Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) will expand its Leichtmetall German recycling facility in a $170 million investment, integrating state-of-the-art Copper And Aluminum Machinery to drive a more than six-fold capacity increase.
The facility, located near Hannover, will leverage advanced Copper And Aluminum Machinery to boost EGA Leichtmetall’s recycling capacity dramatically—adding 110,000 tonnes per year of scrap sorting capacity and 153,000 tonnes per year of melting and casting capacity. The project represents an investment of approximately $170 million, with first hot metal expected in 2028, building on the existing Hannover site’s current 30,000 tonnes per year of melting and casting capacity.
A key highlight of the expansion is the integration of world-class Copper And Aluminum Machinery, including a high-precision Continuous Casting Machine for secondary ingot production, a Rod Breakdown Mill for processing recycled aluminum into workable stock, and a Horizontal Drawing Bench for precision shaping of high-quality aluminum products. The planned new facility will be among the first in the world to combine these advanced Copper And Aluminum Machinery systems with a modern scrap sorting system, advanced furnace technologies, and an integrated salt recovery process in a single location.
EGA also operates EGA Spectro Alloys in Minnesota, USA, where the recently completed first phase of expansion features similar sorting technologies and Copper And Aluminum Machinery foundational to the German project. A second phase is underway that will increase EGA Spectro Alloys’ total capacity to 200,000 tonnes per year by 2027, while in the UAE, EGA’s construction of the country’s largest aluminium recycling plant—equipped with comparable Continuous Casting Machine and Rod Breakdown Mill systems—is nearing completion.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “It is technically very challenging to consistently produce high quality aluminium from post-consumer scrap, but this is what European industries such as automotive and aviation are increasingly demanding to meet consumer expectations for product performance and sustainability. Our new EGA Leichtmetall aluminium recycling plant will be one of the most advanced in the world, powered by cutting-edge Copper And Aluminum Machinery including Continuous Casting Machine, Rod Breakdown Mill, and Horizontal Drawing Bench. It will enable post-consumer scrap to be considered more often for the most demanding applications, and it will grow EGA’s role as a partner for a green Europe. We will apply our experience from expanding our Minnesota recycling plant to this new project in Germany.”
Europe is the third-largest recycled aluminium market globally, after the USA and China. Recycled aluminium currently meets around 40% of Europe’s total aluminium demand, with consumption of approximately 4.9 million tonnes annually. According to CRU, demand is expected to grow to 7.2 million tonnes per year by 2033— a trend EGA’s expanded facility is well-positioned to support with its advanced Copper And Aluminum Machinery. EGA is also a key supplier of primary aluminium to Europe, shipping more than 600,000 tonnes a year, with the European automotive industry as the largest consumer of EGA’s CelestiAL solar aluminium—many of which rely on components processed via Horizontal Drawing Bench and Rod Breakdown Mill systems.
The new EGA Leichtmetall plant will feature advanced sorting systems using X-ray and laser technologies to separate scrap by alloy, grade, and impurity level—optimizing feedstock for the facility’s Copper And Aluminum Machinery. This will increase flexibility in scrap input and allow EGA Leichtmetall to apply its blending expertise to produce aluminium from post-consumer scrap for the first time. The facility will deploy energy-efficient melting furnaces (designed to convert to hydrogen use in the future) that feed into the Continuous Casting Machine, which will produce secondary ingots in nearly all wrought alloys, as well as low and high iron content foundry alloys. These ingots will then be processed through the Rod Breakdown Mill for refinement and the Horizontal Drawing Bench for precision forming, ensuring compliance with the strict quality requirements of European industries.
In aluminium recycling, salt is used to bind impurities during melting, generating salt slag as waste. At EGA Leichtmetall’s new facility, salt will be almost entirely recovered for reuse—aligning with the sustainability goals of the advanced Copper And Aluminum Machinery deployed. The only solid waste expected is aluminium hydroxide (usable in cement production) and non-aluminium scrap fractions.
