Yarwun Alumina Refinery

1st

new alumina project in 15 years

143%

capacity increase in 2012

Bottom

quartile energy user

Challenges

Rio Tinto wished to implement tube digestion technology at its Gladstone, Australia plant.
This was the world’s first greenfield alumina plant to implement tube digestion technology on a large scale.
The slurry-heating equipment was comprised of pipe-in-pipe rather than shell-and-tube heaters.
The bauxite dissolution step was conducted in tube configuration rather than high-pressure autoclaves.

The project scope covered feasibility studies, basic and detailed engineering, and commissioning services for the bauxite digestion and evaporation facilities, including design of the core proprietary jacketed-pipe-heater unit (JPU) and holding-tube technology.
Partial preassemblies improved fabrication economics and eliminated much of the peripheral equipment that's often needed with conventional designs.
Each JPU consisted of continuous, 60-metre-long “U” shape arrangements. Operationally, the new tube-heater design also greatly simplified cleaning.
The 2012 expansion project added 143% to Yarwun’s initial capacity, with a new nameplate capacity of 3.4 MTPA.

This was the largest implementation of tube digestion in a greenfield plant.
The project was marked by a fast commissioning and ramp-up phase.
The integrated execution team had a principal EPCM contractor, client-streamlined engineering, and procurement interfaces.
Key project milestones were achieved.