Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, and National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO), a CPSE under the Ministry of Mines of the Government. of India and one of India’s leading aluminium producers, signed an agreement to transfer EGA’s UAE-developed DX+ Ultra aluminium smelting technology to India for a major smelter expansion project.

The agreement was signed in the presence of NALCO Chairman-cum-Managing Director Brijendra Pratap Singh, and EGA CEO Abdulnasser Bin Kalban by Abdalla Zarouni, EGA Acting Executive Vice President Midstream of Emirates Global Aluminium, and Biju K, Chief General Manager (Projects) of NALCO.

Jagdish Arora, NALCO Director (Projects & Technical) and Abhay Behuria, NALCO Director (Finance) attended the signing ceremony.

NALCO will build a 500,000 tonnes per year brownfield smelter expansion in Anugola, Odisha using EGA’s technology. NALCO selected EGA as the technology provider for the project through a bidding process.

The project will more than double NALCO’s aluminium production. First aluminium production is expected by the end of 2030.

EGA’s DX+ Ultra is amongst the most efficient aluminium smelting technology in the world.

Brijendra Pratap Singh, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NALCO, said: “We are glad EGA, a technology champion in the global aluminium industry, is our smelting technology partner for the Anugola expansion project. With EGA’s DX+ Ultra, this project will be one of the most efficient aluminium smelters in India. We look forward to the support of EGA’s technologists throughout construction and start-up to ensure the successful deployment of EGA’s technology in India.”

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said; “EGA’s industry-leading technology development has been an essential part of the competitiveness of our own aluminium production for decades. We are also the technology provider of choice for our global industry, creating further revenue streams for our company. NALCO’s selection of EGA’s smelting technology for its Anugola expansion is another milestone in this important journey. We look forward to working with NALCO as their technology provider to make this project a great success.”

Under the agreement, EGA will provide NALCO a license to use DX+ Ultra technology to build the reduction cells for 0.5 million tonnes per annum of capacity at the Anugola smelter, and provide EGA experts’ support for the development of the project. EGA will also train NALCO employees to operate the EGA-designed reduction cells.

EGA has developed its own aluminium smelting technology in the UAE for more than 30 years, over 10 technology generations. All EGA’s smelter expansions since the 1990s have used EGA technology, and the company has retrofitted all its older production lines.

EGA was the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally, in a major milestone for the development of a UAE knowledge economy. In 2016, EGA successfully licensed its DX+ Ultra smelting technology to Aluminium Bahrain for its Line 6 expansion project.