The hot topic today, in the world of Aluminium recycling is Airplane recycling. More than 3500 airliners will reach their end-of-life between 2008 and 2025 at a rate of around 200 aircrafts per year. The major concern today is the disposal of these scarp aircrafts. Some of these old aircrafts are used for ground training purposes, while some of them are left to rot next to the runways. In an effort to address this problem many organizations have started environment friendly recycling programs. According to Boeing, the largest manufacturer of jet airliners, about 7200 commercial planes including Boeing 737, 747 and Airbus A320, A340 models will be scrapped. Boeing, in 2006 co-founded the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association, with an aim to expand the airplane recycling rate to 90 percent from about 60 percent today.

HUGE SOURCE OF ALUMINIUM

For decades, thousands of obsolete private, civil, and military aircraft have been lying in “graveyards," while the demand for recycled aluminum continues to increase. The aircrafts provide an absolute source of the valuable metal, ‘Aluminium.’ Almost 80 percent of Aircraft parts are recyclable. Most of the fuselage and wings of jets such as Boeing 727 is made of Aluminium which can be sold as scrap. Once the engines, landing gear, avionics and components are removed from the aircraft, there is still value in the aluminium. This scrapped Aluminium will be later used to manufacture automobile parts including wheels and transmissions.

CHALLENGES IN ACHIEVING COST EFFECTIVE AIRCRAFT RECYCLING

The principal challenge that must be dealt with in creating this ideal aircraft recycling scenario includes the following:

a. Identifying decision options for dismantling aircraft to simplify recycling;

b. Identifying and optimizing technologies for automated shredding, sorting, and re-melting.

c. Identifying the range of representative compositions likely to be obtained from recycling aircraft components.

d. Identifying the combination of performance requirements and compositions that would make useful aircraft components from recycled metal, even though they may not achieve the highest achievable levels of toughness;

e. Identifying useful byproducts to handle elemental residual unable to be used in recycled metal.

The lifespan of most commercial airliners is said to be around 30 years. Most of the airliners used today were born by 1970s and now there is a jump in the number of planes beyond use. So aircraft recycling will reach its peak through the next decade.