Aluminium (REFIAL)
REFIAL is a member of the Otua Group, a prominent European metals recycling company with over 40 years of experience.
It was founded in 2010 and it is an aluminium refinery specialized in supplying aluminum from secondary smelting and incorporated innovative treatment technology to valorize aluminum.
The group comprises 8 industrial companies focused on recycling, distribution, and research, with a total of over 200.000 m2 of industrial facilities.
Demo Case objectives
TRINEFLEX approach could contribute to adopt zero waste and circular-economy principles encouraging the use of complex polymeric streams generated as by-products as an alternative source of energy.
It will be applied with the aim of:
- Optimizing the process and enabling its flexibility through digital retrofitting and digital-twinning
- Integrating and valorizing Waste Derived Fuel (WDF) in the energy mix to reduce electric energy consumption
ACTIVITIES
The following activities will be carried out in the REFIAL plant within the TRINEFLEX project:
Digital retrofitting to generate knowledge on feedstock properties, thermal processes, recycling, and hydrogen recovery and storage will be implemented. The focus will be on identifying gaps, optimizing configurations and expanding the current sensor network.
Digital Twinning and Validation will be implemented to increase equipment availability, flexibility, efficiency, and reliability.
Available Waste Derived Fuel will be integrated and valorized in the energy mix through pyrogasification process.
TRINEFLEX approach will be focus on the ROTARY FURNACE, the part of the process with more energy consumption.
Selected scraps enter in the melting process in a rotary furnace powered by electric energy, natural gas, and oxygen.
The demonstration tests will be carried out put in a pilot rotary furnace, already used for scrap characterization, that is equipped with sensors that allow the monitoring of the process.
In addition, the inclusion of a waste-to-energy equipment in a semi-industrial scale would be tested in TRINEFLEX, in order to reduce electric energy consumption.
