
Aluminum Dross Crushing Process
Material Evaluation and Cooling
Aluminum dross must be completely cooled and evaluated before mechanical crushing. Material temperature, metallic aluminum content, salt content, moisture, particle size and chemical composition should be checked before the equipment configuration is selected.
Hot dross, molten material, fine reactive powder and aluminum waste of unknown composition must not be treated as ordinary crusher feed.
Pre-Breaking and Controlled Feeding
Oversized solid lumps may require mechanical pre-breaking before entering the crusher. Prepared material is then transferred into the crushing chamber by a conveyor or suitable feeding device.
The feeding rate should be controlled according to the dross lump size, hardness, bulk density and crusher load.
Hammer Crushing
A high-speed rotor drives the hammers to repeatedly impact and break the solid dross. Friction and compression between the hammers, liner plates and screen grate further reduce the material inside the crushing chamber.
Screen-Controlled Discharge
Material that meets the selected screen opening is discharged from the crusher, while oversized pieces remain inside for further crushing.
The final particle-size distribution depends on the incoming dross condition, hammer configuration, screen opening and feeding rate.
Screening and Classification
The crushed material can pass through screening equipment to separate coarse metallic fractions, intermediate material and fine residue according to the required recovery process.
Screen openings and the number of classification stages should be selected according to the metallic aluminum distribution within the processed material.
Optional Ferrous Metal Removal
Magnetic separation may be added when the processed material contains iron or steel contamination from handling equipment, furnace components or mixed scrap.
Magnetic separation does not recover aluminum and does not remove salt, oxide or chemical contamination.
Material Collection
Different particle-size fractions are transferred to separate collection areas for further metal recovery, residue treatment or disposal according to their composition.
Dust Collection and Safety Control
Crushing and screening dry dross may generate fine particles and dust. Enclosed feeding, sealed transfer points and a suitable dust collection system should be selected according to the material composition and local safety requirements.
Collected aluminum-bearing dust may remain combustible or reactive. It must be handled, stored and processed according to the actual material properties and applicable safety requirements.