UAE’s EGA plans to build first aluminium recycling facility

UAE’s Emirates Global Aluminium plans to build a 150,000-tonnes-per-year aluminium recycling facility, it announced on February 9.

The facility will process post-consumer aluminium scrap such as used window frames, as well as pre-consumer aluminium scrap from extrusion production, into low-carbon aluminium billets. Aluminium scrap for the recycling facility will primarily be sourced from the UAE and the region.

Feasibility studies for the project are currently underway, the company said in a statement. Meanwhile, production ramp-up could begin as soon as 2024.

EGA aims to market recycled aluminium under the product name EternAL. More than half the aluminium scrap generated in the GCC is currently either disposed or exported.

We are planning to build a 150,000 tonnes per year aluminium recycling facility, set to be the largest in the UAE. Feasibility studies for the project are underway. Production ramp-up could begin as early as 2024. pic.twitter.com/LTN65ozrNd

— Emirates Global Aluminium (@egaofficial) February 9, 2022

Aluminium production through recycling requires only a portion of the energy consumed to produce new primary aluminium, with significantly less greenhouse gas emissions.

The International Aluminium Institute forecasts that recycled aluminium will account for up to 60 per cent of global aluminium supply by 2050, while global aluminium demand is expected to rise by 50 to 80 per cent by the aforementioned time period, the statement added.

The facility will process post-consumer aluminium scrap, as well as pre-consumer aluminium scrap from extrusion production, into low-carbon, high quality aluminium billets which will be marketed under the product name EternAL.

— Emirates Global Aluminium (@egaofficial) February 9, 2022

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “End users of aluminium – from auto manufacturers to beverage makers – are increasingly committing to net zero in response to the expectations of society. This facility will strengthen EGA’s position as global leader in billet production, growing our capacity from some 1.15 million tonnes per year to some 1.3 million tonnes amid ever-increasing demand from our customers for this value-added product.

“And at home in the UAE, it will enable EGA to make a further contribution to both the achievement of Operation 300bn and the success of the In-Country Value programme, creating opportunities in construction and through the replacement of some imported raw materials with recyclable resources already in the UAE.”