Aluminum Cans Recycling: Complete Shredding and Sorting Solutions for UBC Recovery
Aluminum cans are ubiquitous in daily life and constitute a significant portion of global scrap recycling streams. With China's waste aluminum can recycling rate estimated at approximately 82%—among the highest in the world—over 160,000 tons of used beverage cans (UBCs) are recovered annually. However, a large portion of recycled cans is currently downgraded into lower-value applications. Haoxing Machinery provides advanced shredding, crushing, and sorting systems designed to maximize aluminum recovery purity and enable true closed-loop recycling, where UBCs are transformed back into high-quality can stock or premium secondary aluminum ingots.
The Value of Aluminum Can Recycling
Recycling aluminum cans delivers substantial environmental and economic benefits. Compared to primary aluminum production from bauxite ore, recycling UBCs saves up to 92% of the energy required for smelting. Approximately one-quarter of recycled aluminum is used to manufacture new can stock, while the remainder serves as feedstock for automotive castings, motor components, and as a deoxidizer in steelmaking. Importantly, aluminum suffers no degradation in quality regardless of how many times it is recycled, making it a truly sustainable material.
In secondary aluminum smelting, the direct recovery rate of aluminum from UBCs under strict operational conditions—whether using reverberatory or crucible furnaces—typically reaches only about 83%, with additional secondary-grade aluminum recovered from dross refining. By employing mechanical shredding, crushing, and advanced sorting before melting, Haoxing's processing lines significantly improve overall metal yield and final product purity, enabling smelters to achieve higher efficiency and reduced melt loss.
Typical Aluminum Can Recycling Process Flow
Collected waste aluminum cans first undergo flattening and baling, along with basic sorting and washing to remove gross contaminants. The baled or loose cans are then fed into a dedicated shredding and crushing system. Haoxing Machinery offers three optimized processing routes to suit different throughput requirements and investment levels:
Option 1: Briquetting → Dual-Shaft Shredding → Hammer Milling → Eddy Current Separation
Ideal for: Large-scale recycling centers processing over 30 tons per day.
Loose UBCs are compressed into high-density bales (bulk density up to 400–600 kg/m³) using a can briquetting press. The bales are fed via chain plate conveyor into a dual-shaft shredder for primary size reduction, tearing the compacted material into strips. A hammer mill crusher then pulverizes the material into 5–20 mm granules, simultaneously liberating paint, plastic liners, and other coatings. Finally, an eddy current separator precisely extracts clean aluminum granules, achieving purity levels of ≥99%.
Option 2: Flattening → Dual-Shaft Shredding → Hammer Milling → Eddy Current Separation
Ideal for: Medium-sized yards processing 10–30 tons per day.
This configuration replaces the briquetting press with a can flattener, which reduces can volume for efficient conveyor feeding. Flattened cans enter a dual-shaft shredder for coarse breakdown, followed by fine grinding in a hammer mill. The crushed mixture then passes through an eddy current separator to recover aluminum granules with a purity of ≥98.5%. This route offers a balanced approach between capital cost and operational efficiency.
Option 3: Direct Crushing → Eddy Current Separation
Ideal for: Small-scale recyclers processing under 10 tons per day.
The most compact solution: Loose UBCs are fed directly into a UBC-specific hammer mill crusher equipped with a large feed opening and powered feed rollers. The crusher pulverizes the cans in a single pass, and the resulting mixture is processed by an eddy current separator to yield aluminum granules with purity ≥98%. This route minimizes initial investment and footprint while delivering fast payback.
From Shredded Granules to Recycled Ingots
After mechanical processing, the clean aluminum granules are concentrated and melted in a furnace. Under high temperatures, the aluminum transforms into molten metal, which is then cast into large ingots or directly into new can stock. Whether producing alloy aluminum ingots for can manufacturing or off-grade ingots for steelmaking deoxidation, the shredding and sorting stage is critical to achieving high metal recovery rates and minimizing melt loss.
Process Comparison Summary
| Comparison Criteria | Option 1 (Briquetting + Shredding + Crushing) | Option 2 (Flattening + Shredding + Crushing) | Option 3 (Direct Crushing) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investment Cost | High | Medium | Low |
| Processing Efficiency | Very High | High | Moderate |
| Footprint | Large | Medium | Small |
| Final Aluminum Purity | ≥99% | ≥98.5% | ≥98% |
| Recommended Daily Throughput | >30 tons | 10–30 tons | <10 tons |
Haoxing Machinery is committed to advancing aluminum can recycling through robust, high-efficiency shredding and sorting equipment. Whether you operate a small collection yard or a large-scale secondary smelter, our tailored solutions help maximize metal recovery, reduce energy consumption, and support a truly circular aluminum economy.
Used Aluminum Can Crushing and Pulverizing Processing Flow：
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