ABSTRACT
ERNEST H. HOLLINGSWORTH and HAROLD Y. HUNSICKER* Alcoa Laboratories, Alcoa Center, Pennsylvania PHILIP A. SCHWEITZER, P.E. Consultant, Chester, New Jersey
INTRODUCTION
In terms of production and consumption, aluminum is now second only to iron as the most important metal of commerce in the United States. Its position relative to most other metals can be expected to increase as the resources of these metals are depleted further. Aluminum is the third most abundant metal in the crust of the earth, almost twice as abundant as the next metal, iron. Furthermore, resources from which aluminum can be extracted are literally inexhaustible, and even though its extraction from newer resources may be more expensive than from bauxite, the resource used presently, it will still be economically feasible. The greater cost of extraction will also be offset substantially by greater recycling of aluminum (which saves 95% of the energy required for extraction) and by new smelting processes requiring less energy [1].
