Dross Cooling with Argon Aluminium dross amounts to 1-6% or above of total aluminium production

Once skimmed, thermitting of dross should be prevented as rapidly as possible to preserve its metallic aluminium content which can range from 18% to 80% but cooled safely without polluting the environment. Various types of equipment are now available to cool dross.

The argon based dross cooling solution Inert Gas Dross Cooler (IGDC) from the STAS company is able to cool all types of dross at any temperature without the use of mechanical moving parts and cooling water, whilst simultaneously snuffing out the thermitting reaction and stopping the generation of fumes and dust.

Due to its modular design, the IGDC can adapt itself to any capacity and space requirements, whilst providing higher metal recoveries and subsequent furnace treatments.

Advantages:

• Completely safe, because no water is used in either the cooling of the dross or with the equipment
• Environmentally sound, therefore no emission of dust or fume
• Provides for easy working conditions, therefore is operator friendly
• No moving parts, thus minimising maintenance costs as well as emitting no noise
• Retains as much of the aluminium alloy present in the dross immediately after skimming (can range from 18-80%) as possible
• Treats all kinds of dross (black and white dross)
• Easy to operate, efficiency is independent of the filling level.

View a video on 'Dross Cooling'