Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), headquartered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is an integrated aluminum producer, with capabilities ranging from bauxite mining to smelting, casting, and recycling. Its aluminum smelting capabilities include two smelters in Al Taweelah, Abu Dhabi, and in Jebel Ali, Dubai, with total production of 2.73 million tonnes in 2023. Within its various facilities, the company has a history of implementing advanced technologies and investments to improve production and ensure sustainability in line with its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. These initiatives focus on every element of production, including electricity generation, alumina refining, smelting, casting, bauxite mining, supply chain development, and nature-based sequestration. Two of these recent developments are presented in this article.
Advancing Primary Production
EGA has focused on innovation since its founding (as Dubal Aluminium) in 1979, leading to the development of proprietary pot cell technologies, beginning with the launch of the D18 technology in 1990. Over the years, the company continued to enhance its capabilities, with the commissioning of the first DX cells in 2005. Eventually, the company was able to achieve one of the most efficient smelting technologies in the world, with DX+ Ultra, which has more than double the productivity of its original D18 design. The DX+ Ultra even surpassed 500 kA in 2022, using a modified lining.
EGA’s Technology Development Design team has been working on the company’s next generation cell technology, EX. After 18 months of development work, EGA completed the core design phase of its new EX smelting technology in June 2024. Since then, the team has been working on detailed engineering for the installation of a pilot demonstration of the technology at the Al Taweelah smelter.
“Technology development has been a foundation of our global competitiveness for decades,” said Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of EGA. “EX technology will enable the production of more aluminum 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 aluminum required to reach net zero by 2050.”
EX reduction cells are larger than DX+ Ultra, enabling higher amperage and improved current efficiency. The technology includes improvements to the busbars, superstructure, and potshells, providing enhanced pot performance, as well as lower surrounding temperatures and a better working environment. The technology is expected to increase production capacity by up to 22%.
The cell technology is designed with two variants—one for maximum productivity and the other to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Both variants are designed to reduce energy and carbon anode consumption and lower the incidence of anode effects, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of aluminum produced by around 5% for the more productive variant and around 12% for the lower energy variant.
EX also incorporates advanced sensors and controls to enable the deployment of Industry 4.0 capabilities and artificial intelligence, based on EGA’s existing digital transformation projects. Since this digital transformation was launched in 2021, EGA has implemented more than 80 Industry 4.0 use cases, unlocking some $100 million in value. The Industry 4.0 capabilities will facilitate the autonomous control of pots, cranes, and vehicles, allowing for further optimization and integration of all potline processes, reducing disruptions and improving efficiency. In addition, machine learning provides continuous process improvement and increasingly precise task planning to reach the full theoretical performance capabilities of EX technology.
“The construction of our EX pilot reduction cells is not just a technological milestone, it is the foundation for a future of smart solutions to improve efficiency and ultimately sustainability,” said Kalban. ”Our bold goal is to create a self-optimizing, autonomous production system that can be the most efficient in the world. This innovation is central to EGA’s growth strategy and our commitment to shaping a sustainable future for our industry.”
EGA broke ground on the EX pilot at its Al Taweelah smelter (Figure 1), where ten EX reduction cells are being constructed. The pilot will test and validate performance of the technology, as well as proving the advanced Industry 4.0 capabilities being implemented. The pilot cells are expected to be commissioned and to produce first hot metal in the first half of 2025. Industrialization is expected to follow by 2028.
Addressing the Challenge of Red Mud
A key aspect of EGA’s 2050 goals includes developing methods of reusing waste streams from primary aluminum production in other industrial activities, with the aim of sending zero process waste to landfill. For example, the company has collaborated with industrial sectors to reuse spent potlining and carbon dust as an alternative feedstock and fuel in the UAE cement industry and to process dross to recover aluminum. The company is currently working to address bauxite residue (i.e., red mud) and is developing potential applications for this byproduct, such as use in the steel, cement, and construction industries. However, a particularly novel application for red mud is its use in manufactured soil.
Around 170 million tonnes of bauxite residue are thought to be produced as part of the alumina refining process every year, of which less than 2% is put into productive use. When EGA began production of its alumina refinery at Al Taweelah in 2019, the company made a commitment to finding productive uses for the red mud generated in the UAE as part of its licensing agreement. While it continues to work on this challenge, EGA is storing the bauxite residue at a dedicated site about 30 km inland from the coast in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (based on current world-class best practices).
Soil is a complex material comprised of minerals and organic matter that naturally absorbs some 20% of man-made CO2 emissions every year. As a result, soil is the largest terrestrial carbon storage facility, making it critical for the global effort to avert the worst impacts of climate change. However, soil is considered a non-renewable resource. In even the most favorable climates, it can take nature decades or longer to add even a centimeter of soil to the surface. Due to human-driven soil erosion, the ability of soil to absorb CO2 is under threat globally.
Furthermore, the UAE has insufficient naturally occurring soil, due to its arid climate. The country currently imports large quantities of soil products each year for greening and agricultural purposes, the transport of which generates greenhouse gas emissions. So, there is an inherent need to manufacture high quality soil within the country.
Untreated bauxite residue is highly caustic and does not support plant life. However, EGA has developed a method to neutralize caustic bauxite residue into an environmentally benign raw material in hours, instead of undergoing decades-long natural processes. This optimized bauxite residue is the main ingredient for the manufactured soil, which EGA calls Turba (the Arabic word for soil).
Turba has significantly enhanced plant growth in laboratory trials, while using less water and fertilizer compared to local sandy alternatives. In addition, the soil may have up to ten times better CO2 absorption properties than the UAE’s natural soil.
Following five years of scientific research and development conducted by EGA and a consortium of global research partners, the company launched a pilot plant in 2024 to further develop and industrialize the Turba technology and soil at its Al Taweelah site. The pilot covers a 900 sq m area and includes 10 separate tanks, with the heart of the plant being a specialized filtration system built in Finland. The pilot plant is capable of producing up to 6 tonnes of optimized bauxite residue per day, providing the ability to conduct large-scale trials to test plant growth using the manufactured soil.
“The construction of this pilot plant is an important milestone in our drive to find productive uses for bauxite residue, which has been a challenge since the dawn of our industry,” said Kalban. “Manufactured soil has great potential as a solution, as it meets an important need in the UAE. Our goal is to develop and prove multiple solutions, to ensure all bauxite residue produced in the UAE is used in the UAE, contributing to a more circular economy.”
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the February 2025 issue of Light Metal Age. To receive the current issue, please subscribe.