Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) has unveiled plans for a major expansion of its EGA Leichtmetall facility in Germany.
Situated near Hannover, the new development will boost the plant’s recycling capacity by more than six times, with an additional 110,000 tonnes per year in scrap sorting capacity and 153,000 tonnes per year in melting and casting capacity.
This move is part of Emirates Global Aluminum’s efforts to enhance its sustainability initiatives and strengthen its presence in the global aluminum market.
The project represents an investment of approximately $170 million, with the first hot metal expected in 2028.
EGA Leichtmetall’s existing Hannover site has a melting and casting capacity of around 30 thousand tons per year. The planned new facility will be among the first in the world to combine a state-of-the-art scrap sorting system, advanced furnace technologies, and an integrated salt recovery process in a single location.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban CEO – EGA
“It is technically very challenging to consistently produce high-quality aluminum 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 aluminum recycling plant will be one of the most advanced in the world. 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.”
EGA is also a key supplier of primary aluminum to Europe, shipping over 600,000 tons annually. The European automotive industry is the largest consumer of EGA’s CelestiAL solar aluminum.
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. This will increase flexibility in scrap input and allow EGA Leichtmetall to apply its decades of blending expertise to produce high-quality aluminum 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. Its casting line will produce secondary ingots in nearly all wrought alloys, as well as low and high-iron-content foundry alloys.
In aluminum 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. The only solid waste expected is aluminum hydroxide, which can be used in cement production, and non-aluminum scrap fractions.
