United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced a collaboration with the American University of Sharjah’s College of Engineering to research the economic and environmental benefits of re-using of food waste to enrich manufactured soils made from bauxite residue, and further applications in waste-to-energy.

The AED 1.6 million three-year research project is the second phase of EGA’s cooperation with the American University of Sharjah on the re-use of bauxite residue, a by-product stream from alumina refining.

The new research follows three years of work between the two organisations to establish technically how food waste as biochar - a type of charcoal based on indigenous agricultural knowledge from the Amazon basin – can be combined with treated bauxite residue to create a manufactured soil for greening and other purposes.

Other by-products from food waste in the potential treatment process – bio-oil and bio-gas - were also identified in the first phase of research, with potential waste-to-energy uses.

The new research aims to show that an integrated process would be environmentally and economically beneficial, and enable the UAE’s significant food waste generation to contribute not only to bauxite residue re-use but also waste-to-energy projects.

The recovery of food waste as a designer biochar and as bio-energy products would constitute a significant innovation at the global level. The work could contribute directly to the UAE’s aim of reducing waste-to-landfill by 75 per cent by 2030, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, optimising local resources, and through R&D, contribute to the overall development of the UAE knowledge economy.

EGA has also been conducting research in-house and with other institutions including The University of Queensland’s School of Agriculture and Food Sciences. Earlier this year, EGA announced the company is to build a pilot plant in Al Taweelah to convert bauxite residue into manufactured soil products. The pilot plant is thought to be the first of its kind in the world.

Abdalla Al Zarooni, Vice President – Technology Development and Transfer at EGA, said: “We are always looking at solutions to reduce the waste streams of our industrial activities, in addition to supporting the UAE’s net zero ambitions and landfill reduction goals. Following the technical breakthrough of EGA’s Turba process, which is the conversion of bauxite residue into a manufactured soil, we look forward to our researchers examining the further economic and environmental benefits of using food waste to generate the required biochar for this manufactured soil.”

Dr. Yassir Makkawi, Project lead investigator and Professor of Chemical Engineering at AUS, said: “Sustainable management of both industrial and food waste is one of the main challenges of governments as they seek to meet their targets for waste minimisation and reducing CO2 emissions. With environmental outcomes an increasing concern of the public and strict regulations in place governing waste disposal and landfill, finding novel solutions is becoming more and more important. This project will now contribute to the UAE’s ability to successfully manage industrial and food waste in a way that has less of a detrimental impact on the environment than has traditionally been the case.” 

Industry experts estimate that at least 150 million tonnes of bauxite residue are produced worldwide each year and less than two percent are currently put to productive use. Left untreated, bauxite residue is a caustic material that cannot support plant life. The UAE imports large quantities of soil products each year for greening and agricultural purposes.

The UAE produces approximately two million tonnes of food waste per year and initial research suggests that an estimated 20 to 40 per cent could be converted to biochar and a similar percentage to bio-energy products.

Bio-energy products are a renewable low carbon energy source, that can be used as a substitute for fuel oil or diesel in electricity generation.

EGA’s Bauxite Residue R&D Group has created a portfolio of additional novel applications that are at an advanced stage of development, with further pilot-scale trials expected.

EGA has already developed re-uses for other waste streams from its industrial activities. These include spent pot lining, a by-product of aluminium smelting, which is re-used as an alternative feedstock and fuel by the UAE cement industry; carbon dust, which is also used as a fuel in cement manufacturing; and dross which is processed to recover aluminium. EGA’s long-term aspiration is to send zero process waste to landfill.

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Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae

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.