EGA completes first UAE industrial technology export project
Emirates Global Aluminium has completed its historic project to export UAE-developed industrial technology, with the conclusion of performance guarantee tests at Aluminium Bahrain (Alba). The company won a competitive international tender in 2016 to supply its DX+ Ultra smelting technology to Alba for the Potline 6 expansion project. DX+ Ultra is the 10th generation EGA technology, and is amongst the most efficient in the world. Alba’s Potline 6, was inaugurated by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, on 24 November 2019.
EGA’s technology at Potline 6 has recently passed a final performance guarantee test, with results exceeding EGA’s commitments under the technology transfer agreement. The production capacity of each reduction cell is 11% higher than EGA guaranteed, whilst specific energy consumption is 1% better than promised, a significant reduction in the energy-intensive smelting process. In the performance test at Alba, EGA’s technology operated at 465 kA. Specific energy consumption was 12.87 kWh/kg of aluminium produced.
As part of the technology licensing agreement with Alba, EGA provided experts from its technology development and transfer team and from Operations during the construction of Potline 6. Some 20 EGA technologists participated in the project in total. EGA also hosted 21 staff from the production and maintenance departments in Alba at its sites in the UAE for hands-on training using EGA’s technology.
EGA has developed its own aluminium smelting technology in the UAE for more than 25 years. The company has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s, and has retrofitted all its older production lines.
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Rectifiers and the aluminium industry developed conjointly, as increasing potline currents and voltage ratings of smelting plants require high power rectifiers.
In part II of this article we focus on the joint development, as increasing potline currents and voltage ratings of smelting plants require high power rectifiers.