Aluminum is a vital and sustainable material with extensive applications across sectors such as transportation, packaging, construction, and traditional mechanical engineering. Unlike many materials, aluminum can be recycled indefinitely without significant loss of quality. Currently, over half of aluminum demand is met by recycling, producing what is known as secondary aluminum (from scrap). Recycling aluminum requires approximately 5% of the energy needed to produce primary aluminum from bauxite ore. This study aims to reduce CO₂ emissions associated with secondary aluminum production and its processing through casting technologies, while simultaneously enhancing overall process efficiency. Achieving this would significantly support climate goals and progress toward CO₂ neutrality across industrial sectors. The proposed approach combines the use of green hydrogen (H₂) as a substitute for natural gas as fuel, along with oxygen (O₂) enrichment of combustion air in smelting furnaces for secondary aluminum production. The interaction between hydrogen and aluminum—the world's most widely used industrial non-ferrous metal—and its impact on casting quality (e.g., gas porosity) are well-recognized, though precise, alloy-specific effects remain to be fully understood.

Therefore, it is necessary to investigate whether the addition of hydrogen (H₂) impacts melt and casting quality. Key questions include evaluating the effects of H₂ on product quality and developing compensatory measures to preserve at least the current quality standard. To address this, fundamental material studies will examine the influence of H₂ on aluminum throughout an actual production chain using a range of laboratory analyses (e.g., metallography, computed tomography, hardness testing, tensile testing, melt gas extraction). Additionally, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation module will be developed to account for H₂’s influence on aluminum in casting process calculations and to predict its effects.