Among the galaxy of contractors working on Aluminium Bahrain’s (Alba) Potline 5 project was Solios, one of the world’s most experienced companies in the aluminium industry.

Solios finalised the construction of a number of installations for the project on a turnkey basis.
The company’s competence lies in the areas of electrolysis (gas treatment centres and bath processing units), carbon  (green anode plants, carbon butts processing and fume treatment centres for anode baking furnaces), and casthouse (melting holding furnaces, heat treatment furnaces).
At Alba, Solios, for the first time, collaborated with the three companies of its group, namely Solios Carbone, Solios Environnement and Solios Thermal, sharing resources and management.
For Potline 5, Solios worked on the construction of a Green Anode Plant; a Coke Unloading Station and a Carbon Butts Processing Unit; two gas treatment centres (GTCs) including a Double Suction System; one Fume Treatment Centre; the complete Integrated Cast House No 3 and the extension of Casthouse No 2.
The Green Anode Plant saw the introduction for the first time of the Scap Rhodax ® technology, the latest development in dry-mix preparation.
The two gas treatment centres were built to treat emissions coming from 336 pots of AP 30. Each centre is fitted with 16 TGT-RI bag filters.
The Fume Treatment Centre was built for the new bake furnace including 4 TGT-RI.
The extension of Casthouse No 2 was equipped with EMIX +® metal movement technology. Casthouse No 3 included nine of 70-tonne capacity melting/holding furnaces and three Wagstaff Vertical Direct Chill (VDC) casting machines and all interconnecting equipment including launders and degassers. The Casthouse No 2 extension included two of 70 tonne capacity melting and holding furnaces with a continuous properzi horizontal ingot casting machine and interconnecting equipment.
“From mid January 2005, the Fume Treatment Centre, supplied by Solios Environnement, is operating on one anode baking furnace under nominal production,” a Solios spokesman said.
“Solios Environnement also started-up the first Gas Treatment Centre (GTC 3), two weeks ahead of initial schedule on 1 March 2005. The second GTC was commissioned on 13 April 2005. Both GTCs are equipped with a Dual Suction System that is capable of doubling the nominal gas flow during operation on the pots, thus reducing the total fluoride emissions of the smelter. Solios always works for reducing the global emissions of the smelter.
“Solios Thermal successfully completed the cast on VDC 9, VDC10 and VDC 11 in Casthouse 3 and the 11 furnaces were commissioned in a record time of 12 months.
“Solios Carbone produced the first anode by mid-January 2005 and the Rhodax® is fully operational and meets all its expectations. The performance tests were successfully performed in June 2006.
“Moreover, during the execution of this project, safety was really a major point and Solios reached more than 4 million hours without any lost time injury, which have been recognised by several certificates from Alba/Bechtel.”
The Solios spokesman stressed on the local element in the work, saying that from the beginning of the contract it contributed to Bahrain’s economical development by forming local partnerships such as with Ahmed Mansoor Al-A’ali (AMA), which was fully involved from manufacturing to end of construction.
In 1998 and 2001, at Mozal, the three companies of Solios had worked on the same contract but under three separated companies — Procedair, FCB Aluminium and SAS.  “Consequently the Alba experience enabled Solios to gather its people by working together, which enhanced their global expertise,” the spokesman commented.
Over the last five years, Solios has been involved in the main greenfield projects throughout the world including Mozal, Hillside and Alouette, but also in the Chinese aluminium market expansion. And last December, Alcoa awarded Solios with a full package for its new smelter at Fjardaal in Iceland.
Solios acts as a key technological partner by offering global process expertise on turnkey projects and a wide range of proprietary equipment. “The company is well known for the high quality of its equipment based on reliability and easy maintenance and which meets the most stringent regulations in terms of safety and environmental protection,” said the spokesman.  “It always offers appropriate solutions, by taking into consideration customers’ economic constraints along with their health and safety conditions at work.”
Solios is organised around four centres of expertise which act as independent business units:
• Solios Carbone, located in Givors (France)
• Solios Environnement SA, located in St Germain en Laye (France)
• Solios Environnement INC, located in Montreal (Canada)
• Solios Thermal, located in Wombourne (England)

In the Middle East, Solios’ commercial team is organised around one director of marketing and sales, who works in close collaboration with three sales managers, one for carbon activity, one for the environment and one for casthouses.
In 2003, in collaboration with AMA, Solios opened a subsidiary dedicated to services, namely Solios Services Al-A’ali, to cover Middle East activities. The main objectives of this partnership were to provide continuous support to customers in their efforts to reduce operating costs, increase the availability of installations and develop local procurement and services.
“The key to Solios’ success is the culture of the company, the competence of the dedicated team of professionals, our technological and innovative solutions and our worldwide experience as well as our local knowledge,” observed the spokesman.
“Solios always works very closely with its clients to develop true partnerships in order to achieve the best results in the interest of the overall project.”