Emirates Global Aluminium reaches critical milestone in the Al Taweelah potline extension project
July 15, 2021
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates—Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has announced the start-up of the second section of an expansion to the company’s Al Taweelah smelter, where Hatch is the engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) service provider. The 26 new reduction cells at potline 2 are now ramping-up to produce some 30,000 tonnes of aluminium per year. Overall, project completion stands at over 80 per cent and ahead of schedule despite the challenges of COVID-19.
The potline 2 start-up represents the second of three potline extensions to be completed this year, after the successful start-up of potline 1 in April 2021. In total, EGA is building 66 new reduction cells to extend all three potlines at Al Taweelah. The project will increase production capacity by some 78,000 tonnes of hot metal per year.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said, “This project to expand our production at Al Taweelah is part of our ongoing debottlenecking of production and investment in high return growth opportunities. The world requires aluminium to build back better after COVID-19, and this expansion will enable us to supply even more of the metal we all need.”
As part of an integrated team with EGA, Hatch is providing detailed engineering and project management services for the expansion of the potlines and related infrastructure. To add this production capacity, the smelter cannot be switched off despite the significant modifications, making the potline extension a highly complex and technically challenging project. The extension is added ‘live’—while the potlines are running—which requires precision accuracy within an extremely tight timeframe. The team employed innovative technology and execution techniques to complete the extension, including using a virtual reality platform to perform design reviews.
Jean-Denis Carrier, Global Director – Aluminium and Alliances, at Hatch shared, “Congratulations to our client and the integrated project team on reaching this important milestone. We are very proud to be part of this state-of-the-art project and support our client in expanding their operations.”
The Al Taweelah smelter extension project has an outstanding safety record and, with the added complication of the COVID-19 pandemic, EGA and the project team implemented additional measures to maintain that world-class safety performance. Approximately 950 people are currently working on the Al Taweelah smelter expansion project and with over 2.7 million hours of work completed so far, there have been zero injuries leading to time off work.
Joe Lombard, Global Managing Director, Metals at Hatch added, “Once again, we are proud to be working with EGA to deliver this technically challenging project. Our team’s unique technical skills and business acumen have been instrumental in achieving the best outcome for our client in the challenging times of the pandemic. Additionally, the integrated team of EGA, Hatch, and its many contractors have achieved another exemplary safety performance. I congratulate the team on this project’s safety, technical, and production accomplishments.”
The start-up of the extension to potline 3 will take place later this year.
Read more about Hatch’s involvement in the Al Taweelah smelter, or watch the recent webinar hosted by the Canada-UAE Business Council, Championing UAE Economic Diversification-The EGA Success Story & Lessons for Business to learn more about EGA’s success story in becoming the world’s biggest “premium aluminium” producer.
For more information, please contact:
Lindsay Janca
Global Director, Public Relations
Tel: +1 905 403 4199
Email: media@hatch.com
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