AL Circle: European aluminium producers are facing a convergence of rising energy costs and CBAM enforcement. From your recent projects, what percentage of production cost do energy-intensive processes like smelting and refining represent? Can MetAllic's process redesign realistically tip the cost balance in favour of EU-based production?
Erman Car: In the past, we only considered raw material, energy and labour costs when calculating the cost of production. Now, carbon and health & safety costs must be considered. In this context, MetAllic offers three important services:
AL Circle: You emphasise recycling of low-grade feedstocks. Given that Europe currently recycles about 50-60 per cent of its aluminium scrap, what technical bottlenecks prevent higher recovery rates, and how is MetAllic addressing them?
Erman Car: The concept of sustainability should be viewed as a “holistic system”.
Sustainability policies are not just ecological and technical issues; they have also political and cultural dimensions.
The most frequently raised issue in this regard is scrap availability and scrap quality.
I would like to ask another question: Is there enough facility capacity, especially in Europe, to process available scrap adequately?
The most important parameter in a recycling facility is metal yield. If you have a higher metal yield than your competitors—which also indicates high energy efficiency and low carbon emissions—you can access scrap much more easily.
The political and cultural aspect of the work is mostly the work of the policy makers.
AL Circle: The EV and renewable sectors increasingly require ultra-high-purity aluminium. Are current recycling streams and technologies meeting those requirements, or does a structural mismatch still exist? Can you quantify the yield or quality deficits you're helping clients overcome?
Erman Car: Here,”ultra purity high aluminium” is not a correct determination. Perhaps the question should be asked this way: can secondary aluminium alloys replace primary aluminium in EV applications? There's currently limited secondary material use. The most radical solution at this point might be to design a new, more recyclable alloy. Indeed, this is evident when we look at the historical evolution of aluminium alloy chemical standards and OEMs' own standards. It can be defined as the ideal size of this work.
On the other hand, the development and widespread use of sensor-based sorting systems in scrap preparation processes, as well as developments in melting and refining processes, seem to make it possible to use more and more secondary materials every day.
AL Circle: Digital twins and AI are buzzwords across the industry, but where have you actually seen them deliver measurable gains, say in percentage improvements in yield, energy efficiency, or predictive maintenance?
Erman Car: The most important advantage of these technologies is that they enable continuous and accurate process monitoring. In other words, they offer significant opportunities in the "diagnosis" phase, or in the prevention phase before problems arise. The next step will be to "produce treatment methods" in the light of this accurate data. The most important issue in reaching the treatment stage is accurate information sharing and transparency between technology suppliers and recycling plants/casthouses.
AL Circle: Many European aluminium smelters and recyclers are grappling with high capital intensity for decarbonisation. From your vantage point, which upgrades deliver the fastest payback amongst waste heat recovery, electrification, or sorting precision?
Erman Car: At this point, we need to focus on two key issues in the short term: using more secondary materials and focusing on energy efficiency. While some improvements require additional investment, others are possible through process design changes. At MEtAllic, we are particularly focused on process changing/improvement.
AL Circle: Global supply chains are fragmenting, with aluminium scrap flows increasingly regionalised. Do you see Europe becoming self-sufficient in secondary aluminium, or will dependency on imported scrap persist despite higher local collection rates?
Erman Car: Aluminium and its alloys are materials used in almost every industry. I don't have the statistical information to answer this question. However, it seems clear that scrap exports in European countries will decrease or even disappear. In this context, I'd like to respond to your question with a question I posed above: Is there enough facility capacity, especially in Europe, to process available scrap adequately?
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