The company anticipates a processing capacity of 90,000 tons of black mass and 6,000 tons of rare-earth magnets annually by 2025.

American Resources Corp., a Fishers, Indiana-based rare earth, critical elements and advanced carbon materials supplier, has announced its subsidiary, ReElement Technologies, is developing its second lithium-ion battery and rare earth magnet recycling and metal recovery facility.

ReElement, also based in Fishers, says it has commenced engineering and planning for the facility, which will utilize its patented chromatography technology to produce 99.9 percent pure critical battery material and 99.5 percent rare earth elements.

“The opportunity to continue the growth of our ReElement division is real and present given the demand for domestically produced battery- and magnet-grade materials,” American Resources CEO Mark Jensen says. “With the recent passing of the Inflation Reduction Act and the rapid adoption of electric vehicles, the demand for such products is seeing rapid grow[th] and the versatility of our technology enables us to move quickly and cost-effectively to provide a real solution.”

The company say sit has narrowed the site selection for the 200,000-square-foot facility to one of two controlled properties: Noblesville, Indiana, which is approximately 40 acres of industrial-zoned land located about five miles from its first commercial purification facility, and in West Virginia near its existing premium mid-vol carbon processing and electrolysis technology site.

The recycling and metal recovery facility will be expanded by adding additional magnet and battery purification capacity through its modular design as the market for end-of-life magnets and battery material feedstock increases. Annual capacity is expected to exceed 95,000 tons of black mass and 6,000 tons of rare-earth magnet processing capabilities by 2025.

ReElement sources end-of-life magnets and batteries which are further processed into an aqueous-based solution to be separated and purified back to magnet- and battery-grade material to be reused in the manufacturing of new batteries, magnets or other technologies. Its chromatography technology replaces the need for hydrometallurgical or solvent extraction in the separation and purification step, and says its patented process is unique in that it can purify targeted materials on an isolated or mixed basis.

Over the past six years, the company has put together a technology platform of more than 16 patents and technology licenses. Its first facility in Noblesville is expected to be operational this year and will produce 56,000 kilograms of sellable rare-earth and battery metals, while the second, larger facility will operate up to 12 production trains.

“Beyond this facility, we are in numerous discussions on potential joint venture opportunities for customized, co-located facilities in both the United States and Europe,” Jensen says of future expansions. “Given the minimal environmental and land footprint required of our process, we can efficiently expand our operations as the supply of end-of-life materials expands versus overbuilding and running inefficiently in the early years, but also expand rapidly in the out years as the market and feedstocks expand. Additionally, given our corporate structure, we have the ability to finance this project through nondilutive sources at the ReElement level.”

The new company, formed from Metsto Outotec's diverted assets, is based in Germany.

For more than 20 years, the Lindemann brand was part of Finland-based Metso, which merged with fellow Finnish company Outotec in 2020. Lindemann represented the combined company’s Metal Recycling business unit. In the summer of 2021, Metso Outotec decided to divest this business unit as part of its restructuring, selling it to the Swedish investment firm Mimir AB. 

“The business will be operated under the name Lindemann - Metal Recycling Solutions from day one and in this manner find its way back to its legendary roots,” Mirmir Managing Partner and Group Chairman Joakim Notö said at the time the purchase was announced. 

Lindemann CEO and Director Ioannis Giouvanitskas says, “Mimir has all the necessary resources to support Lindemann in expanding its leading position in the market in the medium term—a great opportunity for lifting the company to the next level and to return its focus to the core values of the founder Waldemar Lindemann: quality, performance and innovation.” 

Lindemann - Metal Recycling Solutions will be based in Düsseldorf, Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia. The company’s functional departments, administration and service center will operate from Düsseldorf, Giouvanitskas says. “The connections to our international sites are simply ideal from here. Lindemann currently has 180 employees at 14 locations worldwide,” he adds. 

The service center, including the logistics area, occupies more than 8,000 square meters (more than 86,000 square feet) in Düsseldorf. The center repairs shredder housings and rotors, and small shredders and baling presses are assembled at the site. A large part of the machine production takes place regionally, within a radius of 150 kilometers (less than 100 miles) from Düsseldorf. Giouvanitskas says, “After we closed down our production facilities on Erkrather Straße in 2015, we successfully outsourced almost the entire production of the original Lindemann machines to specialized regional cooperation partners. The physical proximity to these partners allows us reliable quality assurance and high flexibility in the entire manufacturing process of our machines.” 

Global demand for steel will continue to rise in the medium term, Lindemann says, and demand for secondary raw materials such as steel and scrap metal also will increase significantly.

Steel production in many countries is being switched to more energy-efficient and CO2-reduced production processes, such as the electric arc furnace method, which enable the use of up to 100 percent ferrous scrap. 

“This development is having a very positive impact on our business,” says Martin Hafer, chief financial officer and managing director of Lindemann Germany GmbH. “The new machine business as well as the demand for services have risen noticeably. In addition, as a premium supplier, we are constantly being asked by our discerning customers to offer sustainable complete solutions in all of our business areas.” 

This is where the optimized hydraulics of the Lindemann EtaCut II shears is highlighted, the company says. This machine is equipped with what the company describes as “intelligent” pump control that only supplies power when it is needed. The 400-bar technology also ensures significantly lower flow losses. 

Giouvanitskas adds that the company is planning to introduce a standardized midrange product line with the quality of premium machines, so smaller companies can invest in a Lindemann machine. 

Lindemann’s approach to motor control with frequency converters promises a higher overall efficiency of the drive system while also reducing unwanted peak loads, according to the company. The Shredder Drive Assistant supports the machine driver in its daily work and ensures significant production increases in the double-digit percentage range while also saving energy because of the more uniform use of the drive system. 

Giouvanitskas says, “We want to invest even more in new technologies, drive digitalization forward and increasingly take on environmental issues such as the reduction of emission values ?through state-of-the-art dedusting systems.”

Finnish company exploring feedstock options to increase alternative energy capacity at large refinery.

The potential of a prolonged absence of Russian oil and natural gas imports has Neste Oyj exploring the sustainable and circular options at its refining complex in Porvoo, Finland.

Neste, a Finland-based company, says it has launched a strategic study on transitioning its refinery in Porvoo to “noncrude oil refining and into a globally leading renewable and circular solutions site.”

In Singapore, Neste has invested in a project that converts plastic scrap and other byproducts into diesel fuel, aviation fuel and renewable polymers and chemicals. A $1.5 billion refinery expansion project there, announced in 2018 and scheduled for completion next year, involves boosting the refinery’s output from 1.3 million metric tons of annual output to 4.5 million metric tons.

In Porvoo, Neste says its study is exploring a conversion project away from fossil fuels that would “start with the co-processing of both renewable and circular feedstock and could continue with retrofits of existing units at a later stage, with a long-term capacity potential of 2 to 4 million metric tons per year.”

The company adds, “The targeted transformation would lead to a discontinuation of crude oil refining in Porvoo in the mid-2030s.”

“Neste’s growth strategy is centered on renewable and circular solutions," Neste President and CEO Matti Lehmus says. "We continue to set our ambition level high, launching this study on the long-term transformation path for our Porvoo refinery and targeting to ultimately replace crude oil with alternative feedstocks. The Porvoo site provides a flexible and large-scale base that can grow into a major site for our renewables and circular business."

The company already describes itself as “the world’s leading producer of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel and developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge.”

The company continues, “We are introducing renewable and recycled raw materials such as liquefied waste plastic as refinery raw materials. We have committed to reaching carbon-neutral production by 2035, and we will reduce the carbon emission intensity of sold products by 50 percent by 2040.”

Executive branch “Buy Clean” initiative backed by Cleveland-Cliffs, other domestic steel producers.

Additional actions announced as part of the Federal Buy Clean Initiative took place with the Cleveland-Cliffs hot briquetted iron (HBI) facility in Toledo, Ohio, serving as the backdrop. Representatives from several executive branch agencies converged in Toledo to announce policies designed to support American low-carbon steelmaking, which often involves recycling.

The Biden-Harris Administration says the initiative expansion “will prioritize the purchase of key low-carbon construction materials, covering 98 percent of materials purchased by the federal government.”

In a news release, the administration says, “The initiative ensures that federal financing and purchasing power [methods] designate and use construction materials and products that produce substantially lower levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”

In the steel sector, producers including Cleveland-Cliffs, Nucor Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) have pointed to what they call a consistently lower carbon footprint from America’s steelmakers compared with production in nearly every other country.

“We are pleased that the administration continues to recognize that the American steel industry is leading the way on decarbonization, as reflected in today’s announcement to prioritize the government’s purchase of lower-emissions construction materials for federally-funded projects," says Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). "Of the major steel-producing countries, the U.S. has the lowest CO2 emissions per ton of steel produced."

In an interview with Recycling Today earlier this year, SDI Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Theresa Wagler spelled out that company’s dedication to using scrap as a low-GHG emissions technique, and said additional support from the federal government for the steel sector was encouraging. Referring to the 2021 infrastructure bill, she said, “Of the $1.2 trillion potential in the bill, some $850 billion of it has steel-containing aspects. Our belief is there is going to be a benefit for those of us who produce recycled steel.”

In its latest policy moves, the Biden administration says it will “prioritize the federal government’s purchase of steel, concrete, asphalt and flat glass that have lower levels of emissions," and adds that “in addition to federal procurement, Buy Clean will cover federally-funded projects. For example, the Department of Transportation, which is administering more than $120 billion in infrastructure spending in FY22, is announcing the first agency-wide Buy Clean policy and Embodied Carbon Work Group to drive progress. The initiative will jumpstart better data and reporting, better procurement and purchasing policies, and better education and research to ensure the use of sustainable materials across its programs.”

Commercial Metals buys Fontana, California-based Advanced Steel Recovery.

Irving, Texas-based Commercial Metals Co. (CMC) has announced the acquisition of Advanced Steel Recovery LLC (ASR), a scrap processing firm based in Fontana, California.

Calling ASR “a leading supplier of recycled ferrous metals,” CMC says the acquired firm’s operations include “processing and brokering capabilities that efficiently source material for sale into both the domestic and export markets.” ASR handles approximately 300,000 tons of ferrous and nonferrous scrap annually via its collection, processing and brokerage activities, CMC says.

"The acquisition of ASR is a key strategic step to support CMC’s growth in the Western United States,” says Barbara Smith, board chair, president and CEO of CMC. “Our Arizona 2 micro mill remains on-track to start up in early calendar 2023, and with the commencement of operations will come the need for a secure, cost-effective supply of ferrous scrap. ASR’s capabilities will help ensure that both of CMC’s world-class mills in Arizona will have continued reliable access to vital raw materials.”

Advanced Steel is known in part for its marketing of FASTek container loading technology, championed by its owner and President Nathan Frankel.

CMC operates seven electric arc furnace (EAF’) minimills, two EAF micromills, one rerolling mill, steel fabrication and processing plants, construction-related product warehouses, and about 40 scrap metal recycling facilities. The majority of its operations are in the United States, although it also has a presence in Poland.