Aluminum production in Quebec generates thousands of tons of scrap that, until now, could only be partially recycled. A family business in Baie-Comeau, Lefebvre Industri-AL, has developed a technology in recent years that allows aluminum smelter residues to be completely recycled in an environmentally friendly manner.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Founded in 2001, Lefebvre Industri-AL originally specialized in the preparation of alloy products for a single client, the Alcoa aluminum smelter in Baie-Comeau. This business model had the disadvantage of being very vulnerable to the vagaries of international markets. “There were years when aluminum containing alloys was much less in demand, so we were not very solid as a company,” recalls Joanne Lefebvre, general manager of the company.
To diversify its activities, Industri-AL has therefore turned to the recycling of aluminum smelter residues, an activity with much more constant outlets. Thanks to grants from the Government of Quebec, it has conducted research and developed since 2014 a process for revalorizing aluminum smelting residues, more efficient and more ecological than that of its competitors.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LEFEBVRE INDUSTRI-AL
Joanne Lefebvre, General Manager of Lefebvre Industri-AL
We did it at our own pace, since we are still a family-run SME in Baie-Comeau, but we did it anyway.
Joanne Lefebvre, General Manager of Lefebvre Industri-AL
It should be noted that the production of aluminum generates chemical waste that aluminum smelters must get rid of if they cannot find a way to recycle it. The most significant of these residues is dross, a layer of partly oxidized metal that forms on the surface of molten aluminum.
Only a small proportion of the aluminum is lost in the dross during production, but this still ends up representing considerable quantities: Lefebvre Industrie-AL treats approximately 5,000 tonnes of dross each year from the Baie aluminum smelter. -Comeau, which produces a total of 280,000 tonnes of aluminium. Knowing that aluminum is currently trading at more than $3,500 per ton, we understand that there is a real economic interest in recovering as much metal as possible.
An ecological method
Most companies that already recycle dross use chemical methods that only manage to recycle 50 to 70% of the aluminum it contains, according to the Quebec SME. In addition, there is still toxic waste that you have to pay to bury.
The scum is often recycled in the United States, because the laws are more permissive than in Quebec with regard to landfilling.
Joanne Lefebvre, General Manager of Lefebvre Industri-AL
“We manage to recycle 100% of what comes out of the smelter, and everything can be reused. That’s really the innovative side of our process,” she enthuses. Lefebvre Industri-AL also produces far less greenhouse gases (GHG) than its competitors because it uses hydroelectricity to heat its aluminum instead of fuel oil.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LEFEBVRE INDUSTRI-AL
Lefebvre Industri-AL has about twenty employees.
The company, which has about twenty employees, does not resell its aluminum itself on the market: it rather sends it directly to the aluminum smelter, which can export it after having mixed it with the aluminum it is already producing. “Our aluminum is as pure, sometimes more, than the aluminum produced at the start”, boasts Joanne Lefebvre.
Expansion projects
For the moment, Industri-AL is present only in Baie-Comeau, but its general manager is seriously considering settling elsewhere in Quebec. It might also have already been done, if the pandemic had not come to thwart his plans. “I think the day they announced that they were closing all the businesses, we were starting our processes,” she laments.
“Our plans have been a little hampered by the pandemic, but today we are ready to show the progress we have made over the past five years. We have achieved all the goals we set when we started,” stresses Joanne Lefebvre with confidence. “There are already other aluminum smelters knocking on the door. »