The Aluminium Life Circle

As time passes by, aluminium remains.

The rims of your new car may have been your grandmother's coffee pot. Few materials have a longer lifespan than aluminium. It can be recycled over and over without deteriorating. Therefore, your grandmother's coffee pot may have been reincarnated as new rims, or maybe your sunglasses have been a toaster in a past life.

Aluminum is the art of opportunity and the metal of the future.

It is light and strong.

It is malleable.

It conducts power.

It has a long lifespan.

It can be recycled for eternity.

Welcome to the Aluminium Museum!

Aluminium is the third most common element, and the most widely used.

Aluminium does not occur in pure form and must be extracted.

Aluminium production starts with the extraction of the clay mineral bauxite.

The richest bauxite is found in tropical regions in South America, Australia and Africa.

Bauxite is found a few meters below the earth’s crust.

Alumina (aluminium oxide) is extracted from bauxite utilizing lye (caustic soda).

Alumina is used to produce aluminium through electrolysis.

The whole process, from bauxite extraction to alumina, causes several environmental problems.

Bauxite extraction involves the removal of vegetation, rock and clay, and interventions in nature are large.

Extraction of alumina from bauxite leaves large amounts of so-called “red mud”.

Depositing vast amounts of red mud consumes a lot of space and there is the possibility of leakage into the environment.

Although red mud is washed and filtered before it ends up in landfill, it still contains harmful heavy metals and a great amount of lye.

As long as recycling doesn’t meet the demand for aluminium, bauxite extraction and oxide production will continue to constitute a dilemma for the industry.

Several measures however, have been implemented to reduce the impact on the environment.

Extensive reforestation programs and a focus on recycling are reducing the environmental impact.

Aluminum was first manufactured by the Danish scientist Hans Christian Ørsted in 1825

In the 1850s, aluminum was worth more than gold

In the late 1880s industrial aluminum production was made possible

Austrian Karl Bayer discovered how aluminum oxide could be produced in large quantities

The American Charles Hall and Frenchman Paul Heroult independently discovered how aluminum could be made by electrolysis

Up until the 1890s, aluminum factories were founded in the USA, Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom

In 1908, the British company Baco started aluminum production in Norway

Affordable hydropower attracted foreign companies to establish an aluminum industry in Norway.

Today it’s the other way around. The Norwegian aluminum industry is dominated by Hydro, which invests abroad

Aluminium is produced by electrolysis of alumina (aluminium oxide).

4-7 tonnes of bauxite = 2 tonnes of alumina = 1 tonne of aluminium.

The aluminium atom in the white oxide powder is bound to oxygen. This band must be broken by electrolysis to obtain the metal aluminium.

The process takes place in electrolytic cells (large vessels) at the aluminium plants.

The largest aluminium plants have more than 1000 electrolytic cells connected in series.

In the cells, alumina is dissolved in an electrolytic bath (which conducts electrical current) together with cryolite.

A strong direct current (DC) is then run between a negative cathode and a positive anode.

The anodes are made of carbon weighing about 1 tonne. There are up to 40 anodes in each cell.

The anodes are immersed in the melt, and are consumed during the process.

The entire cell bottom and sides are lined with carbon and acts as the cathode.

The negative oxide ions are drawn towards the positive anode forming CO2.

The positive aluminium ions are drawn towards the negative cathode and become aluminium.

The liquid metal sinks to the bottom of the electrolytic vessel and is drained therefrom.

The large melting furnaces in the foundry are like the heart of a volcano. The intense heat keeps the metal flowing.

Liquid aluminium is cast into bars, press bolts and roller blocks in the form of various alloys.

Adding small amounts of metals changes the qualities of the aluminium.

It is most common to add copper, magnesium and silicon.

Mixed properly, an aluminium alloy can be as strong as steel, while its weight is only one-third.

Aluminium alloys are often used in designs and products where low weight and rust safety (resistance?) are required.

The alloys can provide greater strength, gloss and ductility, depending on what the metal is being used for.

In Holmestrand, roll blocks are made of recycled aluminium. Weight and length vary, but normally the blocks are 7. 05 metres long x 1. 30 metres wide. The thickness is 33 cm and the weight is around 8400 kg.

Between 45 and 55 roll blocks are cast every day in Holmestrand.

There is a distinction between hot and cold rolling mills.

The aluminium is treated while hot in the hot rolling mill. It makes the metal flexible and easy to shape. The process is called rough rolling.

Further processing and reduction to aluminium sheets and strips takes place in the cold rolling mill.

The sheets and strips get different widths and thicknesses depending on the use.

A sheet ingot can be rolled from a thickness of 60 cm to foil just 0.006 mm thick.

The metal itself forms a protective oxide coating and is very rust proof.

Different types of surface treatment can further enhance these properties.

In Holmestrand, Hydro operates an advanced paint plant in addition to the rolling mill.

Lacquering gives you an unlimited range of colours, with varying shine and consistent colour rendering.

The lacquering plant in Holmestrand is one of few in the world able to paint both sides of the strips simultaneously.

Holmestrand supplies rolled and lacquered aluminium sheets and strips for building products, food packaging, multilayer pipes and tealight cups.

Aluminium can be extruded and molded into a variety of pipes and profiles.

Aluminium press bolts are heated up to 500 °C and then pressed through a tool (like  toothpaste out of a tube) to create profiles for various products.

The extrusion rate varies depending on the alloy and the complexity of the profile.

The profile is pressed out on an outlet table. It is stretched and cooled before being cut and cured for further processing and finishing.

Extruded products are supplied to the building, transport, automotive and energy industries to name a but a few.

Aluminium is increasingly used instead of copper in heat exchangers and air conditioners.

Aluminium can be shaped in infinite ways. It is of great importance, as new uses for the metal are constantly being developed.

Aluminium is all around us in everyday life…

Aluminium in cars.

Aluminium at sea.

Aluminium in buildings.

Aluminium as packaging.

Aluminium as protection.

Aluminium in the energy industry.

Aluminium in furniture.

Aluminium in trains.

Aluminium in aircraft.

Aluminium in bicycles.

Aluminium foil in beverage cartons.

Aluminium in print shops.

Aluminium in household appliances.

Aluminium in interiors.

Aluminium in architecture.

Aluminium in art.

Aluminium in laptops.

Aluminium in phones.

Hydropower + aluminium = infinity machines.

Hydroelectric power has been at the heart of the development of Norway as an industrial nation.

There has been an aluminium industry in Norway for more than 100 years.

Producing elemental aluminium is very energy-intensive.

Norway is one of the world’s largest aluminium producing countries.

Research and expertise have reduced power consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Green energy makes Norway's aluminium production one of the cleanest in the world.

Aluminium is a resource bank.

The metal can be recycled indefinitely.

75 per cent of all aluminium produced is recycled.

There are many sources of recycled aluminium…

20 recycled cans, can be made with the same amount of energy that is required to produce the aluminium to make one can.

In Holmestrand, Hydro annually produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of aluminium products based on recycling.

All cans returned in Norway, are recycled at Hydro Holmestrand.

Every can counts! Let your can get a new life in Holmestrand!