüter, Chairman of the Executive Board of TRIMET Aluminium SE.
The new rotary furnace significantly increases remelting capacities at the TRIMET plant in Gelsenkirchen. Along with its installation, the infrastructure and exhaust system of the secondary smelter were modernised and expanded. “The employees have put their heart and soul into the planning and remodelling with a great deal of flexibility. We are proud of this, because only in this way could everything be carried out smoothly without interrupting operations. At the same time, we are all happy that we can now concentrate fully on remelting aluminium scrap into high-quality products,” said Jens Meinecke, head of TRIMET’s Gelsenkirchen plant.
The furnace has a self-controlling burner system that switches between oxygen and air during the production of the fuel mixture, depending on requirements. This not only significantly reduces energy consumption, it also increases the proportion of recycled metal. In addition, the furnace is equipped with intelligent charging technology, which enables faster filling and can process larger quantities of material per smelting process.
At the TRIMET plant in Gelsenkirchen, around 100 employees produce standard alloys and customer-specific special alloys from recycled aluminium. Most of the scrap comes from customers in the region. The aluminium recycled without any loss of quality is often delivered to them for further processing in vehicle construction applications or in the electrical and machine-building industry.
