Recycling Business Transforms Steel and Aluminum Scrap into Reusable Materials
In a significant move towards reducing emissions in the metal industry, Sun Metalon, a startup founded by Kazuhiko Nishioka and two colleagues at Nippon Steel in 2021, has announced the successful completion of its second-round startup funding, raising a total of $9.1 million.
Nippon Steel, a Japanese steelmaking giant, is one of the investors in this round, with additional funding participation from other institutional investors and strategic partners. The specific names of other investors are not publicly detailed.
Sun Metalon's innovative technology aims to transform scrap with a negative value, especially sludges, into a higher value in the recycled metal feedstock value chain. The technology involves an oven-sized box that extracts recyclable metal from waste streams, making it possible to recycle metal waste from steel and aluminum production.
The process is powered by electricity, making it carbon-free if renewable energy is available. Sun Metalon's technology also involves reaching the boiling point of oil in the process of cleaning and recycling metal waste. The metal waste fed into Sun Metalon's units is cleaned with intense heat and turned into "pucks" or "coins" that can be recycled in metal-making processes.
Nick Yavorsky, senior associate for the climate-aligned industries program at the clean energy nonprofit RMI, stated that Sun Metalon offers a way to create value from waste. Decarbonizing the metal sector is expected to be a significant and costly undertaking. However, increasing the amount of metal that can be recycled is one means of decarbonizing the metal industry.
Sun Metalon's technology was initially developed to clean up tiny scraps too contaminated with oil or other substances to be recycled. The company has received 18 months of mentorship from RMI as part of its Third Derivative cleantech business accelerator.
The global metal industry accounts for approximately 7% of the world's carbon emissions. By recycling metal waste, Sun Metalon is not only contributing to reducing emissions but also creating profit. The profit from the recycled metal can be shared among Sun Metalon's customers.
Sun Metalon's modular "ovens" can be placed on a factory or foundry floor, making it accessible for various industries to adopt this technology. The company's technology was awarded two patents on the heating technology in 2024.
As the world continues to grapple with the challenges of climate change, innovative solutions like Sun Metalon's technology offer promising paths towards a more sustainable future. The metal industry can significantly reduce its carbon footprint by adopting recycling technologies like Sun Metalon's, paving the way for a greener and more efficient metal production process.
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