EGA and Arkan to test recycling hazardous waste as cement feedstock

EGA would provide between 1,000 and 3,000 tonnes of the spent smelter pot inner lining to test as both fuel to fire the kiln and as refactory material to be incorporated in the finished cement produced at Arkan’s Al Ain factory.

An EGA smelting pot at one of its operations. Courtesy Emirates Global Aluminium

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Arkan have agreed a test project to recycle hazardous waste material from smelting pots for use as cement kiln fuel.

EGA is the largest industrial unit of Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi’s strategic development conglomerate.

EGA said on Tuesday that it would provide between 1,000 and 3,000 tonnes of the spent smelter pot inner lining – which is carbon waste, usually sent to landfill – to test as both fuel to fire the kiln and as refactory material to be incorporated in the finished cement produced at Arkan’s Al Ain factory.

The aluminium industry worldwide produces about a million tonnes a year of spent inner lining from aluminium smelting pots, which have a four to five-year life.

The spent pot lining has been listed by the US and other environmental agencies since the 1980s as toxic, containing fluoride and cyanide compounds that can leach into water, as well as releasing potentially hazardous gases.

While it is costly to dispose of safely, the industry has for years been searching for ways to recycle the waste product.

In the UAE, EGA produces about 37,000 tonnes a year and has already been testing the waste as feedstock for other cem­ent plants.

“Many in the aluminium industry see spent pot lining as a problem, but we see it as an economic and environmental opportunity,” said Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s chief executive.

The project “should reduce both our costs and energy needs, delivering business value and improving our environmental performance,” said Abdulaziz Asad, Arkan’s chief of operations.

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