Al Taweelah pilot aims to increase output while cutting energy use across two potlines.
Dubai: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) is testing a technology upgrade at its Al Taweelah smelter that could eventually increase annual hot metal production from two potlines by 67,000 tonnes, while reducing energy consumption and associated carbon emissions.
The UAE aluminium producer will install the new E40 technology on 13 DX reduction cells at Al Taweelah, with the pilot aimed at demonstrating its performance ahead of a potential rollout across all 808 DX cells in potlines 1 and 2.
EGA said applying the technology across all 808 cells could increase hot metal production from the two potlines by 67,000 tonnes a year.
Net specific energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide emissions from power generation could also decline by approximately 6 per cent per tonne of metal produced.
Upgrade brought forward during restoration
EGA has accelerated the E40 pilot so the upgrades can be installed as part of the ongoing restoration of Al Taweelah, where operations are being progressively brought back online following significant damage and an emergency shutdown earlier this year.
Continuous improvement has long been fundamental to how we operate at EGA. We do not only use EGA technology for greenfield projects, but also to progressively produce more aluminium from our existing assets with greater efficiency and lower environmental impact. Accelerating the E40 pilot programme at Al Taweelah is one way we are emerging from the challenges of 2026 stronger than ever before.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of Emirates Global Aluminium
The project builds on more than three decades of aluminium smelting technology development by EGA in the UAE. The company has used its own technology in every smelter expansion since the 1990s.
EGA has also repeatedly upgraded existing production lines using technology developed in-house, enabling older assets to produce more metal while reducing costs and environmental emissions.
Previous upgrade cost $300 million
One of EGA’s largest earlier retrofit programmes was completed at its Jebel Ali smelter in 2017, following a three-year, $300 million project to replace reduction cells in older production lines with the company’s UAE-developed technology.
The project increased production capacity while reducing costs and environmental emissions.
EGA is also testing its latest 10th-generation EX smelting technology at Al Taweelah. The company describes EX as one of the world’s most efficient aluminium smelting technologies.
The pilot is intended to prepare EGA’s EX technology for large-scale deployment in future greenfield projects, including the company’s planned primary aluminium smelter in Oklahoma.
EGA said the Oklahoma project would be the first new primary aluminium smelter to be built in the United States since 1980.
