A compressing element, devices for using such a compressing element and methods of use are provided, in which the compressing element has: a upper surface provided with an inlet and an outlet; a lower surface; an at least partially hollow interior provided between the upper surface and the lower surface, the hollow interior being connected to the inlet and the outlet; the hollow interior being provided with: one or more fluid flow constraining surfaces provided by one or more walls of the follow interior; and one or more fluid flow control elements provided in the hollow interior, the one or more fluid flow control elements being additional to the one or more fluid flow constraining surfaces provided by the one or more walls of the hollow interior. The arrangement of inlet, outlet, fluid flow constraining surfaces and fluid control elements provides for improved cooling of the compressing element, for instance when used to press molten metal processing by-products to extract molten metal.

Described herein is a method for recycling aluminum alloy wheels. The method includes the steps of providing a feed of aluminum alloy wheels of a particular alloy; fragmenting a quantity of the aluminum alloy wheels into a plurality of fragments; subjecting the plurality of fragments to shot blasting to remove surface impurities from the plurality of fragments to produce a plurality of shot blasted pieces; separating the plurality of shot blasted pieces into a plurality of larger shot blasted pieces and a plurality of smaller shot blasted pieces; and, estimating a composition of the plurality of larger shot blasted pieces by selecting multiple shot blasted pieces from the plurality of smaller shot blasted pieces and then measuring the composition of the multiple shot blasted pieces.

Described herein is a method for recycling aluminum alloy wheels. The method includes the steps of providing a feed of aluminum alloy wheels of a particular alloy; fragmenting the aluminum alloy wheels into a plurality of fragments, such that newly exposed surfaces of the plurality of fragments have an interior composition; determining a newly exposed surface indicia for distinguishing each newly exposed surface in the feed of aluminum alloy wheels; determining an aggregate composition estimate by determining a plurality of composition measurements of the material of fragments of the plurality of fragments; and providing the plurality of fragments, and the aggregate composition estimate, for use in manufacturing at least one component made from aluminum alloy.

The present invention relates to a method for obtaining calcium aluminates for metallurgical use from non-saline aluminum slags by means of reactive grinding and thermal treatment.

Described herein is a method for recycling aluminum alloy wheels. The method includes the steps of providing a feed of aluminum alloy wheels of a particular alloy; fragmenting the aluminum alloy wheels into a plurality of fragments, such that newly exposed surfaces of the plurality of fragments have an interior composition; determining a newly exposed surface indicia for distinguishing each newly exposed surface in the feed of aluminum alloy wheels; determining an aggregate composition estimate by determining a plurality of composition measurements of the material of fragments of the plurality of fragments; and providing the plurality of fragments, and the aggregate composition estimate, for use in manufacturing at least one component made from aluminum alloy.

A dross processing assembly includes a stirring station at which dross in a first dross recovery vessel is stirred and a pressing station at which previously stirred dross in a second dross recovery vessel is pressed simultaneously with the stirring of the dross in the first dross recovery vessel. The stirring station and the pressing station may be commonly housed in an enclosure. A conveyor system may advance dross recovery vessels through the dross processing assembly for continuous dross processing.

A process and an apparatus are disclosed for improved recovery of metal from hot and cold dross, wherein a dross-treating furnace is provided with a filling material with good capacity to store heat. This filling material is preheated to a desired temperature by injection of an oxidizing gas to burn non-recoverable metal remaining in the filling material after tapping of the recoverable metal contained in the dross and discharging of the treatment residue. When dross is treated in such furnace, the heat emanating by conduction from the filling material is sufficient to melt and separate the recoverable metal contained in the dross, without addition of an external heat source, such as fuel or gas burners, plasma torches or electric arcs and without use of any salt fluxes. Furthermore, the recovered metal being in the molten state can be fed to the molten metal holding furnace without cooling the melt; in addition, the non-use of fluxing salt for the treatment means that the non-contaminated residue can be used as a cover for the electrolytic cells in the case of aluminum. In the case of zinc dross, the residue is a valuable zinc oxide by-product very low in contaminants.

Apparatus and a method of handling a molten metal processing by-product are provided in which the by-product is placed in a container unit and put in the apparatus, the apparatus including an element having a first position outside of the container and a second position in which at least a part of the element is in the container so as to compress the by-product and exclude oxygen from it. The element also serves to transfer heat from the contents of the container unit to the element and so provide cooling. The element can then be returned to the first position, the container unit be removed and placed at a cooling location for final cooling.

The disclosure relates to a method for producing feedstock in piece form from metal, in particular aluminium and/or aluminium alloys, for a metal-casting installation, in particular aluminium-casting installation, in which scrap parts of metal, in particular of aluminium and/or aluminium alloys, are sorted on the basis of their alloying constituents and/or alloy contents and subsequently, on the basis of an alloy to be produced in the feedstock, the scrap parts are mixed into a composition having a homogeneous distribution of the alloy and fed to a press, in which the scrap parts of the composition are subjected to a pressure that compresses the scrap parts while generating a temperature, wherein, as a result of the application of pressure, the scrap parts are heated up to the transition temperature between solid and liquid of at least some of the scrap parts and/or the alloys and/or alloying constituents thereof before the feedstock is discharged in a specific geometrical form.

A method and apparatus for processing a material are provided, the material being the upper layer from a metal melting process, the material containing one or more salts, the material containing one or more metals, the salts and/or metals being recycled as a result of the method/apparatus. The method includes feeding the material to a leaching step; obtaining a leachate from the leaching step; feeding the leachate to a drying step or spray drying step; obtaining a solid from the drying step or spray drying step. Off gases from the leaching step are used to provide heat to the drying step. The drying step provides a product well suited to being turned into pellets for reuse.