Aluminum recycling, innovations and future perspectives: a systematic Literature Review

Aluminum has become a widely used metal, both for its availability and for its mechanical characteristics. However, its cost of transformation in the primary process is very high, especially in relation to the energy used. In this way, recycling processes are gaining ground with an environmental as well as an economic bias. The objective of this study was to evaluate the advances and innovative processes in relation to the recycling of aluminum, in particular, for the development of alloys that present conductivity; as well as identifying the main authors who have published on this topic in the last 5 years. A systematic literature review was carried out on three pre-selected databases (Scopus, Science Direct and WoS). From this literature review, 4,813 valid articles were found in 03 databases that mentioned the search terms: innovation, aluminum and recycling. These articles have been indexed and compiled. The progress of the four main authors with the most publications was analyzed and as a relevant result it was found that innovations in the area of aluminum recycling are not related to product innovation issues. The recycling processes are being treated as mere ways to obtain the raw material in the development of products.