The new facility will supply local and global markets with low carbon metal
Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest ‘premium aluminium’ producer in the world, recently announced the start of construction of the United Arab Emirates’ largest aluminium recycling plant.
The 170,000 tonnes per year facility is being built next to EGA’s existing smelter in Al Taweelah. The plant will process post-consumer aluminium scrap such as used window frames, as well as pre-consumer aluminium scrap from extrusion production, into low-carbon, high quality premium aluminium billets.
The new facility will supply local and global markets with low carbon metal under the product name RevivAL. Construction is expected to be complete within three years, according to an official press communique.
Aluminium scrap
Most of the aluminium scrap generated in the UAE is currently exported for processing outside the country and is lost to the national economy. Once the recycling plant is complete, EGA expects to become the largest consumer of aluminium scrap in the UAE.
Market analysts expect global demand for recycled aluminium to grow from some 27mn tonnes per year in 2022 to 57mn tonnes in 2040. Recycled aluminium is expected to account for around 60 per cent of the growth in global aluminium supply between now and 2030, and around 70 per cent of supply growth between 2030 and 2040.
Aluminium is infinitely-recyclable. Recycling aluminium requires 95 per cent less energy than making new metal, and results in a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions of primary aluminium production.
“Aluminium recycling is key to our metal achieving its enormous potential to contribute to decarbonisation while improving global living standards,” remarked Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO, Emirates Global Aluminium.
