Environmental Practices at Guantian Aluminum

Our operations and the scope of this page

At Guantian Aluminum, environmental management forms part of everyday production. Our work focuses on managing emissions and waste, improving material utilization and controlling energy use through practical measures on the factory floor.

This page primarily covers our manufacturing facility in Leping, Sanshui District, Foshan. Its operations include billet heating and extrusion, artificial aging, powder coating, wood-grain transfer, thermal-break strip insertion, precision cutting and punching, and finished-product packaging.

Our Guantian Xinmei stock warehouse in Shishan, Nanhai District, Foshan handles finished-product storage, material and sample selection, and dispatch. It does not carry out manufacturing. We have acquired land for a new facility in Sihui, Zhaoqing, where higher-tonnage extrusion lines are being developed. Production is expected to begin in 2027. That facility is not included in the current operating scope described here.

Aluminum sourcing and incoming material checks

We purchase homogenized round extrusion billets in alloys including 6063 and 6061 from established billet casting suppliers in the Pearl River Delta and elsewhere in China. The billets meet applicable national and industry standards.

Supplier approval and incoming inspection include checks of mill material certificates, chemical composition reports and billet surface condition. Our quality team reviews elements including silicon, magnesium and iron before releasing each batch for storage and production.

Our standard architectural and industrial profile orders use homogenized billets cast from A00-grade primary aluminum as the default feedstock. This supports consistent extrusion performance, anodizing results and mechanical properties. We do not specify a fixed recycled-content percentage for our standard products.

For projects requiring billets with certified recycled content, we can arrange order-specific sourcing and retain the corresponding batch traceability records. Customers should identify the required recycled content and certification documentation when submitting their project requirements.

Sorting and recovering aluminum scrap

Our Sanshui extrusion and fabrication workshops separate aluminum scrap at source and maintain collection and handover records. Dedicated containers and storage areas are used for four main streams:

• Extrusion butts and cropped head and tail ends.
• Die-trial material and profiles rejected for dimensional or appearance defects.
• Clean saw chips and punching scrap collected beneath processing equipment.
• Composite scrap containing powder-coated aluminum or PA66 polyamide thermal-break strips.

Workshop teams collect scrap during daily cleaning. Alloys such as 6063 and 6061 are kept separate, as are uncoated aluminum and material containing coatings or strips. Household waste and oil contamination are excluded from these streams.

Qualified aluminum recycling partners collect the scrap for remelting. Each outgoing load is weighed on a weighbridge, with handover records signed by the warehouse, finance department and recycler.

Recovering production scrap does not mean that our finished profiles contain an equivalent percentage of recycled aluminum. Scrap recovery and product recycled content are separate measures.

Energy use and operating efficiency

Energy use at Sanshui is concentrated in extrusion, heat treatment and coating processes. Electricity powers hydraulic drives, cooling-bed fans, cutting and punching equipment, and compressed-air systems. Billet and die heating, artificial aging, powder curing and wood-grain transfer use electricity or natural gas according to the equipment and process.

Three established operating practices help control energy consumption:

• Coordinated scheduling: orders with the same alloy, specification or color family are grouped into continuous runs to reduce repeated heating and cooling. Aging-furnace loads are planned to make full use of available capacity.
• Furnace maintenance: insulation and door seals on aging and coating-curing furnaces are inspected and maintained to limit heat loss.
• Drive and compressed-air management: variable-frequency controls are used for extrusion hydraulic pumps and workshop air compressors, alongside regular compressed-air leak checks to reduce idle energy use.

For the new Sihui facility, equipment planning includes higher-efficiency, higher-tonnage extrusion presses and energy-efficient heating furnaces with low-NOx burners. These are part of the future facility plan, rather than existing Sanshui equipment.

Cooling water and pretreatment wastewater

We manage cooling water separately from wastewater generated by powder-coating pretreatment.

The extrusion cooling systems serve equipment cooling, water quenching at the press outlet and hydraulic-oil cooling. This water does not contact process treatment chemicals. Cooling towers and settling and cooling tanks support closed-loop circulation, with make-up water added to replace evaporation losses. This cooling circuit does not discharge production wastewater.

The two powder-coating lines generate wastewater during pretreatment, including degreasing and rinsing. Dedicated sealed pipework collects this water and directs it to our on-site wastewater treatment station. Treatment includes acid-base neutralization, flocculation, settling and filter pressing before discharge in accordance with the applicable sewer acceptance or discharge requirements.

Environmental staff maintain daily treatment-equipment operating records. Independent testing organizations with CMA qualification in China periodically sample the water and issue test reports.

Anodizing and electrophoretic coating are carried out by specialist partners in Foshan, rather than at our Sanshui factory. These partners have environmental approvals and access to industrial wastewater treatment facilities.

Powder recovery, dust and air emissions

Both powder-coating lines at Sanshui have cyclone recovery systems and pulse-cleaned cartridge filters. Overspray is drawn into the recovery system under negative pressure, then screened and filtered. Clean recovered powder of the same color is blended with fresh powder at controlled process ratios for base-coat applications or components without appearance-critical surfaces.

Mixed-color powder from booth cleaning and unusable fine powder are collected separately and transferred to appropriate waste-handling operators.

Extraction hoods and ductwork collect organic exhaust, including volatile organic compounds, from powder-curing and wood-grain transfer ovens. The installed treatment systems use spray cooling and mist removal, dry filtration, and UV photolysis/activated-carbon adsorption. Treated exhaust is discharged through stacks of the required height in accordance with applicable emission limits. Natural-gas-fired billet heating and aging furnaces also have dedicated exhaust ductwork.

In the cutting and punching workshops, saw guards, mist cooling and chip-collection trays contain larger aluminum chips. Mechanical ventilation supports workshop airflow.

Maintenance and environmental staff check filter differential pressure, scrubber circulation water and activated-carbon condition weekly. Consumables are replaced on schedule, and operating and maintenance records are retained.

Managing other waste streams

Production, warehouse and environmental staff coordinate the separate storage and transfer of general industrial waste and hazardous waste.

General industrial waste includes used cardboard, wooden pallets, plastic stretch wrap, PA66 thermal-break strip offcuts and non-hazardous waste powder from the recovery system. These materials are stored in a designated area before collection for material recovery or appropriate disposal.

Hazardous waste streams include used hydraulic and lubricating oils, oily liquids from compressor oil-water separation, pretreatment and wastewater-treatment residues and sludge, spent activated carbon, and used chemical containers.

These materials are labeled and stored in a dedicated, locked hazardous-waste storage area with measures to prevent leakage and ground contamination. Licensed hazardous-waste contractors collect them for treatment or disposal. Transfer documentation and waste records are retained.

Packaging and transport

Packaging must protect aluminum finishes from moisture and scratching and withstand the intended transport and handling conditions. Within those requirements, we aim to reduce unnecessary packaging and reuse handling materials.

Reusable steel racks, durable timber supports and recyclable corner protectors are used for movements between Sanshui workshops, transfers to the Nanhai stock warehouse, and journeys to and from nearby anodizing and CNC-processing partners. This avoids single-use plastic and paper wrapping during these semi-finished-product transfers.

Finished-product packaging is selected according to the profile finish, destination and loading method. Standard long profiles use PE protective film with composite kraft-paper wrapping or polyethylene foam, while precision-cut short parts use cartons and pallets that do not require fumigation.

Container loading is planned for suitable weight distribution and efficient use of space. The aim is to reduce avoidable shipments and packaging waste while maintaining product protection. Packaging choices can be discussed against the requirements of each order.

Daily responsibilities and processing partners

Mr. Zhang, our production lead, oversees workplace safety and the daily management of environmental facilities at Sanshui. Assigned personnel inspect the wastewater treatment station, powder recovery equipment and hazardous-waste storage area, replace consumables and maintain records. Environmental control equipment operates alongside the production processes it serves.

New employees receive training in operating procedures, chip and waste separation, chemical spill prevention and the use of personal protective equipment. This is particularly relevant to extrusion, coating pretreatment, cutting and maintenance roles.

For outsourced anodizing, electrophoretic coating and CNC processing, supplier approval and annual reviews include checks of business licenses, environmental assessment approvals and pollutant discharge permits. Routine production follow-up and inspections also review workshop practices and the operation of shared treatment facilities where used.

Improvements completed and plans in development

Since 2025, our production and powder-coating teams have improved scheduling and recovery arrangements for small-batch, multi-color architectural profile orders. Weekly schedules now progress from lighter to darker color families. Modifications to cyclone recovery pipework and quick-release filter arrangements have also shortened booth cleaning and color-change time, improved reuse of same-color powder and reduced mixed-color waste.

Approved and under implementation: the new Sihui facility, expected to begin production in 2027, includes plans for workshop dust collection, energy-efficient low-NOx heating furnaces and closed-loop cooling-water systems.

Under internal evaluation: we are assessing rooftop solar power at the existing Sanshui factory and a phased approach to ISO 14001 environmental management system certification after the Sihui facility starts production. These initiatives are being evaluated; neither solar installation nor ISO 14001 certification is presented here as completed.

Discuss your project's material and documentation requirements

If your project requires certified recycled-content billets, specific material traceability records or particular packaging arrangements, include those requirements with your drawing and inquiry. Our team will review them alongside the alloy, finish and delivery requirements.

Discuss your project

Email: [email protected]