EGA tests Al Taweelah upgrade that could add 67,000 tonnes of output a year
Pilot could raise output and cut energy use across two Al Taweelah potlines
Dubai: Emirates Global Aluminium is testing a technology upgrade at its Al Taweelah smelter that could eventually lift annual hot metal production from two potlines by 67,000 tonnes while cutting energy use 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 designed to prove its performance before a potential rollout across all 808 DX cells at potlines 1 and 2.
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EGA said applying the technology across the full 808-cell fleet could increase hot metal production from the two potlines by 67,000 tonnes per year.
Net specific energy consumption and the associated carbon dioxide emissions from power generation could also fall by approximately 6% per tonne of metal produced.
Upgrade brought forward during restoration
EGA has accelerated the E40 pilot so the upgrades can be installed during the ongoing restoration of Al Taweelah, where operations are being progressively restored 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, with the company using its own technology in every smelter expansion since the 1990s.
EGA has also repeatedly upgraded existing production lines with technology developed in-house, allowing older assets to produce more metal while lowering costs and environmental emissions.
Previous upgrade cost $300 million
One of the company’s largest earlier retrofit programmes was completed at its Jebel Ali smelter in 2017, when EGA finished a three-year, $300 million project to replace reduction cells in older production lines with its own UAE-developed technology.
That project increased production capacity while reducing costs and environmental emissions.
EGA is also testing its latest 10th-generation EX smelting technology elsewhere at Al Taweelah. The company describes EX as one of the world’s most efficient aluminium smelting technologies.
The pilot is intended to prepare EX for large-scale use in future greenfield projects, including EGA’s planned primary aluminium smelter in Oklahoma.
EGA said the Oklahoma project would be the first new primary aluminium smelter built in the United States since 1980.
