Apple leads the consumer electronics industry in aluminum recycling and a new patent filing offers some insight into why.
The tech giant pioneered specialized disassembly robots like Daisy and Cora to recover high-purity materials. Through post-consumer recycling and renewable energy smelting, the company says it’s reduced aluminum-related carbon emissions by roughly 76% since 2015.
About the patent filing
The new patent filing is for a “Scrap Aluminum Alloy Purification Process.” Aluminum alloys are often alloyed with additional elements to meet different property and performance requirements such as strength, corrosion, cosmetics, and manufacturing. These additional elements can include Cu, Zn, Mg, Si, Fe, Ti, Cr, Li, Zr, Mn, and others.
In the patent filing, Apple notes that when scrap aluminum alloys are mixed during manufacturing or end of life, the aluminum can be difficult or impossible to separate from alloying elements by conventional methods, resulting in valuable aluminum being returned as a “lowest common denominator” alloy compositions (e.g., die casting alloy 380(ADC12 ) and the like).
Because these alloys are of limited use in a variety of markets, there is not always enough demand for lower grade aluminum to harness all potential available scrap. Apple adds that conventional processes to purify scrap aluminum are typically expensive and operationally unfeasible. What’s more, fractional solidification methods are not effective at removing many common elements found in aluminum alloys such as Mn or Cr.
Apple’s patent filing involves methods to overcome such issues.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “A method of purifying aluminum using an electrochemical cell is provided. The electrochemical cell includes a scrap aluminum alloy anode, a purified aluminum cathode, and an AlCl.sub.3-based molten electrolyte salt. When an electric potential is applied between the scrap aluminum alloy anode and purified aluminum cathode, aluminum is oxidized from the scrap aluminum alloy anode as Al ions in and Al ions are reduced by the purified aluminum cathode.”
I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support.
Also, check out my daughter-in-law’s “Scattered Words” website if you’re interested in unique, handcrafted jewelry made out of an array of vintage dictionaries, books, and even a few antiques.
