Circulary

Recycling of scrap aluminium provides a valuable resource and prevents the material from being diverted to landfill. The Zeme system will be utilised to produce specialised high quality aluminium alloy ingots which will be available for re-use within industry.

The electromagnetic induction melter is electrically inducted to raise it to operational temperature and will always retain a residual layer of molten aluminium, approximately ¼ of the total volume, within the smelting pot when operational. Aluminium feedstock will be added to the pot with ¾ of the melt volume then periodically cast into aluminium ingots.

The Induction furnace equipment for the processing of aluminum feedstock is of industrial standard design for the type of process proposed. The furnace design and process control has been refined to optimize output and reduce emissions compared to other equipment and operating techniques. Consequently, no alternative technologies were. Found to match the current output with such limited power consumption and low carbon footprint.

The raw material will be derived from Scrap Aluminium. The first project is in Limassol, Republic of Cyprus, and will serve as a prototype for at least 12 other European Union (EU) Countries. This will be the first of a series of Projects aiming at boosting Eco-Innovation on an SME-Level, while maintaining a sustainable supply of raw materials (aluminium in our case).

• All of the aluminium used on the island is imported, when the imported aluminium is discarded it is exported as low value mixed scrap for recycling off shore, with ZEME’s system the scrap aluminium will be transformed into high quality aluminium alloy ingots which will be available for re-use within industry.
• Cyprus could become a recycling hub in the region for aluminium scrap thus adding to the country’s GDP. The whole venture will boost the potential of small businesses for eco-innovation and a sustainable supply of raw materials. It will offer Value Recovery in an energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly and cost-effective way. This will lead to highly skilled long-term job creation: 47 to start with in Cyprus with the potential of creating over 1200 in EU over the next 5 years.
• ZEME provides a unique capability to produce small batch volumes of special Bespoke alloys. Potential competitors use large scale equipment that receives mixed Aluminium scrap from a wide variety of sources. ZEME’s vision is to produce bespoke low volume / high value batches of specific alloys that are tailored to our clients’ specific requirements.
  • Zeme will provide a unique avenue to accept scrap aluminium in forms that traditional aluminium manufacturers cannot (i.e thin aluminium foils). As such Zeme covers a specific need for the market. Moreover, it can offer better pricing to scrap aluminium suppliers due to the absence of long distance transportation

• Cyprus’s legal frame concerning recycling and circular economy is not advanced enough.
• Bureaucracy is extremely time consuming in terms of licensing.
• Recycling and ecology is not part of the country’s culture
• Local conflicting business interests attempting to slow down or prevent the investment.
• The current possible market barriers appear to be permitting and planning permission framework (length of procedure and time required) as well as availability of suitable sites. Moreover, the main operational risk is identification of material sources and markets. One of the most relevant issues would be to identify proper sites (preferably existing structures) which should be in industrial area near ports.

Andreas Georgiou; Maria Drousiotou

+35725080579; +35725080570

maria.drousiotou@ecozeme.com; andreas.georgiou@ecozeme.com