Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has restarted half of the reduction cells at its Al Taweelah smelter in Abu Dhabi, the company said on Wednesday, nearly seven months after an Iranian attack forced an emergency shutdown of the site.
So far, 631 of the smelter’s 1,262 reduction cells are back in operation, EGA said in a statement. Teams are working along the plant’s three potlines in parallel.
The smelter entered emergency shutdown on March 28, when an Iranian attack on Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi led to a full evacuation of the Al Taweelah site. EGA restarted its first restored cell on May 26.
“With our sustained good progress, we continue to expect that we will reach full production at Al Taweelah smelter during Q1 2027,” Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said.
“The restoration of Al Taweelah is the biggest challenge we have ever faced as a company,” he said.
The shutdown left molten aluminium frozen in every reduction cell, forming solid metal pads weighing up to 45 tonnes that must be removed. EGA said almost 80 percent of the cells can be restarted once the metal is cleared. The rest need repairs, including demolition and relining of the cell interiors.
The company said it has more than tripled its capacity to repair and restart cells compared with its normal maintenance program, by adding equipment, changing workflows and introducing new industrial processes.
A restarted cell typically takes about a week to stabilize and reach full production. Some of the molten metal is used to restart further cells, and the rest goes to EGA’s casthouse to be cast into finished products.
EGA is also using the shutdown to pilot its E40 technology upgrade on 13 of the smelter’s DX technology cells. The upgrade would otherwise have required operating cells to be shut during construction.
If applied across all 808 DX cells at Al Taweelah, the E40 technology could raise hot metal output by 67,000 tonnes a year, the company said.
The Al Taweelah alumina refinery, which resumed production in July, continues to run at about 50 percent of capacity. EGA said the refinery is technically ready to ramp up further, with timing to depend on supply chain conditions and its alumina sourcing strategy.
EGA is the largest industrial company in the UAE outside the oil and gas sector.
