Collaboration to create a world-leading recycled aluminium product

The collaboration began in 2018. Gränges focuses on excellent surface quality and development of recycled aluminum content and sustainable alloys is the foundation of our long standing relationship. “We have been doing business for several years now and work closely to improve the sustainability standards while retaining the products qualities. End customers in building and construction sectors demand products, like facades and roofing, with a low carbon footprint. Together we have the knowledge and expertise to create competitive products on these markets”, says Fredrik Sundell, VP Business Development Gränges Europe.

Unique alloy recipes

Alloy development is a process to meet narrow requirements as formability, corrosion resistance and strength on the rolled products. Certain alloys are created by adding elements like copper, magnesium, and others to the liquid aluminium in the casting furnace. Every alloy has an “alloy recipe” with certain limits on recycled alunimium due to limits in the chemistry. The real sustainability challenge arises when types of recycled aluminium and chemical compositions differ in the alloy recipes. An in-depth understanding of how recycled aluminium works in the casting furnace and knowledge of the chemical composition is key. The target for Gränges and Arconic Architectural Products is to use as much recycled aluminium as possible to lower the carbon footprint.

Demand for tracking carbon footprint

The demand for products that require Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), which helps to track the products’ lifespan and determine the products’ carbon footprint throughout the whole value chain, is increasing. “Moving from producing one single alloy towards producing several versions of this alloy to allow better recyclability and lower carbon footprint is key to meet these increased requirements. We clearly see that we are moving faster and faster in this area”, Fredrik Sundell continues.

Collaborate on common sustainability targets

“One target is about a product which reduces the carbon footprint to approximately 2 tonnes CO2e/tonne product, the other one is a product that allows very high share of recycled aluminium. By this we aim to capture the growing demand for sustainability products from the end customer market”, Fredrik Sundell says. “The building and construction market is highly competitive, which means that our cooperation stresses the need of creating high quality products with good sustainability rating regarding carbon footprint and recyclability rate together with a competitive cost structure. Our ambition is to invest more time in technical development and future needs. We have a good relationship that allows us to focus on joint targets and to win business together”, Fredrik Sundell concludes.

ARCONIC ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTS SAS (AAP)

Arconic Architectural Products SAS (AAP) based in Merxheim, France, has been a supplier of quality products to the building and construction industry for almost 60 years. The products are suitable for roofs, facade cladding and many other interior and exterior applications in the fields of building and roofing. Reynolux® pre-painted aluminium can be used in new construction as well as for renovations.