Washington Mills develops a process to recycle spent fused alumina and put it back to manufacturing chain

Washington Mills has developed a process to collect spent fused alumina and recycle it back into the manufacturing process. Washington Mills is the sole manufacturer of fused alumina in the U.S., which is widely used as a raw material in refractories. Over 150,000 tonnes of fused alumina is consumed in the U.S. every year with a very small portion of that is recycled. Prices for the raw materials used to manufacture fused aluminium oxide have increased to the highest levels in history. Bauxite prices have also more than doubled and the reserves are depleting, the factors being growing demand from China, strict environmental controls on calcined bauxite and increased logistic and power costs. This has encouraged the need for the recycling of aluminium oxide or alumina.

Spent aluminium oxide, which normally disposed at the landfill, is now considered for recycling due to tighter landfill regulations, higher freight costs and landfill costs. In an attempt to address this disposal problem, Washington Mills has worked with the customers of its BLASTITE® BT abrasive blasting grain to collect the spent alumina and recycle it and put it back into the manufacturing chain.

Washington Mills has been investing liberally for years in the R&D towards implementing closed-loop recycling of aluminium oxide. Most of the industry players chose to source aluminium oxide from China, but, Washington Mills continued the manufacture of fused alumina in North America. Now, it is working towards re-introducing the spent aluminium oxide into its furnace. They mix the spent aluminium oxide with new bauxite, and the mixture is fed into furnaces that have been specially designed to melt and purify the liquid abrasive. The company has expertise in furnace technology that helps it transform the spent alumina into fresh raw materials. The process requires the furnace to be charged with a raw material mix that has the correct stability and chemistry for the materials to fuse safely and effectively.

Although it is challenging, recycling is beneficial in terms of offering a greater level of service to customers and in manufacturing a high-quality product in competitive price. Washington Mills believes that it is helping customers save disposal costs and save the environment with its recycling technology. The company aims to maximize the customer experience by continuously innovating on its closed loop recycling process.