Highly Efficient Vacuum Smelting of Aluminum

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Program:
Exploratory Topics
Award:
$500,000
Location:
Lexington, Kentucky
Status:
ALUMNI
Project Term:
04/15/2020 - 04/14/2022

Technology Description:

UHV Technologies will develop and demonstrate an innovative aluminum smelting technology that will significantly increase the range of aluminum alloys that can be manufactured from recycled scrap aluminum. This will reduce the need for primary aluminum with corresponding energy and environmental benefits. Using UHV’s patented high-throughput sorter, aluminum alloys will be pre-sorted, then melted in an energy-efficient vacuum furnace to avoid the typical 5% metal loss from molten metal oxidation, allowing for lower-cost production of high-value aluminum alloys. Currently ~60% of total U.S. aluminum usage comes from recycling. The proposed technology can be used as a point-of-use smelter at various foundries resulting in almost 50% energy savings during the melting of recycled aluminum to make products.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Zak Fang
Project Contact:
Dr. Nalin Kumar
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
KUMARMAPLE@AOL.COM

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Release Date:
05/20/2020