Alumar Unit 2

Challenges

This expansion project upgraded the existing alumina production train and installed a new one in a location that typically receives over two meters of annual rainfall in a three-month period
The complexity of the project and difficulty of 3D design delivery required a global team of experts

Solutions

We were responsible for the engineering, procurement, and project-and-construction management.
An 1,800-tonne modularized ship unloader was barged from Argentina and installed on a dock exposed to a six-metre tide – a significant success that tested the boundaries of logistics
At the peak of construction, there were more than 10,000 workers on site, including approximately 150 Hatch staff members
The ease of commissioning, handover and ramp-up to production of the newly designed digestion, precipitation, evaporation, and heat-interchange department facilities enabled the total facility's quick ramp-up to production

Highlights

Received Brazilian National Safety Awards and Hatch Platinum Safety Award
Production ramp-up across the whole Alumar facility was of world-class performance, enabling the shut-down and transfer of existing production to the newly installed facilities ahead of schedule
Ramp-up into production for the Hatch-designed prototype Mark VII calciners was a significant achievement. This is now the benchmark calciner design for future Alcoa alumina refineries
The expansion increased the alumina capacity by 2.0 mtpa, making it the largest brownfield alumina-expansion project ever completed

"Above all, the expansion of this refinery symbolizes a new moment being experienced by Brazil's North/Northeast, in its march toward economic emancipation."

The Honorable Lula da Silva | President, Brazil

"We accomplished this expansion at competitive cost, employing local workers and suppliers and incorporating state-of-the-art technology, which places the Alumar alumina refinery as one of the lowest-cost refineries in the world."

Franklin L. Feder | President, Alcoa Latin America and Caribbean

Project numbers

80,000 m³ of concrete
35,000 t of steel
250,000 m of pipe
3.5 million m of cable into sustained operation
Over 4,000 successful tie-ins undertaken without a LTIs
US$3.1 billion
>600 person-project delivery team trained in 3D delivery
1,800 t modularized ship-unloader installed
10,000 workers on site at peak of construction