KUBAL invests in a new recycling facility

The investment strengthens circular production, reduces climate impact and enables the production of aluminium products with one of the world’s lowest carbon footprints. The investment includes a completely new remelting facility for aluminium scrap, enabling increased recycling and a reduced need for primary raw material, while further lowering both energy use and emissions. The facility’s equipment is fully automated and has the capacity to recycle 31,500 tonnes of aluminium scrap per year.

The project is a multi-million investment, partly carried out with support from the Swedish Energy Agency, and is scheduled to become operational in 2027.

Aluminium with one of the world’s lowest carbon footprints through the use of renewable electricity, KUBAL already has a low climate footprint of around 4.5 tonnes of CO₂e per tonne of aluminium, significantly below the global average of around 12 tonnes of CO₂e per tonne of aluminium (GHG Protocol Scope 3).

The aim of the new facility is to reduce the climate footprint of KUBAL’s products even further. Recycled metal will be integrated directly into the existing production process, which is expected to lower carbon emissions from the current level of around 4.5 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of product to below 4 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of finished product. In addition, this means that customers can use the material directly in their manufacturing process, eliminating the need for additional remelting. The investment is expected to reduce KUBAL’s carbon emissions by approximately 20,000 tonnes per year.

Surplus heat from primary production will be recovered and used in the remelting process, which is expected to reduce energy use by approximately 3,000 MWh per year.

High energy efficiency and modern technology

The equipment will be supplied by Sistem Teknik and combines energy-efficient furnace technology, heat recovery and automation to ensure stable process control and high-quality remelted aluminium. The delivery includes a twin-chamber furnace, gas treatment facility (GTC), automatic charging machine, skim press and an automatic skimming machine. The project also includes a new factory building, including a scrap yard.

A future-focused investment that strengthens competitiveness

The new recycling facility is part of KUBAL’s long-term work to create more resource-efficient production and makes it possible to meet growing customer demands for sustainability and performance. “This investment creates better conditions for meeting future demands for resource-efficient and climate-adapted aluminium production,” says Mats Andersson, CEO, Kubikenborg Aluminium AB.