Hydro’s aluminium plant in Commerce, Texas, is now certified to produce Hydro CIRCAL, a low-carbon recycled aluminium product containing at least 75 per cent post-consumer, end of life scrap. The plant is Hydro’s first in the United States certified to produce Hydro CIRCAL.

The news came after the independent risk management and quality assurance company DNV-GL issued the certificate for production on May 18, 2022.

It will increase the production of Hydro CIRCAL to meet the growing demand for aluminium in the automotive and transportation sector as auto manufacturers are switching to electric vehicles. The initial annual production of the plant is expected to be around 4,000 tonnes.

Trond Gjellesvik, President of Hydro Aluminum Metal, North America, said: “With auto manufacturers switching to electric vehicles, combined with the growing need for aluminum, we see this as an opportunity to bring large-scale production of Hydro CIRCAL. We help forward-leaning customers reach their climate ambitions by delivering products with a lower carbon footprint that promote a more circular economy.”

Hydro is working hard toward positioning itself as a leading producer of low-carbon, recycled aluminium in North America. It will help them save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions as aluminium scrap recycling requires only 5 per cent of the energy used in producing primary aluminium. Hydro has already set a target to double its post-consumer scrap recycling by 2025.

Dan Luckett, Plant Manager at Hydro Commerce, commented: “We are seeing interest from several aluminum extrusion companies and leading OEMs and look forward to partnering with them to further expand production of automotive products with Hydro CIRCAL at Commerce. This is a great recognition of the work being done by the team at Commerce and in North America. We have been able to learn from the pioneering steps taken by Hydro to produce CIRCAL at our plant at Deeside in the UK and successfully implement that here in the U.S.”