Qatar Aluminium (Qatalum), the Gulf’s newest aluminium plant, continues the region’s decades-long aluminium production tradition. By contributing another 585,000 tonnes of quality metal to the world market, it puts the Gulf in the forefront as a very serious player in the business.

With growing worldwide industrialisation and the fact that most of the world is out of recession and preparing to produce the goods and service that markets are demanding, the lure of aluminium continues to be sustained. Some markets, including China, will want more of the metal whose advantages of light weight, strength and recycling ability place it among the most favoured of materials. Qatalum, along with other smelters, will help catch up with global demand for aluminium said to be growing at 5 to 7 per cent per year.

The $5.7 billion Qatalum plant at Mesaieed Industrial City, was officially opened recently by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in the presence of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, signifying equal ownership of the plant by Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Norske Hydro of Norway.

The plant will make Qatar, already one of the wealthiest in the world, even richer. As it broadbases the emirate’s economy away from hydrocarbons which now constitute 60 per cent of the country’s economy, it will add $1.5 billion on its own or 5.5 per cent of the GDP and generate 1,000 jobs. With a downstream industry certain to emerge, the aluminium industry will come into its own, building up trade and commerce associated with the new sector.

Qatalum utilises Hydro’s advanced proprietary electrolytic reduction cell technology designed to give a combination of low investment costs, high productivity, low energy consumption and reduced emissions. A patented extraction system collects 99.5 per cent of the gases from the process with optimal energy use.

Foundries at the Casthouse, where alloys are made

Technology mobilised by Hydro uses 25 per cent less energy than the average cell back in 1990, the Norwegian company said. According to Hydro, emissions of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) will be less than 0.3 per cent per tonne of alluminium produced, well below the global average.

The plant expects to reach full capacity in the fourth quarter of this year. By April 11 around 149 pots of 704 were producing. The plant’s main products will be extrusion ingots and foundry alloys although the Casthouse will also be capable of producing standard primary ingots. The products have applications in building and construction, transportation, general engineeri- ng, household durables and leisure among other areas.

First exports went to India
Qatalum began production in late 2009 and sent its first exports – foundry alloys – to India.

The company will import 1.1 million tonnes of alumina, 223,000 tonnes of coke and 50,000 tonnes of liquid pitch per year in order to produce 585,000 tonnes of the primary metal annually.

Its Carbon Plant, which produces carbon anodes for aluminium production, recycles spent anodes and the residual materials they contain. The carbon plant recycles nearly 20 per cent of its anodes every year and is equipped with state-of-the-art fume treatment centres to minimise emissions. The carbon anodes produced at the plant are sent to the Reduction Plant where they are used in a complicated electrochemical process to break down the alumina and create liquid aluminium in Qatalum’s 704 pots.

The Reduction Plant houses the electrolytic cells in double-lined potrooms and uses the world’s most advanced pot tending machines and specially designed pot hoods to minimise emissions. The Hydro technology used is designed for low specific energy consumption, high labour productivity and low emissions.

The four fume treatment plants allow Qatalum to keep emissions well under control, cleaning process gases such as fluoride, sulphur and carbon dioxide removed from the pots in the Reduction Plant as well as fumes from the carbon plant. Using both dry and wet scrubbing, Qatalum is able to treat 99.5 per cent of its process gases.

The molten aluminium created in the Reduction Plant is transported to Qatalum’s Casthouse where it is alloyed according to customer specifications and cast into extrusion ingots or foundry alloys.

QP is supplying approximately 200 million standard cubic ft of natural gas per day to Qatalum’s power plant in order to create 1,350 MW of electricity in a state-of-the-art combined cycle power plant.

Second phase
Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah confirmed that Qatalum’s production would be increased through a second phase.

Al Attiyah and Qatalum chairman Abdullah Salatt said Qatalum would open up opportunities for small and medium enterprises to produce for local consumption and exports. The smelter would pave the way for a new wave of industries, one in which the private sector could play a prominent role.

CEO Jan Arve Haugan said the company had advantages of location, assured gas supplies, technology, production management and market competence to succeed on the world stage.

“We’re looking at competition, not just primary production. We are competing with ourselves. We have to be better today than yesterday. It all goes back to production at the smelter,” he said.

Haugan also stated that Qatalum was co-sponsoring a chair in the College of Engineering at Qatar University.

Deputy CEO Hassan Al Rashid said exports to Saudi Arabia had begun and the company planned to supply Iraq.  This year about 40 per cent of production would go to Asia, 35 per cent to Europe and the remainder to the Middle East and North Africa, he said.

Al Rashid expected aluminium demand to grow 12 per cent a year for the next 10 years in China and 5 per cent annually over the same period in the Arabian Gulf.

Involvement of experienced firms
Experienced firms were involved in various aspects of the Qatalum complex which rose in just 30 months since the foundation stone was laid.

Qatalum’s potroom where molten aluminium is created

The project remained on time and budget through a highly demanding construction phase - marked first by an unprecedented economic boom, then by an economic downturn. Hydro managed the construction project including the main contractors and more than 200 subcontractors when on site.

Power plant and rectifier units
Qatalum’s combined cycle power plant provides all the necessary process power and returns the excess power to the Qatar grid.

The contractor for the 1,350 MW power plant was a consortium of General Electric and Doosan Heavy Industries Construction Company. The facility entails a configuration that includes four F-Class gas tubines plus two steam engines. The power plant meets the strict environmental standards set by Qatar’s environmental regulatory body. The contract was worth $900 million.

ABB, the power and automation technology group, successfully commissioned 10 complete rectifier units at the Qatalum complex.  ABB acted as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the rectifier stations and was responsible for engineering, civil design, material delivery, training, documentation, installation and commissioning.

Salzburger Aluminium of Lend, Australia, supplied 27,000 tonnes of busbar materials.

Anodes and metal-making
Alumina, the raw material for producing Qatalum’s aluminium, is imported from Australia.

The anode baking plant contractor was Fata SpA, Italy, (together with K Home International UK as the main engineering contractor).

The scope of work covered the EPC and commissioning for a complete baking plant for baking of green anodes with all complete ground works, foundations, buildings and production systems.

Kempe Engineering Service (Australia) was the contractor for the anode service plant.

China Great Wall Construction Corporation, Zheng Zhou, was responsible for the anode superstructures. Contractor for the potshells was Ahmed Mansoor Al Ali Company (AMA) of Bahrain.

Canada’s SNC Lavalin was awarded a $700 million contract to build the potroom ( as well as the administration and service buildings; general infrastructure and utilities; and the harbour facilities, which included ship unloading and bulk storage and handling systems).

A $750 million contract for the installation of reduction cells and potroom equipment was implemented by Dutco McConnell Dowell, a joint venture of the UAE-based Dutco and Australian firm McConnell Dowell.

A pot tending machine

The contractor for the pot tending machines was Germany’s NKM Noell Special Cranes.
ABB AS of Norway was the contractor for the HAL3000 pot control system.

The Casthouse
FATA SpA, Italy (together with K Home International Ltd, UK, as main engineering contractor) was the contractor for the Casthouse. 

The scope of work for the Casthouse covered the EPC and commissioning of a complete Casthouse with all complete ground works, foundations, buildings and production systems and associated equipment. The scope included a liquid metal treatment centre; a mixing and casting centre for extrusion ingots; a homogenising, sawing and packing centre for extrusion ingots; a mixing, casting and packing centre for primary foundry alloys; a crucible cleaning station; tapping vehicles; control systems and laboratories. Included were all auxiliary equipment and installations.

The contracts to FATA SpA and K Home to build the anode plant and the Casthouse were worth $500 million.

Fume treatment and other facilities
Solios Environment, France, worked on the fume treatment plants including distribution systems. The scope of work covered the EPC, commissioning and start-up of four Flume Treatment Plants including distribution systems (alumina, fluoride) for the reduction area; foundations, structures, buildings; all tie-ins necessary for operation.

The jetty and seawater intake facilities were the responsibility of Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Co SA, Dubai branch. The jetty is 300 m long with a 123 m across trestle and three seawater intakes.

The Village
A major project related to the Qatalum plant was the Construction Village. The contractor, Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Co (Satco), Saudi Arabia, provided detailed engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the 10,000-man Qatalum Construction Village. The village includes accommodation and ablution units, kitchens, dining halls, storage facilities, recreation facilities, prayer rooms, mosque, shop facilities, administration and service buildings.