The Effect of Mg-Content on the Efficiency of Metal Recovery by the Thermo-Mechanical Treatment of Aluminium Melting Dross

Abstract

Scrap based aluminium production is increasing rapidly, however it generates significant amounts of dross of high metallic content. It is common to treat the dross at high temperature in a rotary “converter” furnace to recover most of the entrapped metal. The efficiency of this process depends on many factors, and the Mg content of the metallic phase is important. We have examined an extensive industrial data base and carried out experiments with a laboratory scale rotary furnace to compare the tapped metal yields from dross tapes divided in groups by the Mg-concentrations of the “mother alloys” generating them primarily. It has been found that a medium Mg-content in the metallic phase can offer the best yields.