Method and apparatus for recycling empty aluminum cans

An aluminum can recycling method comprising:

• a first step comprising cutting empty aluminum cans into small pieces of 10 mm squares or less and removing foreign matter mixed in an aggregate of the small pieces;
• a second step comprising heating said aggregate of small aluminum pieces processed during said first step at a heating temperature lower than the melting point in order to burn inflammable foreign matter;
• and
• a third step for peeling paints and oxides from surfaces of the small aluminum pieces in an agitating vessel that includes both a rotating drum, comprising a container surrounded by a wall, and a stationary annular rack disposed above and around said rotating drum, said third step comprising feeding the small aluminum pieces into the agitating vessel and rotating the drum at sufficiently high speed so as to cause friction between a first portion of the small aluminum pieces that are fed into the agitating vessel and are accumulated by centrifugal force on a surface of the rotating drum or a surface of the annular rack and a second portion of the small aluminum pieces that are fed into the agitating vessel and are not accumulated on the surface of the rotating drum or the surface of the annular rack, said friction causing peeling of said paints and oxides from the surfaces of the small aluminum pieces.