Abstract:Anthropogenic aluminum cycle in China was analyzed by the aluminum flow diagram based on the life cycle of aluminum products. The whole anthropogenic aluminum cycle consists of four stages: alumina and aluminum production, fabrication and manufacture, use and reclamation. Based on the investigation on the 2003-2007 aluminum cycles in China, a number of changes can be found. For instance, resources self-support ratio (RSR) in alumina production dropped from 95.42% to 55.50%, while RSR in the aluminum production increased from 52.45% to 79.25%. However, RSR in the Chinese aluminum industry leveled off at 50% in the period of 2003-2007. The respective use ratios of domestic and imported aluminum scrap in the aluminum industry of 2007 were 5.38% and 9.40%. In contrast, both the net imported Al-containing resources and the lost quantity of Al-containing materials in aluminum cycle increased during the same period, as well as the net increased quantity of Al-containing materials in social stock and recycled Al-scrap. Proposals for promoting aluminum cycle were put forward. The import/export policy and reducing the loss of Al-containing materials for the aluminum industry in China in the future were discussed.

Key words: anthropogenic; aluminum cycle in China; SFA; weighted average method; average use life