The German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, has developed a process using solar thermal energy for aluminum recycling on an industrial scale. To prove the principle feasibility of the concept, a rotary kiln miniplant was developed, built, and tested at a solar thermal recycling plant located in Almeria, Spain. The thermal treatment of inorganic wastes like scrap metal, waste acids, filter residues, and dust, as well as the recycling of secondary raw materials from those residues, requires a large amount of energy. Usually this energy is delivered by fossil fuels producing significant exhaust gas streams. Investment costs for the exhaust gas treatment may exceed 50 percent of the total investment of a fossil fuel fired plant. The solar thermal treatment is a promising technology for future industrial development, offering a wide variety of advantages, such as:· saving fossil fuels· reducing CO_2 emissions· reducing exhaust gas volume· reducing losses caused by oxidation· photolytic destruction of organic impurities
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