EGA completes design phase of next generation smelting technology, readies pilot reduction cells

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: 16 July 2024: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced the completion of the design phase of the company’s next generation smelting technology, EX.

EX reduction cells are larger than EGA’s most recently industrialised technology DX+ Ultra, enabling higher amperage and improved current efficiency, increasing production capacity by up to 22 per cent.

EX has been designed with two variants – one to maximise productivity, and the other to further minimise greenhouse gas emissions. Reduced electricity consumption along with lower net carbon consumption and the reduced incidence of anode effects is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of aluminium produced by around five per cent for the more productive variant and around 12 per cent for the lower energy variant.

DX+ Ultra is already one of the most efficient smelting technologies in the global aluminium industry.

EGA now intends to construct 10 pilot EX reduction cells at the company’s aluminium smelter in Al Taweelah to test and validate performance. The target is that EX is ready for full industrialisation by 2028.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “Technology development has been a foundation of our global competitiveness for decades. EX technology will enable the production of more aluminium with less energy and lower emissions, unlocking opportunities for EGA’s growth and helping us to meet the increasing global demand for the low carbon primary aluminium required to reach net zero by 2050.”

Innovations in the design of EX technology are expected to deliver enhanced pot performance with improvements to busbars, superstructure and potshells, leading to lower surrounding temperatures and better working environment.

The new technology was developed over 18 months by EGA’s Technology Development Design team. The pilot reduction cells are expected to be commissioned during the first quarter of 2025.

EGA has developed its own aluminium smelting technology in the UAE for more than 30 years. The company has used its own technology in every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines.

EGA was the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally, in a deal with Aluminium Bahrain in 2016 for use in the Bahraini company’s Potline 6 expansion project.