Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has started the sixth round of its research partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is set to welcome nine PhD and master’s student engineers to work with EGA team leaders.
Since commencement of the partnership in 2015, EGA has welcomed more than 45 students from MIT’s David H. Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice to its Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah facilities, in a programme designed to combine the latest academic thinking with EGA’s innovative industrial experience.
MIT’s David H. Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice has been sending students to industry leading companies around the world to apply their academic knowledge and expertise to the development of innovative solutions to industrial challenges for more than 100 years. EGA was the first company in the Middle East to participate in the programme.
This year, more than 30 EGA employees are involved in the eight-week programme which runs from October to December. The nine PhD and master’s student engineers, along with Dr. Brian Stutts, the MIT Station Director, will work with EGA team leaders to develop novel solutions for industrial challenges across various operational areas, one of which, for this year, includes alumina refining.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “Continuing our partnership with MIT reaffirms our commitment to advancing R&D and equipping the next generation of industry leaders with the skills and experience they need to succeed. These post-graduate students will have an opportunity to apply their academic knowledge and expertise by suggesting ‘out of the box’ solutions to industrial problems. At EGA, one of our values is to continuously improve our business, operations, and ourselves through innovation. I look forward to witnessing the innovative outcomes from this year’s programme.”
Abdalla Al Zarooni, Vice President of Technology Development and Transfer at EGA, said: “EGA’s previous projects with MIT have already delivered more than a million dollars a year in cost savings, in addition to performance improvements. I look forward to the findings of this year’s cohort which will continue to support us in innovating the future of aluminium production.”
MIT is the leading research university in the United States with a history of over 150 years of advancing knowledge in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship.
EGA has developed technology in the UAE for more than 25 years and is focused on improving the efficiency of the aluminium smelting process. EGA’s latest home-grown technology is among the most efficient and competitive in the global aluminium industry.
EGA’s research and development team works with local and international universities on research projects. Institutions EGA partners with in the UAE include Khalifa University, the American University of Sharjah, Rochester Institute of Technology and Higher Colleges of Technology while EGA’s international academic partners include the University of Auckland in New Zealand and the University of New South Wales in Australia.
About EGA: Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.
Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.
EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.
EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea.
EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2021, EGA sold 2.54 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.
EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2021, value-added products accounted for 84 per cent of EGA’s cast metal sales.
EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.
Around 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports 60,950 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.
EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.
As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA’s Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. ASI certification is the aluminium industry’s internationally recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance.
In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun.
EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.
EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.
EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.
EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.
EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supplies over 40 per cent of EGA’s needs.
Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.
For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae.
