Plant Management


 Investment continues in major new aluminium production plants, while a new process could reduce the industry’s huge energy bills. Sean Ottewell reports.


 Die Investitionen in große neue Produktionsanlagen für Aluminum schreiten voran, während ein neues Verfahren die hohen Energiekosten der Industrie senken könnte. Sean Ottewell berichtet.


 L’investissement se poursuit dans les grandes usines de production nouvelles, tandis qu’un nouveau procédé pourrait réduire les énormes dépenses d’énergie de l’industrie. Rapport de Sean Ottewell.


Aluminium processors continue to invest


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Fig. 1. The greenfield smelter and rolling mill will be the world’s largest and lowest cost fully integrated aluminium manufacturing complex. Image courtesy of Alcoa.


he Ma’aden-Alcoa joint venture has selected Wagstaff to supply the joint venture’s vertical direct chill casting complex with t-ingot, rolling ingot, and extrusion billet casting equipment.


The contract includes capital equipment and technology to produce aluminium rolling ingot and extrusion billet at the casting complex, currently under construction and scheduled to start production in 2013 in Ras Az Zawr, Saudi Arabia. The greenfield smelter and rolling mill comprise


the first of two phases in this super-project, which will leverage Saudi Arabia’s bauxite and energy resources with Alcoa know-how, management expertise and support to create what the jv describes as the world’s largest and lowest cost fully integrated aluminium manufacturing complex (Fig. 1). The rolling mill will be the region’s first and one


of the most technologically advanced in the world and will primarily produce can stock, end stock and tab stock for the regional market. It will have initial hot-mill capacity of between 250 000 and 460 000 metric tons per year. The new contract for the casting complex


supply includes Wagstaff leading edge ingot and billet casting systems, as well as integrated automated controls, which have been shown to deliver improved recovery rates, and higher levels of workplace convenience and safety. The casting facility will also feature Alcoa’s advanced proprietary ingot casting technology which yields highly improved surface finish to rolling ingots with consequential gains in rolling efficiency and product quality.


“As a longstanding, dedicated supplier to global Alcoa casting facilities and with many successful greenfield installations in the Middle East and around the world, Wagstaff is uniquely positioned to provide precision, state-of-the-art direct chill casting equipment to the Ma’aden Alcoa joint venture, and to remain a constant resource from current equipment design activities through delivery, commissioning, operator training, post-startup technical support, and beyond,” said Ray Kilmer, vice president, Alcoa Global Rolled Products. Meanwhile, primary aluminium production


at the Qatalum plant in Qatar is expected to recommence shortly. The plant had been shut down since 9th August when a power outage caused the cells to cool down and the liquid metal to solidify. The clean-out of the 444 cells that were affected


by the power outage, which lasted nearly five hours, is well underway. The Qatalum organisation has since, with the strong support of both owners, focused on preparing the cells for a safe and secure restart, investigating the causes and effects of the incident and implementing mitigating actions. According to external and internal experts


investigating the incident, the long-lasting outage was due to unexpected technical difficulties in restarting the power plant after it was closed down by an external earth fault, which also disrupted Qatalum’s connection to the national grid in Qatar. Despite strong efforts to restore power supply,


the duration of the outage caused the cells to cool down and the liquids to solidify. The primary aluminium production was subsequently shut down. The root causes of the incident have been identified and are being rectified. “I am pleased that Qatalum now is in the


position to resume production shortly. It is of course most unfortunate that such a setback should hit us now, as we were in good progress of ramping up the plant towards full production. At the same time we are glad that the events did not lead to any injuries,” says Abdulla Salatt, chairman of the board of directors. “Our prime objective is to prevent similar


incidents in the future, and I am confident that we have technical solutions and routines in order to achieve this. The Qatalum organisation has put in a tremendous effort in mitigating the consequences of this unfortunate incident. Internal and external resources have been mobilised to ensure a safe and quick restart. Regional smelters provided support and shared expertise, equipment and materials,” says Qatalum’s ceo Jan Arve Haugan.


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