Alcan Inc. said Friday it plans to build a US$180 million recycling plant for aluminum spent pot lining in Quebec s Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region (US$ 1=$1.11 Canadian). The industrial-scale pilot plant will employ 50 people and have a capacity of roughly 80,000 tonnes. It will recycle spent pot lining, a residual material from the smelting electrolysis process.

Alcan, the world s second-largest maker of primary aluminum, expects the plant to begin pot lining treatment operations in the second quarter of 2008. The site could also process spent pot lining for other Quebec aluminum producers. Spent pot lining is composed of carbon and inert elements. It is typically pre-treated and placed in land fills. Under Alcan s process, all of the spent pot lining will be recyclable, the company said.
(Planet Ark, 03/10/2006)