New Epson Atmix Sustainable Metals Refinery Construction Begins

Image of the new sustainable metal refinery

Epson Atmix has invested in plant and equipment on the construction of new factory, a sustainable metal refinery that will recycle waste metal to produce the raw material for metal powder.

As stated in its Environmental Vision 2050, Epson seeks to become carbon negative and underground resource1 free by 2050 with the aim of achieving sustainability and enriching communities.  Part of Epson's environmental strategy, outlined in the Epson 25 Renewed corporate vision, is to develop environmental technologies for recycling materials such as metal and paper and to use the resulting technologies and solutions to create new businesses.

Epson Atmix recognises that sourcing virgin materials will likely become more challenging due to underground resource scarcity and soaring metal prices. The new factory is aimed at mitigating risk by manufacturing metal powders from recycled metal resources.

As a facility for recycling metal for use in producing metal powders, the new factory will be outfitted with a high-frequency induction furnace for melting metals, an AOD refining furnace for removing impurities from metals, and a casting machine for forming ingots.

Epson Atmix will use the new factory to recycle unwanted metals from various sources, including out-of-specification metal powders in manufacturing processes at Atmix, metal scraps generated within Atmix, and metal end cuts and used moulds discarded by the Epson Group. These unwanted metals will be reused as raw materials for Atmix's metal powders. Virgin materials such as high-purity iron from blast furnaces will be replaced with recycled metal materials, conserving underground resources and reducing CO₂ emissions.

The introduction of a new refining process will better enable Epson Atmix to develop next-generation high-performance powders, improve their magnetic properties, and enhance its amorphous forming capability, thereby contributing to the realisation of a new generation of compact and energy-efficient devices.

The new factory is a step on the path to reaching Epson's goal of becoming underground resource1 free by 2050, as started in Environmental Vision 2050.

For information about Environmental Vision 2050, please visit corporate.epson/en/sustainability/environment/vision 

Picture credits
Image of the new Epson Atmix sustainable metal refinery
New Epson Atmix sustainable metal refinery overview
 

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1 Non-renewable resources such as oil and metals
 

Ends

About Epson, Epson Australia and Epson New Zealand
Epson is a global technology leader whose philosophy of efficient, compact and precise innovation enriches lives and helps create a better world. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle. Epson's goal is to become carbon negative and eliminate use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050.
Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of more than JPY 1 trillion.
https://corporate.epson/en/https://corporate.epson/en 

Epson Australia offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the commercial, industrial, consumer, business, photography and graphic arts markets, and is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the retail market. Epson is the market leader in Australia and worldwide in sales of projectors for the home, office and education. Established in 1983 Epson Australia is headquartered in Macquarie Park, NSW and is a subsidiary of the Epson Group headquartered in Japan.
www.epson.com.au 

Epson New Zealand offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the commercial, industrial, consumer, business, photography and graphic arts markets, and is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the retail market. Epson is a market leader in New Zealand, Australia and worldwide in sales of projectors for the home, office and education. Epson New Zealand is headquartered in Auckland and is a branch of Epson Australia Pty Limited, a subsidiary of the Epson Group headquartered in Japan.
www.epson.co.nz