A regionally-linked, dynamic material flow modelling tool for rolled, extruded and cast aluminium products

A global aluminium flow modelling tool, comprising nine trade linked regions, namely China, Europe, Japan, Middle East, North America, Other Asia, Other Producing Countries, South America and Rest of World, has been developed. The purpose of the Microsoft Excel-based tool is the quantification of regional stocks and flows of rolled, extruded and casting alloys across space and over time, giving the industry the ability to evaluate the potential to recycle aluminium scrap most efficiently. The International Aluminium Institute will update the tool annually and publish a visualisation of results at www.world-aluminium.org/statistics/massflow. Based on primary metal production, semi-fabricated products shipment and trade data from 1950s to 2014, the tool calculates regional domestic scrap availability and metal demand of the same alloy group and differehtiates new and old scrap in each group at a given point in time. An intuitive user interface allows for changes in data inputs to generate bespoke results. To solve the mass balance difference of the 'Mining and Refining' and 'Aluminium Production' processes, which occur in the tool due to conflicting data, the software STAN was used. Modelling of year 2014 stocks and flows indicate that three-quarters of all the aluminium ever produced is still in productive use. Over 26 million tonnes of new and old scrap are supplied to cast houses, world-wide annually, in the form of mixed & casting scrap (11 million tonnes), used beverage cans (3 million tonnes); other rolled scrap (6 million tonnes), extruded scrap (4 million tonnes) and other scrap (2 million tonnes).