What are aluminum cans made of?
Aluminum cans take aluminum, ink and epoxy directly. Trace them back and you pass 30 made things on the way to 17 raw materials.
How aluminum cans are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 17 raw materials
- Crude oil through aluminum
- Coal through aluminum
- Water through ink
- Bauxite through aluminum, alumina
- Soybeans through ink, vegetable oil
- Rapeseed through ink, vegetable oil
- Clay through ink, vegetable oil
- Air through ink, carbon black
- Titanium ore through ink, titanium dioxide
- Iron ore through ink, pigment
- Sulfur through ink, pigment
- Corn through ink, ethanol
- Sugarcane through ink, ethanol
- Rock salt through epoxy, caustic soda
- Limestone through aluminum, alumina, quicklime
- Natural gas through ink, ethanol, ethylene
- Sugar beet through ink, ethanol, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 27 things
Metals 2
Chemicals and fuels 21
Petroleum cokeCarbon blackTitanium dioxidePigmentEthanolPhenolPropyleneAcetoneChlorineCaustic sodaQuicklimeHexaneFormaldehydeOxygen gasSulfuric acidEthyleneBenzeneNaphthaHydrogenMethanolToluene