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.

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.

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, where she spends her days unpacking money, markets, aviation, and the big shifts shaping life in the Gulf. Before returning to Gulf News, she launched Finance Middle East, complete with a podcast and video series. Her reporting has taken her from breaking spot news to long-form features and high-profile interviews. Nivetha has interviewed Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu, IMF’s Jihad Azour, and a long list of CEOs, regulators, and founders who are reshaping the region’s economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha has shared classrooms and newsrooms with journalists from more than 40 countries, which probably explains her weakness for data, context, and a good follow-up question. When she is away from her keyboard (AFK), you are most likely to find her at the gym with an Eminem playlist, bingeing One Piece, or exploring games on her PS5.