Speira, a leading aluminium producer, is making significant strides in transparency and sustainability by leveraging advanced technologies and artificial intelligence in its recycling processes. This shift is not just about improving efficiency and reducing carbon emissions but also about providing customers with detailed insights into the ecological impact of their products.
Last year, Speira installed its first ‘transparent’ oven at the Hamburg plant, integrating Industry 4.0 technologies. This oven uses innovative sensor and camera technology to provide real-time insights into all furnace processes. The data collected allows for continuous optimisation of operations and burner control, tailored to the specific mix of scrap and primary metal used. Artificial intelligence supports the operator by providing ideal times for alloying or dross removal, reducing wear and tear on hydraulic components, and enabling predictive maintenance. This results in reduced downtimes and improved plant efficiency.
Following this success, Speira invested in four new tiltable rotary furnaces across its recycling plants. These furnaces also utilise AI for charge-mix optimisation, enhancing operational efficiency, reducing costs, and optimising the scrap mix. Dorothea Flockert, Head of Sustainability at Speira, emphasises the company’s commitment to sustainability: “Sustainability goes beyond decarbonisation. It is in the way we speak to each other, how we make decisions, how we think and how we collaborate.”
Speira’s transparency extends to its customers, who receive detailed sustainability profiles with their deliveries. These profiles include the alloy’s chemical composition, batch details, and the precise proportions of internal, pre- and post-consumer scrap, as well as the individual ecological footprint. This level of transparency allows customers to make informed decisions about the most sustainable aluminium options.
The company has introduced two certified labels for sustainable solutions: ORBIS and RIVOS. ORBIS represents the most circular products, embodying resource efficiency and reuse, while RIVOS focuses on minimising the carbon footprint by combining external scrap and low-carbon primary metal. Both labels are third-party certified and designed to help customers choose the most sustainable aluminium.
Speira has ended its primary production after 62 years, focusing entirely on aluminium recycling. This shift aims to realise significant savings in energy and CO2 emissions compared to primary production. The company is investing in recycling equipment to secure as much end-of-life scrap as possible, ensuring that none of its material is lost and is fully recovered for new life cycles.
Speira’s efforts extend beyond beverage cans to include heavily contaminated scrap, such as oily, painted, or plastic-coated metals. The company also recycles slags and drosses, providing a special recycling service for the entire Norwegian aluminium industry. By working closely with customers, Speira is transforming linear business models into circular ones, ensuring that aluminium from customers returns to the company for recycling.
In development partnerships, Speira is redefining the limits of aluminium by exploring where recycled aluminium can replace primary aluminium or other materials. The company’s recycling alloy VIA MARIS Njørdal, for example, has been certified by the Water Revolution Foundation for its high strength and reduced material use, leading to less fuel consumption and improved vessel performance.
Speira’s commitment to transparency and sustainability is setting a new benchmark in the aluminium industry. By providing detailed sustainability profiles and investing in advanced recycling technologies, the company is empowering customers to make informed decisions and contributing to a more circular and sustainable future. This approach challenges the industry to prioritise transparency and sustainability, fostering a more responsible and efficient use of resources.