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Metal Casting
Map showing location of U.S. facilities in this sector; please click on the map to see a larger version.
- Sector Profile
- Performance Data and Trends for this Sector
- EPA Sector Strategies Activities
- Resources
Sector Profile
The Metal Casting sector includes establishments that pour molten ferrous metals (iron and steel) or nonferrous metals under high pressure into molds to manufacture castings. Ferrous metal casting includes those castings made with grey iron, ductile iron, malleable iron, and steel. Nonferrous castings are predominantly aluminum but might also be brass, bronze, zinc, magnesium, and titanium.
The United States is the largest producer of cast products in the world. More than 90 percent of all manufactured goods in the United States contain cast metal components. These end-use markets include engine blocks, transmission housings, and suspension parts for cars and trucks; undercarriages of farm and construction equipment; and pipes and valves for plumbing fixtures and boilers. U.S. casting operations are now mostly small businesses, with 80 percent of facilities employing 100 people or fewer.
The metal casting industry is one of the largest recyclers in North America and perhaps the world, saving approximately 15–20 million tons of scrap metal from disposal in landfills and junkyards each year and using this waste as a source of raw material to produce useful products.
Casting Imports and End-use Markets
The table below provides a summary of casting imports to the United States in 2009.
| Metal | Demand | Imports (Metric Tons) |
Imports (% of Demand) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gray Iron | 4,699,217 | 1,350,798 | 28.7 |
| Ductile Iron | 3,877,308 | 479,901 | 12.4 |
| Steel | 1,128,538 | 237,682 | 21.1 |
| Aluminum Die castings | 1,164,825 | 294,835 | 25.3 |
| Aluminum Permanent Mold/Sand | 1,124,909 | 492,601 | 43.8 |
| Brass/Bronze | 304,814 | 58,060 | 19.0 |
| Other | N/A | 163,294 | N/A |
The table below provides a summary of forecasts for the metal casting import markets in the United States in 2009.
| Market | Imports (Metric Tons) |
Imports (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Motor Vehicle | 1,185,690 | 38.5% |
| Internal Combustion Engines | 304,814 | 10.8% |
| Municipal Construction | 254,919 | 8.3% |
| Valves and Fittings | 245,847 | 8 % |
| Construction, Mining, and Oilfield Machinery | 156,036 | 5.1% |
| Railroad | 99,790 | 4.5% |
| Farm Equipment | 138,799 | 3.2% |
| Other | 664,059 | 20.9% |
Performance Data and Trends for this Sector
You can find data and trends for this sector in the Metal Casting chapter of the most recent Sector Strategies Performance Report.
The Metal Casting chapter in the report, Energy Trends in Selected Manufacturing Sectors: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmentally Preferable Energy Outcomes (PDF) (8 pp, 280K, About PDF), outlines the trends and opportunities in energy use for this sector.
EPA Sector Strategies Activities
The Sector Strategies Program works with representatives of the Metal Casting sector and other stakeholders to assess opportunities to improve environmental performance while supporting the metal casting industry. The program's work focuses on environmental performance and promoting environmental management systems.
Environmental Performance
A current barrier to foundry environmental performance is the lack of foundry sand for reuse. Sector Strategies is working with the Resource Conservation Challenge, the American Foundry Society (AFS), and Foundry Industry Recycling Starts Today (FIRST) to increase reuse of foundry sand.
To foster the reuse of foundry sand, in September 2006 Sector Strategies released the State Toolkit for Developing Beneficial Reuse Programs for Foundry Sand. The guide is designed to help states initiate or revise their reuse programs in a way that increases safe beneficial reuse of foundry sand. The Toolkit provides program options and concrete examples of a variety of approaches used in states to efficiently conduct beneficial reuse determinations.
Sector Strategies also released a document in December 2002 titled Beneficial Reuse of Foundry Sand: A Review of State Practices and Regulations (PDF) (64 pp, 4.5MB, About PDF). Developed with assistance from the Association of Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials, the guide is designed to help states initiate or revise their beneficial reuse programs in a way that increases safe beneficial reuse of foundry sand.
Promoting Environmental Management Systems
In September 2003, Sector Strategies released the final version of the EMS Implementation Guide for the Die Casting Sector (PDF) (215 pp, 1.8MB, About PDF). Created collaboratively with the North American Die Casters Association, the Guide provides detailed information to die casting facilities interested in implementing an EMS and incorporates lessons learned and examples drawn from the experience of companies that participated in the Sector Strategies pilot.
In April 2004, Sector Strategies released the final version of the EMS Implementation Guide for the Foundry Sector (PDF) (206 pp, 1MB, About PDF). Developed jointly with the American Foundry Society and Indiana Cast Metals Association, the Guide provides detailed information to foundry facilities interested in implementing an EMS and incorporates lessons learned and examples drawn from the experience of companies that participated in the Sector Strategies pilot.
In October 2003, Sector Strategies released a business case brochure highlighting the benefits of EMS implementation at metal casting facilities. Environmental Management Systems: Systematically Improving your Performance (PDF) (12 pp, 5.5MB, About PDF) was written with assistance from the American Foundry Society, North American Die Casters Association, and nine metal casting facilities that have already adopted environmental management systems.
Other Major Achievements
- Developing metal casting regulatory calendar with input from OECA, AFS, and NADCA.
- Sector driver/barrier analysis and stakeholder endorsement of strategic project plan.
- Completion of New Source Review Guidance Primer for the metal casting Industry.
Resources
Trade Associations
- American Foundry Society (AFS)
- North American Die Casters Association (NADCA)
- Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO)
- State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators (STAPPA) and Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials (ALAPCO) are now National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA)
Key Documents
- Case Study: Foundry Sand in Land Application (PDF) (3 pp, 108K, About PDF)
- Case Study: Foundry Sand as Structural Fill (PDF) (3 pp, 85.4K About PDF)
- Case Study: Foundry Sand as an Alternative Raw Material in the Manufacturing of Cement (PDF) (3 pp, 102K, About PDF)
- Case Study: Foundry Sand in Land Application (PDF) (3 pp, 81K, About PDF)
- Case Study: Foundry Sand as Backfill Material (PDF) (3 pp, 81.5K, About PDF)
- State Toolkit for Developing Beneficial Reuse Programs for Foundry Sand
- Beneficial Reuse of Foundry Sand: A Review of State Practices and Regulations (PDF) (64 pp, 4.5MB, About PDF)
- EMS Implementation Guide for the Die Casting Sector (PDF) (215 pp, 1.8MB, About PDF)
- EMS Implementation Guide for the Foundry Sector (PDF) (206 pp, 1MB, About PDF)
- Environmental Management Systems: Systematically Improving your Performance (PDF) (12 pp, 5.5MB, About PDF)
Sector-related Links
- Industry Sector Notebook: Profile of the Metal Casting Industry (1997) (PDF) (159 pp, 802K, About PDF)
EPA Sector Contacts
Headquarters
Keith Chanon
Metal Casting Sector Lead, EPA Sector Strategies Program
Tel: (202) 566-1410
E-mail: Keith Chanon (chanon.keith@epa.gov)