Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) energized the first pot at its new aluminum smelter in the Khalifa Port Industrial Zone at Taweelah, Abu Dhabi on December 1, 2009. A joint venture of Dubai Aluminum (Dubal) and the Abu Dhabi government’s investment vehicle, Mubadala, the EMAL smelter utilizes Dubal DX technology and will ramp up to Phase 1 design capacity of 700,000 mt/y of primary aluminum over the next 12 to 14 months.

Phase 1 of the EMAL smelter will cost about $5.7 billion to complete and will include 756 reduction cells arranged in two pot lines, an on-site 2,000-MW power plant, an anode manufacturing plant, and a multi-product cast house. Products will include aluminum sow, standard ingot, billet, and sheet ingot. Phase 2, when complete, will double production capacity to 1.4 million mt/y and will make EMAL the world’s largest single-site aluminum production facility.

Dubal currently has production capacity of more than 980,000 mt/y of hot metal at its aluminum smelter at Jebel Ali, Dubai.

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