Regeneration of "copper-aluminum disputes"

In China's copper production, recycled copper accounts for about 40%, and for the power cable industry, the proportion of recycled copper is about 50%. Under the favorable policy of the country's strong support for the recycling industry, renewable copper rod companies have begun to grow and have full confidence in the prospects.

People often compare areas rich in precious metal electronic products as "urban mines." As resources become more and more in short supply and recycling economy is increasingly promoted, the recycling of metals has gradually become a huge industry.

In terms of copper resources, according to Wang Ji, vice president and secretary-general of the Recycling Metals Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, in 2014, the nation’s recovered copper production was about 3 million tons. In the past 5 years ago, China has established a total of 50 cities and mine projects. “Recycling copper resources is of great significance to us. Because China is already the world’s largest manufacturer of electromechanical products and a country that produces home appliances, and a large amount of infrastructure is under construction. These require a large amount of copper and copper products.” said Wang Jiyi. .

In the copper recycling industry, the recovery of wire and cable is an important part of it, because the proportion of copper used in wire and cable is very large, as high as 60%.

Adhere to sustainable private enterprises and be optimistic about the recycling industry

The rich “urban mines” also attract some private enterprises to invest in this area. Recently, the reporter found in an interview with Tianjin Xinneng Group (hereinafter referred to as “Xineng”) that under the favorable policy of the country’s strong support for recycling industries, many resource-based recycling companies engaged in various kinds of content began to grow and develop, and among them, waste The deep processing of copper is one of the important businesses of these companies.

The reporter learned from the interview that Xineng, as a small and micro enterprise in the park, has been involved in the renewable copper industry since 1996. In 2008, Xinneng expanded the business to a real recycled copper smelting project.

According to reports, the development of recycled copper rods is still at an early stage in China. At present, more than 90% of the raw materials used to make recycled copper rods come from waste copper imported from abroad, and the use of domestic scrap copper is still relatively small. In recent years, the quality of recycled copper rods has also been mentioned. Large and small domestic enterprises to regenerate copper rods have different levels of technology, and the quality of recycled copper rods produced is also different. Zhang Dongsheng, vice president of Xinneng Group, said in an interview with reporters that due to the adoption of the waste copper pyrometallurgical refining process jointly developed by Italian Propez and Spanish Lafage, the regenerated copper rods produced by Xinneng Elongation, distortion, resistivity, or oxygen content can all meet national standards.

From the "reconstruction of copper and aluminum" in the field of regeneration

In recent years, the voice of the "copper-aluminum dispute" in the cable industry has always existed. One of the viewpoints is that China’s copper resources are in short supply, while aluminum resources are relatively less stressful. But if you look at it from the point of view of resource recycling, it's not always true. First, the performance of copper itself determines that it can be recycled 100%. Copper production accounts for about 40% of China’s copper production. Among aluminum production in China, recycled aluminum accounts for only about 20%. For the power cable industry, the proportion of recycled copper is about 50%, while the use of recycled aluminum is basically zero.

Zhang Dongsheng also has a deep understanding of this, and he has more than 20 years of experience in recycling aluminum before making copper rods. “The rare earth aluminum alloy cables we use in the market today cannot be produced from recycled aluminum. While primary aluminum consumes a lot of electricity, it does not save a lot of money. The economics of aluminum alloys are not taken into account. ."

In addition, experts believe that although domestic copper supply is insufficient at this stage, it is able to obtain sufficient copper from the international community to meet the needs of domestic economic development. Moreover, the demand for copper will not grow indefinitely. Foreign development has proven that as the economy develops to a certain extent, people's demand for copper resources will also reach its peak.

Recycling copper industry will have rapid development

The reporter learned that the proportion of recycled copper rods is not too large. The current annual output of recycled copper rods is between 200,000 and 300,000 tons, but the future prospects for this industry are immeasurable. In Europe, the use of recycled copper in developed countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany exceeds 40%, and in Italy it has reached almost 100%. “In the future, the industry will have a relatively rapid growth. Because if we compare the performance of recycled copper and primary copper, according to the current technology, the copper rod used for electrical purposes does not have much difference in physical properties from the original copper. The target is the content of impurities, and the content of copper in the recycled copper is higher than that of the original copper. However, if the anode is first smelted and then electrolyzed, the impurity content of the recycled copper can be reduced to that of the original copper. The cost of doing it is too high, and this factor will not have a real impact on the use of electric poles.Now with the development of the entire country's economy, the use of recycled materials has already been mentioned on the national agenda, and the amount of recycled copper rods will increase. More and more, it will become a bright spot for use.” Zhang Dongsheng is full of confidence in the future of recycled copper rods.