More than 200 mln euros spent to improve environmental protection

Keenly aware of its potential environmental footprint, Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (DUBAL) - which owns and op¬erates one of the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelters - continually aims to minimize its use of resources and control the release of pollutants into the envi¬ronment. The company operates a BS EN ISO14001:2004 Envi¬ronmental Management System (EMS), which ensures that its operations are aligned with the most stringent international en¬vironmental standards, and that they improve continuously. Air emissions and energy consump¬tion are monitored and managed, along with waste management, water consumption, raw materi¬als, and ecology. Moreover, the company has spent more than AED 1 billion (more than 200 mln euros) over the last eight years to ensure continual improvement in environmental protection.

Cleaner air
DUBAL has 15 separate fume treatment plants (FTPs), that capture and treat 98% of the hydrogen fluoride (“HF”) emitted in the smelting process, leading to a 33% decline in DUBAL’s total fluoride emissions between 2000 and 2009.
Also, DUBAL has introduced dry, low oxides of nitrogen (NOx) com¬bustors in all its large combined cycle machines to reduce the concentration of NOx in ambient air. This has resulted in DUBAL’s NOx emission levels dropping from >80 ppm to <20 ppm.
The greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by DUBAL are mainly carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and perfluorocar¬bon (PFC). As electricity gen¬eration is the primary contributor, combined cycle power systems have been installed, that have enabled marginal reductions in CO2 emissions. Reduced use of distillate as an energy source has also made a positive contribu¬tion to NOx and sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions. An evaporative cooling (EC) system has been im¬plemented in nine gas turbines, resulting in reductions of 350,000 metric tonnes of CO2 and 1,750 metric tonnes of NOx.
DUBAL is committed to achieving the International Aluminium Insti¬tute (IAI) Sustainable Develop¬ment Initiative (SDI), launched in 2003, which comprises voluntary environmental performance ob¬jectives for aluminium smelters. The IAI SDI goal for PFCs is to reduce emissions by 80 per cent by 2010 and 93 per cent by 2020 (from 1990 levels). By 2009, DUBAL had achieved an overall drop of 67 per cent (compared to 1990).

Less energy
Aluminium production is a very energy-intensive process, spe¬cifically with regard to electric¬ity consumption. Accordingly, DUBAL places substantial em¬phasis on conserving energy through efficiency-improve¬ments. By improving current ef¬ficiency in the company’s potline operations, a 7.5% reduction has been achieved in the energy needed for electrolysis compared to 1990, resulting in an aver¬age smelting energy consump¬tion (across all technologies) of 14.74 MWh/mt in 2009. Also, the thermal efficiency of the plant improved from 33.8% in 1999 to 43.3% in 2008.
Emphasis is also placed on de¬veloping energy-efficient tech¬nologies. DUBAL’s in-house de¬veloped DX Reduction Technol¬ogy is among the most efficient reduction cell technologies avail¬able. Implemented in a dedicated 40-cell potline at DUBAL’s Jebel Ali Smelter and licensed to Phase I of the Emirates Aluminium Com¬pany Limited (EMAL) green-field smelter development in Abu Dhabi, DX Reduction Technol¬ogy offers:
- an energy-efficient design that enables specific energy con¬sumption of 13.05 kWh/kg alu¬minium and 95.7 per cent current efficiency;
- reduced environmental impact through lower fossil fuel con¬sumption and reduced carbon consumption (anodes);
- reduced anode effects, resulting in PFC emissions of less than 0.01 mt CO2eq/mt Al.

Community-focused
DUBAL’s environmental protec¬tion efforts extend into the com¬munity, through collaborative par¬ticipation with non-government organisations, schools and envi¬ronment-focused bodies. Prefer¬ence is given to initiatives that raise awareness of the need to conserve natural resources and the environment. Where pos¬sible, these initiatives engage DUBAL’s employees.
DUBAL is an active member of Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) and participates in the annual EEG Can Collection Cam¬paign. The company also sup¬ports other environment-related initiatives, such as the annual Clean Up the World Campaign, hosted by Dubai; the annual in¬ternational Earth Hour campaign; and the annual international World Environment Day.
In 2010, DUBAL launched its first-ever internal campaign - known as the Green Life Project - which aims to nurture individual responsibility towards protecting the environment and conserving natural resources by teaching employees to ‘Think green, act green’. Recycling islands have also been placed strategically around DUBAL’s Jebel Ali site.