“As we head into 2024/2025, we believe there will be a very large increase in scrap melting capacity throughout North America of approximately 2.5 billion lbs. in increased melt capacity,” Michael Siemer, President & CEO of Sortera Technologies

Michael Siemer is the President and CEO of Sortera Technologies. Before joining Sortera, Mr Siemer served as president of OSIsoft, the data management platform company now part of Aveva, where he oversaw the strategic vision and future of OSIsoft, created and led the new executive committee and supported the company’s global revenue growth and subscription transition. Prior to OSIsoft, he served as vice president of operations technology at Devon Energy. He has a BS in electrical engineering from Syracuse University, an MS in electrical engineering from Colorado State University, and an MBA from Oklahoma Christian University.

In this interview, Mr Siemer shares his overview of the aluminium recycling and sorting industry in the Americas and the role Sortera is playing in this sector with its advanced technologies and knowledge.

AL Circle: Can you please explain the techniques and technologies you use for sorting and separating mixed aluminum alloys into individual ones?

Michael Siemer: Sorting of mixed materials requires not just the appropriate sensor application but the software technology to create low-cost, high volume, high accuracy sorting. Sortera Technologies uses proprietary sensors along with visual and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to accurately identify various characteristics of each piece to make a data driven decisions on what each piece is, creating a more precise sortation.

AL Circle: Please enlighten us on the characteristics of the Sortera Aluminum Small Cast Package and Sortera Aluminum Large Cast Package. Also, tell us about their applications.

Michael Siemer: Using our full sensor stack, we can further sort alloys to be not just more specific, but even create a custom alloy blend that achieves even greater value. Sortera has approached sorting from the end user’s perspective, as we believe that to solve a problem, it is easier and more successful when you fully understand the entire value chain. 

AL Circle How much has your sorting technology advanced recycling and built a circular economy in North America? Can you please share a case study?

Michael Siemer: Sortera has been working with OEM’s and Tier 1 suppliers to help provide data and physically sorted scrap to enable a circular economy in the automobile space.  Scrap has long been recycled but not up-cycled, which is our focus and opportunity. Sortera is focused on up-cycling materials to optimize the use of scrap and enable the circular economy in our category. Sortera's technology is achieving higher purity sortation than industry standard sorting technology, which is creating the automotive circular economy in North America.

AL Circle: How much consumption of recycled aluminum do you expect in North and South America at the end of 2023? Which industrial sector has driven this year’s consumption so far?

Michael Siemer: We believe that the amount of scrap consumption in 2023 will be like the trends of 2022, as new melting capacities have not been installed. As we head into 2024/2025, we believe there will be a very large increase in scrap melting capacity throughout North America of approximately 2.5 billion lbs. in increased melt capacity.

AL Circle: How close do you find yourself to your vision of 100% reuse of metals recovered from end-of-life products to manufacture similar items?

Michael Siemer: 100% reuse of metals recovered from end-of-life is a journey and an achievement will take place in segments.  One stage is to ensure that customers broaden their specs, which they are currently doing, and they are beginning to examine and create new alloys streams to support more scrap consumption.  The other stages require data from the end-of-life scrap stream as it will change every 3-5 years, based on new aluminum components entering the scrap stream.  To achieve significant change, we must challenge ourselves with a lofty goal that are both meaningful to society while impactful to the bottom-line of a business.

AL Circle: Between North America and South America, which is the main driver of recycled aluminum demand? Can you tell us the aluminum recycling rate in the two regions?

Michael Siemer: Recycle rates differ by category, for instance the aluminum can is the highest recycled product around the world.  South America has the highest UBC recycle rate in the world at around 98%, due to a population with a lower income that will collect the scrap based on value as they are in an emerging economy with a lower GDP per household.  North American on the other hand, is a developed economy where many people will not collect cans, with the current rate around 45%.  There is also a fragmented deposit system, where some states provide incentives for the recycling of UBC’s by charging a deposit and returning it to the consumer when they return the can after consumption.

Other scrap items vary in consumption rates due to the chemical make-up of the item.  Sortera Technologies can sort mixed materials at a level that will allow wrought packages and cast packages to be consumed domestically, rather than being exported and usually downgraded in quality.

AL Circle: What are the key features of your sorting technologies? How do they stand out in the global market? Do you plan to introduce any new technology in the near future?

Michael Siemer: Our technology is driven by data collection and multi-sensor machines to provide repeatable sortation based on probability.  The probability allows us to create custom packages that can target customer specification ranges, allowing the cast houses to focus on lowering the operational costs.

We plan to expand our current technology over the next 2 years and are in process of developing a next generation sorting technology that will help reduce the cost of sorting mixed materials, collect data of the mixed streams, and provide transparency of the materials to various industries.

AL Circle: How are you contributing to the sustainability of the North and South American aluminum industry through your sorting and recycling processes?

Michael Siemer: Sustainability is core to our vision, and we believe that we can contribute to the circular economy in a meaningful way, without causing additional harm to the environment through emissions or pollution. We recognize the inefficiency of the mixed aluminum market and the supply/demand gap of the coming decade and have developed technology to enable the up-cycling of materials that have historically been exported due to the lack of sorting technology. This will allow the North American market to retain valuable scrap resources, create a stronger aluminum products industry for years to come, while contributing to the circular economy.