| abstract |
A method of recovering an aluminum-containing metal (16) from a scrap material (14, 14') containing the metal and an organic contaminant, such as paper, plastics, lacquer, paint or oil. The method involves creating a fluidized bed (10) of solid particles, maintaining a zone of the bed at a temperature in the range of the melting point of the metal to 1000 °C, introducing the scrap material into the fluidized zone to cause decoating of the metal within a time in the range of 1 to 40 seconds, at least partially melting the metal, and removing the metal material from the fluidized bed. In this way, decoating and at least partial melting is achieved essentially at the same time for improved efficiency. Metals of different melting point may also be separated from each other by providing a series of temperature zones in the fluidized bed (or in a series of fluidized beds) of progressively increasing temperature. If a limited amount of oxygen is introduced into the bed, a combustible gas is produced that can be burned to extract its energy or can be stored for later use. |