
162 Aluminum Recycling
The superheated molten metal ows underneath a bafe and contacts solid scrap charged
to the sidewell, heating and ultimately melting it. When the charge is melted, the molten
metal is then reheated to pouring temperature, tapped, and the process is repeated.
Sidewell furnaces are an effective way to melt light scrap such as UBCs with
minimal melt loss. However, improvements have been desired ever since their intro-
duction. Because no preheating of scrap is provided, fuel efciencies are poor. The
use of tactics such as regeneration or air enrichment to improve efciency has been
a common response (Stewart, 2002). A bigger ...