Superior Aluminum Alloys Expanding Secondary Aluminum Smelting

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Superior Aluminum Alloys, LLC (New Haven, Indiana), the secondary aluminum division of metal recycler OmniSource, Corporation (Fort Wayne, Indiana), is underway with construction of a $3.1 million expansion at its secondary aluminum smelter located in New Haven, Indiana. The company is constructing a 15,000 square foot building addition to house a new melting furnace and supporting equipment. The furnace will be the company's fourth melting furnace at the plant and will add 40 million pounds of secondary aluminum melting capacity a year. According to company officials the construction should be complete by the end of the year.

Total plant capacity will be around 240 million tons per year. Industrialinfo.com first reported on this project in early 2001 as part of its North American Industrial Database. At that time the company was also studying the possibility of retrofitting the existing three reverberatory furnaces with oxy-fuel and natural gas burner control systems.

The plant is a fairly new facility, having started up operations in 1998 with two reverberatory furnaces producing 140 million pounds per year of secondary aluminum specification alloy. In 2000 the company added a third furnace expanding production up to 200 million pounds per year. The company has spent over $20 million on site, plant, and equipment since its inception.

The company manufactures specification alloys for die casters including the General Motors powertrain plant in Toledo, Ohio.

Superior Aluminum Alloys is one of several secondary aluminum processors who are reaping the benefits of increased aluminum usage in automobile component manufacturing. (See related article: U.S. Secondary Aluminum Processors Benefiting from Strong Automotive Production Levels)