Alcasa reactivates furnace for recycled material,

Venezuelan aluminum reducer Alcasa has reactivated a furnace for smelting recycled material which was only operating 'at half speed,' a company spokesperson told BNamericas. 'Employees rebuilt the furnace and saved the company a huge amount of money,' the spokesperson said without mentioning the investment involved in the project. The rebuilt furnace will be able to smelt 45t/m of recyclable material. 'And it will start being used for what it was made to do: take advantage of aluminum waste that was being lost,' the spokesperson added. In mid-July, Alcasa reached full installed capacity of 207t/d on production line 3 by getting all 180 of its cells operating. The line produced 70,606t of aluminum in 2007. Alcasa churned out 180,086t of aluminum in 2007. Sales came to 175,644t including 110,383t to the domestic market and 65,261t for export. Alcasa is located in the eastern Venezuelan city of Puerto Ordaz. The company is 92% owned by state heavy industry holding company CVG and the remaining 8% is in the hands of US-based Alcoa.