Speira is pushing the boundaries of sustainability in the aluminium industry, leveraging advanced technologies and artificial intelligence to enhance transparency and efficiency in its recycling processes. The company’s commitment to sustainability is evident in its recent investments and innovations, which are not only improving operational efficiency but also reducing carbon emissions.
Last year, Speira introduced its first ‘transparent’ oven at the Hamburg plant, integrating Industry 4.0 technologies. This advanced system uses state-of-the-art sensor and camera technology to provide real-time insights into all furnace processes. The data collected enables continuous optimisation of operation and burner control, tailored to the mix of scrap and primary metal used. Artificial intelligence supports the operator by providing ideal times for alloying or dross removal, and the constant monitoring of the melt allows for targeted predictive maintenance, reducing downtimes and improving plant efficiency.
Following the success of the transparent oven, Speira decided to invest in four new tiltable rotary furnaces in its recycling plants. These furnaces also utilise artificial intelligence through a learning charge-mix optimisation solution. This technology enhances operational efficiency, reduces costs, and optimises the scrap mix. Dorothea Flockert, Head of Sustainability at Speira, emphasises that sustainability extends beyond decarbonisation. “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,” she states.
Speira’s commitment to transparency and sustainability is further demonstrated through its certified labels for sustainable solutions, ORBIS and RIVOS. ORBIS represents the company’s most circular products, embodying resource efficiency and reuse. RIVOS, on the other hand, focuses on carbon footprint and transparency, combining external scrap and low-carbon primary metal to maximise resource efficiency and minimise the carbon footprint of products.
The company provides detailed sustainability profiles for many of its products, including a product data sheet that shows the alloy’s chemical composition, batch, and 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.
Speira has ended its primary production after 62 years and is now focusing entirely on the recycling of aluminium. The company aims to realise the savings of up to 95% in energy and CO2 in this process compared to primary production. Speira is investing in existing and new recycling equipment to secure as many end-of-life scraps as possible, ensuring that none of its material is lost but is fully recovered from applications and sent into new life cycles in permanent quality.
The company operates one of the world’s most modern plants for recycling beverage cans at the site of the old smelter. The beverage can, with its short life cycle and mature closed (deposit) systems in Western Europe, is ideally suited for recycling. Speira also has the facilities and process expertise to recycle heavily contaminated scrap, such as oily, painted, or plastic-coated metals, and recovers as much aluminium as possible from slags and drosses.
In addition to its recycling efforts, Speira is redefining the limits of aluminium through development partnerships with customers. The company looks at existing and potential applications to determine where recycled aluminium can be used, ensuring the optimum product balance with the highest possible proportion of recycled material. For example, Speira’s recycling alloy VIA MARIS Njørdal has recently been certified by the Water Revolution Foundation, offering 15% higher strength compared to a standard high-strength alloy for shipbuilding, resulting in less material use, weight, and fuel consumption.
Speira’s innovations and commitments are setting a new standard for sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. By leveraging advanced technologies and artificial intelligence, the company is not only improving operational efficiency but also reducing carbon emissions and providing customers with detailed information on the ecological impact of products. This approach is likely to shape the development of the sector, encouraging other companies to adopt similar practices and driving the industry towards a more sustainable future.